Equivalence Curves for Healthy Lifestyle Choices.

BACKGROUND: Understanding equivalence of time-use trade-offs may inform tailored lifestyle choices. We explored which time reallocations were associated with equivalent changes in children’s health outcomes. METHODS: Participants were from the cross-sectional Child Health CheckPoint Study (N = 1179; 11–12 years; 50% boys) nested within the population-based Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. Outcomes were adiposity (bioelectrical impedance analysis, BMI and waist girth), self-reported health-related quality of life (HRQoL; Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory), and academic achievement (standardized national tests). Participants’ 24-hour time use (sleep, sedentary behavior, light physical activity, and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity [MVPA]) from 8-day 24-hour accelerometry was regressed against outcomes by using compositional log-ratio linear regression models. RESULTS: Children with lower adiposity and higher HRQoL had more MVPA (both P ≤ .001) and sleep (P = .001; P CONCLUSIONS: Equivalent differences in outcomes were associated with several time reallocations. On a minute-for-minute basis, MVPA was 2 to 6 times as potent as sleep or sedentary time.