Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Dr Sarah CharmanORCiD, Dr Amy Fuller, Dr Alasdair BlainORCiD, Professor Djordje JakovljevicORCiD, Dr Nduka Okwose
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2026 The Author(s). Health Science Reports published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. Background and Aims: Movement behaviours, including sedentary behaviour (SB), physical activity (PA), and sleep, play a crucial role in cardiometabolic health. This study evaluated their relationships and assessed the effects of reallocating SB to different PA intensities. Methods: This cross-sectional study conducted between March 2024 and March 2025, included 75 individuals from Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) (51% female; mean age: 40 ± 10 years). Time (minutes/day) spent in the different movement behaviours was determined using wrist-worn accelerometers (GENEActiv, UK). Cardiometabolic outcomes included body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), HDL cholesterol, total: HDL cholesterol ratio, random glucose, and cardiorespiratory fitness. Pairwise correlations and compositional analyses were performed to investigate associations between movement behaviours and cardiometabolic outcomes. Results: The median daily movement composition (minutes) was sleep (346), SB (672), LPA (112), and MVPA (96). MVPA showed a moderate inverse relationship with total cholesterol and was the only movement category associated with cardiorespiratory fitness. Sleep duration showed an inverse relationship with BMI and WC. Reallocating 30 min of SB to sleep, LPA, or MVPA did not result in significant changes in cardiometabolic outcomes (p > 0.05 for all comparisons). Conclusion: Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity showed the most consistent associations with favourable cardiometabolic markers, suggesting it may play a particularly important role in cardiometabolic health among this population. However, these benefits may be dependent on prolonged exposures. Sleep regulation may also contribute to the management of adiposity.
Author(s): Ibirogba DA, Andalco LS, Crotti M, Charman SJ, Fuller AS, Ajepe T, Duncan M, Blain AP, Niyi-Odumosu F, Mwangi PW, Bukachi FO, Dominic OL, Barak OF, Jakovljevic DG, Okwose NC
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Health Science Reports
Year: 2026
Volume: 9
Issue: 6
Online publication date: 12/06/2026
Acceptance date: 01/06/2026
Date deposited: 24/06/2026
ISSN (print): 2398-8835
ISSN (electronic): 2398-8835
Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Inc.
URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/hsr2.72618
DOI: 10.1002/hsr2.72618
Data Access Statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Altmetrics provided by Altmetric
