The Dynamic Interplay of Behaviors across the 24 Hours

Dear Colleagues,

During the past decade, evidence has continued to accumulate that a person’s behavior during both sleep and wake time has important consequences for health and quality of life. These behaviors, and their relationships with health and disease, have been studied in isolation from one another. Emerging evidence indicates that time spent in one behavior can fundamentally alter the health-related influence of time spent in other behaviors, possibly because of changes in the overall 24-hour behavioral composition (i.e., time spent in one activity necessarily displaces time from at least one other behavior), which has been spurred by enhanced behavioral measurement and novel analytical techniques (e.g., compositional data analysis, isotemporal substitution, partial least square, or functional data analysis) and has even led some countries to adopt 24-hour guidelines for children and adolescents (e.g., Canada, Australia or the UK). Nonetheless, we are still far from a nuanced and in-depth understanding of the complex ways in which people spend their daily time and activities and how this may interact with health and disease. Of particular interest is how related behaviors (e.g., eating), affect, timing of behaviors (e.g., nighttime television viewing), and sleep quality may interact with the 24-hour behavioral composition to shape the health of people. Special populations and novel health outcomes are also in need of additional research. This Special Issue welcomes cutting-edge articles that represent methodological advances in the field that address some of the challenges herein exposed. This Special Issue is a platform for authors to submit their most impactful research to stimulate meaningful advances in the field. 

Prof. Dr. Matthew Buman
Prof. Dr. Borja del Pozo-Cruz
Guest Editors

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• time-use
• 24-hour activity cycle
• sleep
• physical activity
• sedentary behavior
• sitting time
• eating patterns
• affect