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Judging by\u00a0recent headlines<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0policy ideas<\/a>, you might think screen time is the only lifestyle behaviour influencing teen wellbeing.<\/p>\n But with young people struggling to deal with mounting\u00a0mental health issues<\/a>, it\u2019s crucial we don\u2019t get tunnel vision and instead remember all the lifestyle levers that can play a role.<\/p>\n Our research,\u00a0published today<\/a>, tracked Australian high school students from 71 schools across New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia. Over time, improvements in sleep, fruit and vegetable intake, and exercise were associated with small but significant improvements in mental health.<\/p>\n The reverse was also true when it came to unhealthy behaviours like screen time, junk food, alcohol use and tobacco.<\/p>\n Our\u00a0new study<\/a>\u00a0of more than 4,400 Australian high school students looks at a suite of lifestyle behaviours: sleep, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, sedentary (inactive) recreational screen time, fruit and vegetable intake, consumption of junk food and sugary drinks, alcohol use and smoking.<\/p>\n Firstly, we asked year 7 (students aged 12\u201313) to report their levels of these lifestyle behaviours and to rate their psychological distress (a general indicator of mental ill-health) using a\u00a0well-known measurement scale<\/a>.<\/p>\n Then we examined how changes in each of the lifestyle behaviours between year 7 and year 10 (age 15\u201316) were linked to psychological distress levels in year 10. Importantly, we accounted for the level of psychological distress participants reported in year 7, as well as their lifestyle behaviours in year 7. This means we can see the average benefits associated with behaviour change, no matter where people started out.<\/p>\n Our research showed increases over time in healthy behaviours were associated with lower psychological distress. Conversely, increases in health risk behaviours were associated with higher psychological distress.<\/p>\n On average, when looking at the change between year 7 and 10, every one-hour increase in sleep per night was linked to a 9% reduction in psychological distress.<\/p>\n Each added day of 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per week was linked to a 3% reduction in psychological distress. Each added daily serve of fruit or vegetables was linked to 4% lower psychological distress.<\/p>\n By contrast, each added hour of screen time was linked to a 2% increase in psychological distress, as was each unit increase in junk food or sugary drinks.<\/p>\n Because drinking alcohol and smoking are less common in early adolescence, we only looked at whether they had or hadn\u2019t drank alcohol or smoked in the past six months. We saw that switching from not drinking in year 7 to drinking in year 10 was associated with a 17% increase in psychological distress. Switching from not smoking to smoking was linked to a 36% increase in psychological distress.<\/p>\n It\u2019s important to note our study can\u2019t definitively say lifestyle behaviour change caused the change in distress. The study also can\u2019t account for changes in a student\u2019s circumstances such as in their home life or relationships. With the baseline survey done in 2019 and the year 10 survey done in 2022, there was also the potential impact of COVID.<\/p>\n But our longitudinal design (tracking the same subjects over an extended period) and the way we structured the analysis does help illustrate the relationship over time.<\/p>\n Our study didn\u2019t measure vaping, but evidence shows that, like smoking, it has clear\u00a0links with adolescent mental health<\/a>.<\/p>\n National guidelines for these behaviours set out aspirational targets based on optimum health goals. But\u00a0movement guidelines<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0dietary guidelines<\/a>\u00a0might seem out of reach for many teens. Indeed, most participants in our study were not meeting guidelines for physical activity, sleep, screen time, and vegetable consumption in year 10.<\/p>\n What our research shows is that a healthy lifestyle change doesn\u2019t have to be all or nothing.<\/p>\n Even relatively small changes \u2013 getting an extra hour of sleep each night, eating one extra serve of fruit or vegetables each day, cutting out one hour of screen time, or adding an extra day of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per week \u2013 are linked to improvements in mental health. And stacking changes in multiple areas is likely to stand you in even better stead.<\/p>\n Parents can play a major role in shaping lifestyle behaviours (even into the teenage years!). Expense and time can be barriers, but anything parents can do within their means is a step in the right direction.<\/p>\n For example,\u00a0modelling healthy social media use<\/a>, making\u00a0affordable changes to your grocery shop<\/a>\u00a0to improve nutritional content, or even\u00a0introducing set bedtimes<\/a>. And parents can gather information so young people can make\u00a0positive choices<\/a>\u00a0around alcohol, tobacco and other substance use including vaping.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n A post shared by Kids Helpline (Australia) (@kidshelplineau)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\nA comprehensive look at adolescent lifestyles<\/strong><\/h4>\n
How much makes a difference?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
What does this mean for teens and parents?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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