# Distribution of device-measured 24-h movement behaviors in older adults: cross-sectional findings from the HUNT4 study

## TL;DR

This study maps how older adults spend their day on movement and sleep, finding differences by age, sex, and education.

## Contribution

Provides novel population-based data on 24-h movement behaviors in older adults using device-measured metrics.

## Key findings

- Older adults spent most of their time sitting (9.2 hours) and standing (4.1 hours), with less time walking or sleeping.
- Time spent standing and walking decreased with age, while sitting and sleeping increased.
- Women stood and slept more but walked and sat less than men, and higher education correlated with more standing and walking.

## Abstract

Comprehensive mapping of key physical activity (PA) types, postures, and sleep among older adults is important for informing public health policies and interventions. This study aimed to describe the 24-h time distribution of key PA types, postures, and sleep in a population-based sample of community-dwelling older adults and explore whether age, sex, and educational level influenced this distribution. Participants 65 years and older from the fourth survey of the Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT4, 2017–19) with ≥ 1 day of complete accelerometer recording were included (n = 8,114). PA types (walking, running, cycling), postures (standing, sitting, lying (awake)), and sleep were derived from the accelerometer data using validated machine learning models. Survey-weighted regression models were applied to describe the 24-h time distribution of PA types, postures, and sleep by age, sex, and education. Participants spent 4.1 h standing (SD 85.3 min), 82.8 min (SD 40.3 min) walking, 0.2 min (SD 1.7 min) running, 4.6 min (SD 7.2 min) cycling, 9.2 h (SD 115.5 min) sitting, 2.1 h (SD 86.6 min) lying (awake), and 7.1 h (SD 50.4 min) sleeping per day. Time spent standing and walking decreased, while time spent sitting, lying (awake), and sleeping increased with higher age. Women spent more time standing and sleeping, and less time walking, sitting, and lying (awake) than men. Higher education was associated with more time standing and walking and less time sitting. This study provides novel insights into the distribution of 24-h movement behaviors among older adults and can serve as a benchmark for future research on key PA types, postures, sleep, and their interactions.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1038/s41598-026-36355-y.