❓ Hon Wilson Tucker asks about the Department of Health's evaluation of the 2006-2009 daylight saving trial's effect on physical activity. The Minister provides survey results indicating a potential negative impact and references a published study.
AnsweredQoN 202Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
I refer the Minister to data collected by the Department of Health on the level of physical activity, health and wellbeing of the population over the period of 2006 to 2009, when Western Australia trialled daylight saving time, and I ask: (a) can the Minister outline the results of the Department of Health's evaluation of the effect of daylight saving on physical activity; and (b) will the Minister table any Department of Health publications on the effects of Western Australia's daylight saving trial?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
19 August 2021
Responded by
Minister for Mental Health representing the Minister for Health
Response time
9 days
I am advised:
(a) A survey of 1,083 WA adults was conducted for the Premiers’ Physical Activity Taskforce to investigate changes in self reported physical activity during the daylight saving trial in the summer of 2006/7. The key findings are as follows:
· the proportion of respondents reporting doing no physical activity per week increased significantly from 3.6% in the period prior to daylight saving to 8% during the daylight saving trial;
· 27% of adult respondents reported an increase, 22% reported a decrease, and 51% reported no change in the duration of time spent doing physical activity during the trial;
· 45.5% of respondents reported that daylight saving had affected the time of day when they exercised, with fewer people exercising in the morning and more in the evening;
· 23% of respondents stopped exercising in the morning and this had the most impact on females and country residents;
· the study concluded that daylight saving has the potential to significantly impact on patterns of physical activity.
(b) This study has been published (Rosenberg M and Wood L. The power of policy to influence behaviour change: daylight saving and its effect on physical activity. ANZ Journal of Public Health 2010:34:83-9) and is publicly available from:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1753-6405.2010.00479.x
Please see tabled paper no.
(a) A survey of 1,083 WA adults was conducted for the Premiers’ Physical Activity Taskforce to investigate changes in self reported physical activity during the daylight saving trial in the summer of 2006/7. The key findings are as follows:
· the proportion of respondents reporting doing no physical activity per week increased significantly from 3.6% in the period prior to daylight saving to 8% during the daylight saving trial;
· 27% of adult respondents reported an increase, 22% reported a decrease, and 51% reported no change in the duration of time spent doing physical activity during the trial;
· 45.5% of respondents reported that daylight saving had affected the time of day when they exercised, with fewer people exercising in the morning and more in the evening;
· 23% of respondents stopped exercising in the morning and this had the most impact on females and country residents;
· the study concluded that daylight saving has the potential to significantly impact on patterns of physical activity.
(b) This study has been published (Rosenberg M and Wood L. The power of policy to influence behaviour change: daylight saving and its effect on physical activity. ANZ Journal of Public Health 2010:34:83-9) and is publicly available from:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1753-6405.2010.00479.x
Please see tabled paper no.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.