Most studies focussed solely on active  travel  to and /or from school , and showed significant positive associations with physical activity .
The same relationship was detected for active travel to leisure-related places and independent mobility with physical activity .
An inverse relationship between active travel to school and weight status was evident but findings were inconsistent .
Studies on independent mobility suggested that children who have the freedom to play outdoors and travel actively without adult supervision accumulate more physical activity than those who do not .
Further investigation of children 's active travel to leisure-related destinations , measurement of diverse sedentary behaviour beyond simply screen-based activities , and consistent thresholds for objective ly measured sedentary behaviour in children will clarify the inconsistent evidence base on associations of active travel with sedentary behaviour and weight status
UNLABELLED Health benefits from  children 's independent mobility and active travel beyond school travel are largely unexplored .
OBJECTIVES This review synthesized the evidence for associations of independent mobility and active travel to various destinations with physical activity , sedentary behaviour and weight status .
Physical activity and active commuting to elementary school.
PURPOSE This study was conducted to determine if fifth- grade students who walked or bicycled to school on a regular basis were more physically active than those that did not . METHODS The sample consists of 219 fifth- grade students ( 10.3 + /- 0.6 yr , 44 % male , 58 % minority ) from eight r and omly selected urban and suburban elementary schools . Students wore an Acti-Graph physical activity monitor during the same week that they completed a daily survey to report their mode of transportation to and from school . Students were categorized on the number of reported active commuting trips , to and from school , per week ( regular;>or=5 ( N=11 ) , irregular ; 1 - 4 ( N=25 ) , nonactive ; 0 ( N=183 ) ) . RESULTS Compared with both other groups , regular active commuters accumulated 3 % more minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity ( MVPA ; P=0.04 ) during weekdays . This weekday difference was because of regular active commuters accumulating 8.5 % more minutes of MVPA both before and after school ( P < or= 0.01 ) . No difference in physical activity was seen among groups during school or in the evening . Based on the mean number of minutes the students wore their monitors on weekdays ( 800 min.d ) , the 3 % difference translates into approximately 24 additional minutes of MVPA per day for the regular active commuters . CONCLUSION Walking to school was associated with approximately 24 additional minutes of MVPA per day in fifth- grade students . Additional observational and experimental research in larger , more diverse sample s is needed to further clarify the effects of active commuting to school on total daily physical activity and other health outcomes
Most studies focussed solely on active  travel  to and /or from school , and showed significant positive associations with physical activity .
The same relationship was detected for active travel to leisure-related places and independent mobility with physical activity .
An inverse relationship between active travel to school and weight status was evident but findings were inconsistent .
Studies on independent mobility suggested that children who have the freedom to play outdoors and travel actively without adult supervision accumulate more physical activity than those who do not .
Further investigation of children 's active travel to leisure-related destinations , measurement of diverse sedentary behaviour beyond simply screen-based activities , and consistent thresholds for objective ly measured sedentary behaviour in children will clarify the inconsistent evidence base on associations of active travel with sedentary behaviour and weight status
UNLABELLED Health benefits from  children 's independent mobility and active travel beyond school travel are largely unexplored .
OBJECTIVES This review synthesized the evidence for associations of independent mobility and active travel to various destinations with physical activity , sedentary behaviour and weight status .