This study explored the relationship between adherence to 24hour activity guidelines and depression/anxiety in children and young adults through a systematic review. We searched the China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Web of Science, PubMed, SPORTDiscus, and Cochrane Library databases and included nine studies in our analysis. The results showed that adherence to guidelines for sleep, physical activity, and screen time were all associated with lower depression; adherence to guidelines for sleep and screen time was associated with lower anxiety; and simultaneous adherence to all three guidelines was most significantly associated with lower depression and anxiety. These findings suggest the need for public health policies on healthy behavior practices targeting children and young adults to prevent and control potential mental health problems.
Liu et al. (2026) studied this question.