HALO Group – World Leader in Physical Activity and Sleep Research

09/12/2019

Ottawa, Ontario — Monday December 9, 2019

A recently published paper from an independent research group titled, “Research Combining Physical Activity and Sleep: A Bibliometric Analysis,” shows that CHEO Research Institutes’ HALO is the #1 research group in the world in physical activity and sleep research.

“It’s incredibly important for our youth to have an active lifestyle and adequate sleep,” said Dr. Jason Berman, CHEO Research Institute’s CEO. “Much of the foundational work in this area has been pioneered by Drs. Chaput and Tremblay and the HALO Team. This recognition highlights the widespread impact of HALO’s research program and CHEO’s international leadership in health promotion.”

The paper, based on a robust bibliometric analysis, was done by CQ University Australia. Additionally, HALO Senior Scientist Dr. Jean-Philippe Chaput and HALO Director Dr. Mark Tremblay are the #1 and #2 most prolific researchers in the world in this area.

“It is an honour when peers evaluate and recognize your work,” said JP Chaput, Senior Scientist at the CHEO Research Institute, and the top-ranking researcher. “For many years, we have been working intently on understanding the relationships among all movement behaviours across the 24-hour period – including physical activity and sleep. It is great that the research community is benefitting from this work.”

This study examined papers that combined physical activity and sleep, published between 1979 and 2018. 607 papers passed through comprehensive screening and were included in the final analysis. Canada ranked 3rd behind the United States and Australia, but the HALO group of researchers at CHEO was the top publishing institution overall in this area of specialty.

“This recognition is the result of diligent work by many people in the Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group, and partners across Canada and the world,” noted Dr. Mark Tremblay, director of HALO. “It is truly a team effort and such productivity could not be achieved without the support of CHEO, the CHEO Research Institute and the community support through the CHEO Foundation.”

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