For the official publication, see: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2016.06.021Previous research has shown that physical activity and sedentary behavior are related to learning performance in
traditional education. In distance education (DE), however, students are characterized by different features (e.g.,
age and responsibilities). As a result, DE students often have full schedules andmust make choices that traditional
students do not. Advice on behavior change is low-cost and easy to implement. Therefore, it is of interest to investigate
whether physical activity and sedentary behavior are related to learning performance in DE. In an observational
longitudinal study, physical activity and sedentary behavior of 1100 adult DE students were analyzed
using multiple regression analysis. Students provided information on physical activity, sedentary behavior and
important covariates at the start of their study. Learning performance,measured as study progress,was evaluated
after 14 months (i.e., the number of successfully completed modules). Analyses revealed that only sedentary behavior
was a significant predictor for study progress. More sedentary behavior was predictive for more learning
performance in adults participating in DE. Despite these findings, it is not recommended that students should be
more sedentary as health/cognitive benefits following from more physical activity and less sedentary behavior
are proven. Instead, future research should focus on which specific sedentary behaviors are responsible for this
relation as sedentary behaviors may be differentially associated with learning performance