The association between short periods of everyday life activities and affective states: a replication study using ambulatory assessment

Regularly conducted exercise programs effectively influence affective states. Studies suggest that this is also true for short bouts of physical activity (PA) of 10 min or less. Accordingly, everyday life activities of short duration might be used to regulate affective states. However, this association has rarely been studied in reference to unstructured activities in ongoing real-life situations. The current study examined the influence of various everyday life activities on three dimensions of mood (valence, calmness, energetic arousal) in a predominantly inactive sample. Ambulatory Assessment (AA) was used to investigate the association between actual PA and affective states during the course of 1 day. Seventy-seven students ages 19–30 participated in the study. PA was assessed with accelerometers, and affective state assessments were conducted hourly using an e-diary with a six-item mood scale that was specially designed for AA. Multilevel analyses indicated that the mood dimensions energetic arousal (p = 0.001) and valence (p = 0.005) were positively influenced by the intensity of the activity carried out in the 10-min prior to the assessment. As their activity increased, the participants’ positive feelings and energetic arousal increased. However, the students’ calmness was not affected by their activity levels.The findings highlight the importance of integrating short activity intervals of 10 min or less into everyday life routines to improve affective states

Interactive multimodal ambulatory monitoring to investigate the association between physical activity and affect

Although there is a wealth of evidence that physical activity has positive effects on psychological health, a large proportion of people are inactive. Data regarding counts, steps, and movement patterns are limited in their ability to explain why people remain inactive. We propose that multimodal ambulatory monitoring, which combines the assessment of physical activity with the assessment of psychological variables, helps to elucidate real world physical activity. Whereas physical activity can be monitored continuously, psychological variables can only be assessed at discrete intervals, such as every hour. Moreover, the assessment of psychological variables must be linked to the activity of interest. For example, if an inactive and overweight person is physically active once a week, psychological variables should be assessed during this episode. Linking the assessment of psychological variables to episodes of an activity of interest can be achieved with interactive monitoring. The primary aim of our interactive multimodal ambulatory monitoring approach was to intentionally increase the number of e-diary assessments during “active” episodes. We developed and tested an interactive monitoring algorithm that continuously monitors physical activity in everyday life. When predefined thresholds are surpassed, the algorithm triggers a signal for participants to answer questions in their electronic diary. Using data from 70 participants wearing an accelerative device for 24 h each, we found that our algorithm quadrupled the frequency of e-diary assessments during the activity episodes of interest compared to random sampling. Multimodal interactive ambulatory monitoring appears to be a promising approach to enhancing our understanding of real world physical activity and movement

Accuracy of Sedentary Behavior-Triggered Ecological Momentary Assessment for Collecting Contextual Information: Development and Feasibility Study

Background: Sedentary behavior has received much attention in the scientific community over the past decade. There is growing evidence that sedentary behavior is negatively associated with physical and mental health. However, an in-depth understanding of the social and environmental context of sedentary behavior is missing. Information about sedentary behavior, such as how everyday sedentary behavior occurs throughout the day (eg, number and length of sedentary bouts), where, when, and with whom it takes place, and what people are doing while being sedentary, is useful to inform the development of interventions aimed at reducing sedentary time. However, examining everyday sedentary behavior requires specific methods. Objective: The purpose of this paper is (1) to introduce sedentary behavior–triggered Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) as a methodological advancement in the field of sedentary behavior research and (2) to examine the accuracy of sedentary behavior–triggered EMA in 3 different studies in healthy adults. Moreover, we compare the accuracy of sedentary behavior–triggered EMA to simulations of random-trigger designs. Methods: Sedentary behavior–triggered EMA comprises a continuous assessment of sedentary behavior via accelerometers and repeated contextual assessments via electronic diaries (ie, an application on a smartphone). More specifically, the accelerometer analyzes and transfers data regarding body position (a sitting or lying position, or an upright position) via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) to a smartphone in real time and triggers the deployment of questionnaires. Each time a participant spends a specified time (eg, 20 minutes) in a sedentary position, the e-diary triggers contextual assessments. To test the accuracy of this method, we calculated a percentage score for all triggered prompts in relation to the total number of bouts that could trigger a prompt. Results: Based on the accelerometer recordings, 29.3% (5062/17278) of all sedentary bouts were classified as moderate-to-long (20-40 minutes) and long bouts (≥ 41 minutes). On average, the accuracy by participant was 82.77% (3339/4034; SD 21.01%, range 71.00-88.22%) on the study level. Compared to simulations of random prompts (every 120 minutes), the number of triggered prompts was up to 47.9% (n=704) higher through the sedentary behavior–triggered EMA approach. Nearly 40% (799/2001) of all prolonged sedentary bouts (≥ 20 minutes) occurred during work, and in 57% (1140/2001) of all bouts, the participants were not alone. Conclusions: Sedentary behavior–triggered EMA is an accurate method for collecting contextual information on sedentary behavior in daily life. Given the growing interest in sedentary behavior research, this sophisticated approach offers a real advancement as it can be used to collect social and environmental contextual information or to unravel dynamic associations. Furthermore, it can be modified to develop sedentary behavior–triggered mHealth interventions

Reciprocal effects between cognitive and affective states in women with Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder: An Ecological Momentary Assessment study

Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) is characterized by cyclical mood changes resulting in clinically significant distress and functional impairment. Studies on momentary cognitive and affective states and their interplay during daily life over the menstrual cycle in affected women are still lacking. Using Ecological Momentary Assessment with electronic diaries, 61 women with current PMDD and 61 healthy control women reported their current mood, rumination, and self-acceptance eight times a day over two consecutive days per cycle phase (menstrual, follicular, ovulatory, and late luteal phase). Results revealed that women with PMDD showed significant increases in negative affect and rumination and decreases in positive affect and self-acceptance toward the end of the cycle. Lagged analyses demonstrated stronger within-person reciprocal effects of cognitions and mood in PMDD women compared to controls with the effect of rumination on subsequent negative affect being limited to the late luteal phase. Identified stronger prospective associations between cognitive processes and mood deteriorations in women with PMDD suggest that affected women are more sensitive to detrimental effects of either dimension. Hence, therapeutic strategies aiming at reducing ruminative thoughts and improving self-acceptance such as mindfulness-based interventions could be promising for reducing the burden of PMDD

How to Investigate Within-Subject Associations between Physical Activity and Momentary Affective States in Everyday Life: A Position Statement Based on a Literature Overview

Several meta-analyses have investigated the association between physical activity and affective states and have found evidence suggesting that exercise exerts a positive effect on affective state. However, in this field of research, most studies have conducted between-subject analyses. Nonetheless, there is more and more interest in the within-subject associations between physical activity and momentary affective states in everyday life. This position statement pertains to this up-and-coming field of research and provides methodological recommendations for further studies. The paper is divided into three parts:First, we summarise and evaluate three methodological requirements necessary for the proper evaluation of within-subject associations between physical activity and momentary affective states in everyday life. We propose that the following issues should be considered: a) to address the dynamic nature of such relationships, repeated assessments are necessary; b) as activities performed in everyday life are mostly spontaneous and unconscious, an objective assessment of physical activity is useful; c) given that recall of affective states is often affected by systematic distortions, real-time assessment is preferable. In sum, we suggest the use of ambulatory assessment techniques, and more specifically the combination of acceloremeter-assessment of physical activity with an electronic diary assessment of the momentary affective state and additional context information. Second, we summarise 22 empirical studies published between 1980 and 2012 using ambulatory assessment to investigate within-subject associations between momentary affective states and physical activity in everyday life. Generally, the literature overview detects a positive association, which appears stronger among those studies that were of high methodological quality.Third, we propose the use of ambulatory assessment intervention strategies to change people's behaviour (ambulatory assessment in

Momentary within-subject associations of affective states and physical behavior are moderated by weather conditions in real life: an ambulatory assessment study

Background. Physical behavior (PB) is a key lifestyle factor in regulating and preventing diseases across the lifespan. Researchers identified affective, cognitive, and contextual factors like weather conditions, as significant contributors in determining if individuals are physically active. However, there is scarce empirical evidence about potential associa‐ tions between PB and affective states influenced by weather conditions in daily life. Therefore, we explored if weather conditions moderated the within‐subject association between momentary affective states and subsequent PB. Methods. Utilizing ambulatory assessment, 79 participants completed electronic diaries about their affective states (i.e., valence, energetic arousal, and calmness) up to six times a day over five days, and their PB (i.e., physical activity and sedentariness) was simultaneously recorded via accelerometers. Weather conditions (i.e., temperature and pre‐ cipitation) recorded near participants’ locations served as moderators in the multilevel analyses. Results. We confirmed earlier findings associating affective states with PB. Increased valence and energetic arousal were positively associated with physical activity (β = 0.007; p < .001), whereas calmness predicted lower levels of physi‐ cal activity (β = ‐0.006; p < .001). Higher levels of calmness showed a positive association with sedentary behavior (β = 0.054; p = .003). In addition, we revealed a significant positive association between temperature, as a momentary weather condition, and physical activity (β = 0.025; p = .015). Furthermore, we showed that the association of affec‐ tive states and physical activity was moderated by temperature. Higher temperatures enhanced the positive effects of valence on physical activity (β = .001, p = .023) and attenuated the negative effects of calmness on physical activity (β = .001, p = .021). Moreover, higher temperatures enhanced the positive effects of valence on reduced sedentary behavior (β = ‐0.011, p = .043). Conclusions. Temperature alterations appeared to have an impact on subsequent physical activity. Furthermore, temperature alterations moderated the influence of affective states on conducted physical activity. This might offer the opportunity for just‐in‐time adaptive interventions to intervene in individually appropriate environmental conditions for promoting physical activity

Investigating binge eating using ecological momentary assessment: The importance of an appropriate sampling frequency

With great interest, we read the recently published review on emotion regulation in binge eating disorder (BED) by Dingemans et al. [1].[...

Using activity triggered e-diaries to reveal the associations between physical activity and affective states in older adult’s daily living

Background: Evidence suggests that elderly show positive affects after participating in an exercise program. However, it is less clear, how physical activities in daily living enhance affective states. This is surprising, as most of elderly’s physical activities are part of their daily living. We used activity-triggered e-diaries to investigate the within-subject effects of physical activity on three dimensions of affective states (valence, energetic arousal, calmness) in everyday life. Methods: Older adults (N = 74) between 50 and 70 years took part in the study during three consecutive days. Physical activity in daily living was objectively assessed with accelerometers. Affects were measured 10 minutes after a study participant surpassed a predefined threshold for activity or inactivity. The participants were prompted by an acoustic signal to assess their momentary affective states on an e-diary. Data were analyzed with hierarchical multilevel analyses. Results: When older individuals were more physically active, they felt more energized (energetic arousal) and agitated (calmness). However, they did not feel better (valence). Interestingly, body mass index (BMI) and valence were associated in a significant cross-level interaction, which demonstrates that BMI was a moderating variable. Lower BMI scores were associated with higher valence affect scores after being physically active. Conclusions: Activities in daily living only partially enhance the elderly’s affective states, because participants feel energized and agitated but not better. Accordingly to the moderating effect of BMI, older people with lower BMI feel better whereas older people with higher BMI did not feel better after being physically active in daily living

Valence and Motivation as Predictors of Student Time Use in Everyday Life: An Experience Sampling Study

Koudela-Hamila S, Grund A, Santangelo P, Ebner-Priemer UW. Valence and Motivation as Predictors of Student Time Use in Everyday Life: An Experience Sampling Study. FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY. 2019;10: 1430.Popular descriptions of studying frequency show remarkable discrepancies: students complain about their workload, and alumni describe freedom and pleasure. Unfortunately, empirical evidence on student time use is sparse. To investigate time use and reveal contributing psychological factors, we conducted an e-diary study. One hundred fifty-four students reported their time use and valence hourly over 7 days, both at the start of the semester and during their examination period. Motivational problems, social support and self-control were assessed once via questionnaires. Whereas the mean academic time use was in the expected range, the between-subject differences were substantial. We used multilevel modeling to separately analyze the within- and between-subject associations of valence as within factor and time use and social support, self-control, and motivation as between factors and time use. The analyses revealed the importance of affective factors on a within-subject level. Before studying, valence was already low, and it deteriorated further during studying. As expected at the between-subject level, motivational problems were related to less time studying, whereas surprisingly, self-control had no effect. The findings at the start of the semester were replicated in the examination period