“Keeping Moving”: factors associated with sedentary behaviour among older people recruited to an exercise promotion trial in general practice

Background Sedentary behaviour is detrimental to health, even in those who achieve recommended levels of physical activity. Efforts to increase physical activity in older people so that they reach beneficial levels have been disappointing. Reducing sedentary behaviour may improve health and be less demanding of older people, but it is not clear how to achieve this. We explored the characteristics of sedentary older people enrolled into an exercise promotion trial to gain insights about those who were sedentary but wanted to increase activity. Method Participants in the ProAct65+ trial (2009–2013) were categorised as sedentary or not using a self-report questionnaire. Demographic data, health status, self-rated function and physical test performance were examined for each group. 1104 participants aged 65 & over were included in the secondary analysis of trial data from older people recruited via general practice. Results were analysed using logistic regression with stepwise backward elimination. Results Three hundred eighty seven (35 %) of the study sample were characterised as sedentary. The likelihood of being categorised as sedentary increased with an abnormal BMI (25 kg/m2) (Odds Ratio 1.740, CI 1.248–2.425), ever smoking (OR 1.420, CI 1.042–1.934) and with every additional medication prescribed (OR 1.069, CI 1.016–1.124). Participants reporting better self-rated physical health (SF-12) were less likely to be sedentary; (OR 0.961, 0.936–0.987). Participants’ sedentary behaviour was not associated with gender, age, income, education, falls, functional fitness, quality of life or number of co-morbidities. Conclusion Some sedentary older adults will respond positively to an invitation to join an exercise study. Those who did so in this study had poor self-rated health, abnormal BMI, a history of smoking, and multiple medication use, and are therefore likely to benefit from an exercise intervention

‘My desire is to be the possessor of all the best books in this world of struggle’: respectability and literary materialism in colonial Ibadan

The Nigerian novelist, Ben Okri, gives us a vivid picture of books on display in his childhood home. We glimpse the potency of literary knowledge, and also a world of aspirant respectability that had deeper, colonial, origins. Silver Okri was originally a railway clerk, who in 1959 won a scholarship to study law in London. This was shortly after the birth of his son Ben in the northern Nigerian town of Minna, which lay at the junction of two important railway routes (Jaggi 2007). Like many others before him, it appears that Silver Okri saw clerical work as a stepping-stone to a more prestigious profession.Research Leave Award from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (grant number 113102

New Contemporaries Moving Image 1968-2010

Produced to coincide with New Contemporaries' 65th anniversary, this compilation selected by world-renowned artists Ed Atkins, Harold Offeh and Catherine Yass, reveals the rich history of artists' moving image in New Contemporaries between 1968 and 2010. Includes Big Iron Door, Richard Squires. Published by LUX & New Contemporaries as 2 videodiscs