Minimal exercise, maximum benefit? Comparing incidental physical activity with structured exercise participation on three measures of well-being in a group of corporate employees

In response to increasingly sedentary workplaces, many organizations utilise employee well-being programmes that include physical activity. Physical activity is purported to have physiological benefits and improve overall mental well-being and is assumed will benefit the organization through reduced absenteeism rates and enhanced job satisfaction. Whilst research found associations between engagement in exercise and increased levels of well-being, conflicting support exists for reduced absenteeism and little support was found for enhanced job satisfaction. Much research has also failed to consider any mediating effects that stress may have had on the outcome. In addition, there exists little research that compared the effects of general physical activity with structured exercise participation on reports of well-being, which may be of use for wellbeing programme policy. This paper will review the literature regarding exercise and physical activity and the effects on factors of subjective well-being, job satisfaction and stress. Weaknesses as well as strengths in the body of knowledge will be reviewed, it will be suggested that it is timely and important to further investigations in this area. Objectives: Whilst the world health organisation (WHO) asserts that western societies show insufficient levels of physical activity (PA), research has paid little attention to the contribution of non regimented activities to well-being. The current study compared global well-being (GWB), job satisfaction (JS) and perceived stress (PS) between corporate employees who engage in sport and those, less active, whose PA is intertwined in their daily routine. Four predictions were tested. Firstly, the sport group would report significantly higher GWB. Secondly, there would be a significant positive correlation between PA and GWB. Thirdly, there would be a significant negative correlation between PS and PA levels. Fourthly, there would be a significant negative correlation between PS and JS. Design: Cross sectional survey Methods: Participants were 216 corporate employees (n =162 females & n =54 males). They completed sport and leisure indexes of a sport questionnaire. GWB was assessed with the satisfaction with life scale, JS with a job satisfaction scale, and PS using a four item perceived stress scale. Data analysis comprised two MANOVAs and bivariate correlations. Results: The first hypothesis was not supported as the leisure group reported a statistically higher level of GWB. Hypotheses two and three were both supported. Hypothesis four was not supported as a non significant negative correlation was found. Conclusion: The findings suggest that whilst physical activity overall does contribute to enhanced GWB and reduced PS, the activities are optimally rewarding when incorporated into daily routine. JS, however, was significantly higher for the sport group

A Holocene record of human induced and natural environmental change from Lake Forsyth (Te Wairewa), New Zealand

A 1.2 m sediment core from Lake Forsyth, Canterbury, New Zealand, records the development of the catchment/lake system over the last 7000 years, and its response to anthropogenic disturbance following European settlement c. 1840 AD. Pollen was used to reconstruct catchment vegetation history, while foraminifera, chironomids, Trichoptera, and the abundance of Pediastrum simplex colonies were used to infer past environmental conditions within the lake. The basal 30 cm of core records the transition of the Lake Forsyth Basin from a tidal embayment to a brackish coastal lake. Timing of closure of the lake mouth could not be accurately determined, but it appears that Lake Forsyth had stabilised as a slightly brackish, oligo-mesotrophic shallow lake by about 500 years BP. Major deforestation occurred on Banks Peninsula between 1860 AD and 1890 AD. This deforestation is marked by the rapid decline in the main canopy trees (Prumnopitys taxifolia (matai) and Podocarpus totara/hallii (totara/mountain totara), an increase in charcoal, and the appearance of grasses. At around 1895 AD, pine appears in the record while a willow (Salix spp.) appears somewhat later. Redundancy analysis (RDA) of the pollen and aquatic species data revealed a significant relationship between regional vegetation and the abundance of aquatic taxa, with the percentage if disturbance pollen explaining most (14.8%) of the constrained variation in the aquatic species data. Principle components analysis (PCA) of aquatic species data revealed that the most significant period of rapid biological change in the lakes history corresponded to the main period of human disturbance in the catchment. Deforestation led to increased sediment and nutrient input into the lake which was accompanied by a major reduction in salinity. These changes are inferred from the appearance and proliferation of freshwater algae (Pediastrum simplex), an increase in abundance and diversity of chironomids, and the abundance of cases and remains from the larvae of the caddisfly, Oecetis unicolor. Eutrophication accompanied by increasing salinity of the lake is inferred from a significant peak and then decline of P. simplex, and a reduction in the abundance and diversity of aquatic invertebrates. The artificial opening of the lake to the Pacific Ocean, which began in the late 1800s, is the likely cause of the recent increase in salinity. An increase in salinity may have also encouraged blooms of the halotolerant and hepatotoxic cyanobacteria Nodularia spumigena