ENERGY EXPENDITURE OF PROMPTED ACTIVE TELEVISION VIEWING

PURPOSE: Incorporating stepping during television commercials has shown to be equally effective at increasing steps as traditional exercise. This study introduced the idea of prompted active television viewing (PATV). PATV uses common character mannerisms within the television program as the antecedent to promote physical activity while watching television. The aim of this study was to determine energy expenditure during sedentary television viewing (SED-TV), commercial stepping during a television program (COMM-TV) and physical activity prompted by common character phrases/mannerisms within a television program (PATV). METHODS: Subjects were 38 adults (age: 27.0 ± 8.0 years, BMI: 25.4 ± 4.2 kg/m2). Who completed three experimental sessions SED-TV, COMM-TV, and PATV, in random order. Energy expenditure and heart rate were assessed during each session. Enjoyment was assessed after the initial experimental session and at completion of the study. RESULTS: There was significantly higher energy expenditure in the active versus sedentary session (COMM-TV vs SED-TV: difference = 32.7 ± 1.9 kcal, p<0.001; PATV vs SED-TV difference = 34.4 ± 1.9 kcal, p<0.001), and no difference among active sessions (COMM-TV vs PATV difference= 1.7 ± 1.5 kcal, p = 0.827). Males had higher energy expenditure (p=0.016), but not after adjustment for body weight (p=0.776). Significantly more minutes were spent in moderate activity in active versus sedentary sessions (METS ≥ 3.0: SED-TV = 0 mins, COMM-TV =4 .6 ± 3.6 mins, PATV = 4.3 ± 3.4 mins; HR ≥ 50% HRmax: SED-TV = 1.1 ± 4.9 mins, COMM-TV = 5.7 ± 4.8 mins, PATV = 7.2 ± 8.5 mins). No significant difference in frequency of moderate intensity minutes was found between COMM-TV and PATV. Assessing enjoyment of initial session found no significant difference in PATV compared to SED-TV (p=0.150) and COMM-TV compared to PATV (p=1.000). COMM-TV was significantly more enjoyable than SED-TV (p=0.048). CONCLUSION: PATV has the ability to offer higher energy expenditure and activity intensity then SED-TV and equivalent energy expenditure and activity intensity as stepping during television commercials. Replacing of sedentary television viewing with prompted active television viewing may be sufficient to reduce sedentary behavior, prevent weight gain, and elicit additional health benefits