41 research outputs found
Weekday and weekend patterns of objectively measured sitting, standing, and stepping in a sample of office-based workers: the active buildings study
Background: There is a growing body of research into the total amount and patterns of sitting, standing and
stepping in office-based workers and few studies using objectively measured sitting and standing. Understanding
these patterns may identify daily times opportune for interventions to displace sitting with activity.
Methods: A sample of office-based workers (n = 164) residing in England were fitted with thigh-worn ActivPal
accelerometers and devices were worn 24 hours a day for five consecutive days, always including Saturday and
Sunday and during bathing and sleeping. Daily amounts and patterns of time spent sitting, standing, stepping and
step counts and frequency of sit/stand transitions, recorded by the ActivPal accelerometer, were reported.
Results: Total sitting/standing time was similar on weekdays (10.6/4.1 hrs) and weekends (10.6/4.3 hrs). Total step
count was also similar over weekdays (9682 ± 3872) and weekends (9518 ± 4615). The highest physical activity levels
during weekdays were accrued at 0700 to 0900, 1200 to 1400, and 1700 to 1900; and during the weekend at 1000
to 1700. During the weekday the greatest amount of sitting was accrued at 0900 to 1200, 1400 to 1700, and 2000
to 2300, and on the weekend between 1800 and 2300. During the weekday the greatest amount of standing was
accrued between 0700 and 1000 and 1700 and 2100, and on the weekend between 1000 and 1800. On the
weekday the highest number of sit/stand transitions occurred between 0800 to 0900 and remained consistently
high until 1800. On the weekend, the highest number occurred between 1000 to 1400 and 1900 to 2000.
Conclusion: Office based-workers demonstrate high levels of sitting during both the working week and weekend.
Interventions that target the working day and the evenings (weekday and weekend) to displace sitting with activity
may offer most promise for reducing population levels of sedentary behaviour and increasing physical activity
levels, in office-based workers residing in England
Occupational physical activity habits of UK office workers: cross-sectional data from the Active Buildings Study
Habitual behaviours are learned responses that are triggered automatically by associated environmental cues. The unvarying nature of most workplace settings makes workplace physical activity a prime candidate for a habitual behaviour, yet the role of habit strength in occupational physical activity has not been investigated. Aims of the present study were to (i) document occupational physical activity habit strength, and (ii) investigate associations between occupational activity habit strength and occupational physical activity levels. A sample of UK office-based workers (n=116; 53% female, median age 40 years [SD 10.52]) was fitted with activPAL accelerometers worn for 24 hours on 5 consecutive days, providing an objective measure of occupational step counts, stepping time, sitting time, standing time and sit-to-stand transitions. A self-report index measured the automaticity of two occupational physical activities (âbeing activeâ [e.g. walking to printers, coffee machines] and âstair climbingâ). Adjusted linear regression models investigated the association between occupational activity habit strength and objectively-measured occupational step counts, stepping time, sitting time, standing time and sit-to-stand transitions. 81% of the sample reported habits for âbeing activeâ, and 62% reported habits for âstair climbingâ. In adjusted models, reported habit strength for âbeing activeâ were positively associated with average occupational sit-to-stand transitions per hour (B=0.340, 95%CI: 0.053 to 0.627, p= 0.021). âStair climbingâ habit strength was unexpectedly negatively associated with average hourly stepping time (B=-0.01, 95%CI: -0.01 to -0.00, p= 0.006) and average hourly occupational step count (B=-38.34, 95% CI:-72.81 to -3.88, p= 0.030), which may reflect that people with stronger stair-climbing habits compensate by walking fewer steps overall. Results suggest that stair-climbing and office-based occupational activity can be habitual. Interventions might fruitfully promote habitual workplace activity, though in light of potential compensation effects, such interventions should perhaps focus on promoting moderate-intensity activity
Indoor school environments, physical activity, sitting behaviour and pedagogy: a scoping review
Physical activity levels in children are low and sitting time high, despite the health benefits of regular physical activity and limited sitting. Children spend a large proportion of their time at school, hence school-based interventions targeting physical activity and sitting behaviour may be important. Whilst some aspects of school buildings, their layout and furniture may influence children's physical activity and sitting, these effects could be intertwined with pedagogical approaches. This scoping review aims to identify gaps in the research literature regarding the influence of the indoor school environment on pedagogical approaches and on physical activity and sitting. In primary schools, it was found that physical activity can be integrated into lessons with some benefits on academic behaviour and possibly academic performance. Overall, however, the role of the indoor built environment is poorly investigated, although a handful of studies suggest that a radical change in primary school classrooms may increase physical activity and that stand-biased desks may be promising. This study provides a contribution to the emerging research fields of âactive designâ from the perspective of indoor school design, highlighting a dearth of research, especially on sitting and for secondary education, and a lack of relevant conceptual frameworks
The potential of food environment policies to reduce socioeconomic inequalities in diets and to improve healthy diets among lower socioeconomic groups: an umbrella review
Socioeconomic inequalities in diets need to be tackled to improve population diets and prevent obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases. The potential of food environment policies to reduce such inequalities has to date however not been appraised. The objective of this umbrella review was to assess the impact of food environment policies on socioeconomic inequalities in diets and to identify knowledge gaps in the existing literature, using the Healthy Food Environment Policy Index as a conceptual framework. The policies considered in the umbrella review are within six domains: 1) food composition 2) food labelling 3) food promotion 4) food provision 5) food retail 6) food pricing. A systematic search for systematic literature reviews on the effect of food environment policies on dietary-related outcomes across socioeconomic groups and published in English between 2004 and 2019 was conducted. Sixteen systematic literature reviews encompassing 159 primary studies were included, covering food composition (n = 2), food labelling (n = 3), food provision (n = 2), food prices (n = 13) and food in retail (n = 4). Quality assessment using the âAssessing the Methodological Quality of Systematic Reviewsâ quality rating scale showed that review quality was mainly low or critically low. Results suggest that food taxation may reduce socioeconomic inequalities in diets. For all other policy areas, the evidence base was poor. Current research largely fails to provide good quality evidence on impacts of food environment policies on socioeconomic inequalities in diets. Research to fill this knowledge gap is urgently needed.publishedVersio
How theory can help to understand the potential impact of food environment policies on socioeconomic inequalities in diet: an application of Bourdieu's capital theory and the scarcity theory
Government policies that promote healthy food environments are considered promising to reduce socioeconomic inequalities in diet. Empirical evidence of effects on these inequalities, however, is relatively scarce and, with a few exceptions, tends to be inconclusive. We use two contemporary theories that help to understand socioeconomic inequalities in health and health-related behaviours (Bourdieu's capital theory and Mullainathan and Shafir's scarcity theory) to reason how policies influencing food environments may differentially impact lower and higher socioeconomic groups. In essence, these theories enable us to understand how specific elements of broader daily living conditions (e.g. social practices that lead to habitus formation, material conditions that shape experiences of scarcity) may lead to a greater benefit of certain food environment policies for the healthfulness of diets of lower or higher socioeconomic groups. We conclude that the application of theories on the mechanisms underlying socioeconomic inequalities in health can help to guide future empirical studies in testing theory-based hypotheses on differential effects of policies, and thereby enhance the development of effective policies tackling socioeconomic inequalities in dietary intakes
Cross-sectional interactions between quality of the physical and social environment and self-reported physical activity in adults living in income-deprived communities
Background: Understanding the environmental determinants of physical activity in populations at high risk of inactivity could contribute to the development of effective interventions. Socioecological models of activity propose that environmental factors have independent and interactive effects of physical activity but there is a lack of research into interactive effects.
Objectives:
This study aimed to explore independent and interactive effects of social and physical environmental factors on self-reported physical activity in income-deprived communities.
Methods:
Participants were 5,923 adults in Glasgow, United Kingdom. Features of the social environment were self-reported. Quality of the physical environment was objectively-measured. Neighbourhood walking and participation in moderate physical activity [MPA] on â„5 days/week was self-reported. Multilevel multivariate logistic regression models tested independent and interactive effects of environmental factors on activity.
Results:
âSocial supportâ (walking: OR:1.22,95%CI=1.06-1.41,p<0.01; MPA: OR:0.79,95%CI=0.67-0.94,p<0.01), âsocial interactionâ (walking: OR:1.25,95%CI=1.10-1.42,p<0.01; MPA: OR:6.16,95%CI=5.14-7.37,p<0.001) and âcohesion and safetyâ (walking: OR:1.78,95%CI=1.56-2.03,p<0.001; MPA: OR:1.93,95%CI=1.65-2.27,p<0.001), but not âtrust and empowermentâ, had independent effects on physical activity. âAesthetics of built formâ (OR:1.47,95%CI=1.22-1.77,p<0.001) and âaesthetics and maintenance of open spaceâ (OR:1.32, 95%CI=1.13-1.54,p<0.01) were related to walking. âPhysical disorderâ (OR:1.63,95%CI=1.31-2.03,p<0.001) had an independent effect on MPA. Interactive effects of social and physical factors on walking and MPA were revealed.
Conclusions:
Findings suggest that intervening to create activity-supportive environments in deprived communities may be most effective when simultaneously targeting the social and physical neighbourhood environment
Shape and location effects on filled- and empty-intervals as indicators of an independent temporal code in working memory
Objectives
Using the filled-duration illusion, this study investigated the existence of an independent temporal code operating in working memory. Extending research suggesting the principle distinction between filled- and empty-temporal-intervals is additional non-temporal information in filled-intervals, we explored whether the working memory mechanism of binding operates between temporal and non-temporal information in filled-interval memory representations. Such a finding would evidence a temporal code independent of non-temporal codes in empty-intervals. Previously no study has applied this aspect of the working memory framework to cognitive levels of time perception.
Methods
Thirty-two participants completed psychophysical tasks adopting the duration discrimination reminder task procedure in two experiments. One experiment looked at visual, shape information, the other looked at spatial, location information Reference intervals lasted 300msec and test intervals ranged from 200msec â 400msec. Intervals were either filled or empty. In half of the trails test-intervals were marked by non-temporal stimuli not matching those presenting reference-intervals (changing in shape or location). We predicted an effect of unmatched non-temporal information only on filled-intervals.
Results
Analyses investigated three dependent variables: accuracy, proportion of âlongerâ responses and bisection point. In the location experiment, a significant effect of unmatched non-temporal stimuli was found only in filled-interval trials, in âlongerâ analyses. Similar results were reported in the shape experiment, finding an additional effect of interval-type (filled versus empty). Analysis of means showed that unmatched non-temporal information effected filled-intervals in location and shape experiments differently.
Conclusion
An effect of changes in non-temporal information on only filled-interval trials indicates the existence of an independent temporal code, operating in working memory, with a capability to bind with non-temporal information. We suggest that differences in filled-intervals in the location and shape experiments reflect different binding processes operating between temporal information and these two types of non-temporal information
Weekday and weekend patterns of objectively measured sitting, standing, and stepping in a sample of office-based workers:the active buildings study
BACKGROUND: There is a growing body of research into the total amount and patterns of sitting, standing and stepping in office-based workers and few studies using objectively measured sitting and standing. Understanding these patterns may identify daily times opportune for interventions to displace sitting with activity.
METHODS: A sample of office-based workers (nâ=â164) residing in England were fitted with thigh-worn ActivPal accelerometers and devices were worn 24 hours a day for five consecutive days, always including Saturday and Sunday and during bathing and sleeping. Daily amounts and patterns of time spent sitting, standing, stepping and step counts and frequency of sit/stand transitions, recorded by the ActivPal accelerometer, were reported.
RESULTS: Total sitting/standing time was similar on weekdays (10.6/4.1 hrs) and weekends (10.6/4.3 hrs). Total step count was also similar over weekdays (9682â±â3872) and weekends (9518â±â4615). The highest physical activity levels during weekdays were accrued at 0700 to 0900, 1200 to 1400, and 1700 to 1900; and during the weekend at 1000 to 1700. During the weekday the greatest amount of sitting was accrued at 0900 to 1200, 1400 to 1700, and 2000 to 2300, and on the weekend between 1800 and 2300. During the weekday the greatest amount of standing was accrued between 0700 and 1000 and 1700 and 2100, and on the weekend between 1000 and 1800. On the weekday the highest number of sit/stand transitions occurred between 0800 to 0900 and remained consistently high until 1800. On the weekend, the highest number occurred between 1000 to 1400 and 1900 to 2000.
CONCLUSION: Office based-workers demonstrate high levels of sitting during both the working week and weekend. Interventions that target the working day and the evenings (weekday and weekend) to displace sitting with activity may offer most promise for reducing population levels of sedentary behaviour and increasing physical activity levels, in office-based workers residing in England
Understanding the impact of exposure to adverse socioeconomic conditions on chronic stress from a complexity science perspective
Background: Chronic stress increases chronic disease risk and may underlie the association between exposure to adverse socioeconomic conditions and adverse health outcomes. The relationship between exposure to such conditions and chronic stress is complex due to feedback loops between stressor exposure and psychological processes, encompassing different temporal (acute stress response to repeated exposure over the life course) and spatial (biological/psychological/social) scales. We examined the mechanisms underlying the relationship between exposure to adverse socioeconomic conditions and chronic stress from a complexity science perspective, focusing on amplifying feedback loops across different scales. Methods: We developed a causal loop diagram (CLD) to interpret available evidence from this perspective. The CLD was drafted by an interdisciplinary group of researchers. Evidence from literature was used to confirm/contest the variables and causal links included in the conceptual framework and refine their conceptualisation. Our findings were evaluated by eight independent researchers. Results: Adverse socioeconomic conditions imply an accumulation of stressors and increase the likelihood of exposure to uncontrollable childhood and life course stressors. Repetition of such stressors may activate mechanisms that can affect coping resources and coping strategies and stimulate appraisal of subsequent stressors as uncontrollable. We identified five feedback loops describing these mechanisms: (1) progressive deterioration of access to coping resources because of repeated insolvability of stressors; (2) perception of stressors as uncontrollable due to learned helplessness; (3) tax on cognitive bandwidth caused by stress; (4) stimulation of problem avoidance to provide relief from the stress response and free up cognitive bandwidth; and (5) susceptibility to appraising stimuli as stressors against a background of stress. Conclusions: Taking a complexity science perspective reveals that exposure to adverse socioeconomic conditions implies recurrent stressor exposure which impacts chronic stress via amplifying feedback loops that together could be conceptualised as one vicious cycle. This means that in order for individual-level psychological interventions to be effective, the context of exposure to adverse socioeconomic conditions also needs to be addressed
Supportive environments for physical activity in deprived communities in the United Kingdom: a qualitative study using photo elicitation
The health benefits of regular physical activity are substantial and well-established. However, population activity levels are insufficient to obtain health benefits in the United Kingdom (UK), and strategies to increase activity, particularly in income-deprived communities, are sought. Socioecological models of physical activity posit that activity levels are influenced by social, physical and wider environmental factors. In line with a growing evidence base, there is a need to understand the factors that contribute to an activity-supportive neighbourhood within deprived settings within the UK. This study used photo-elicitation qualitative interviews to explore environmental facilitators and barriers to neighbourhood-based, outdoor physical activity in 23 adults living in two income-deprived neighbourhoods in Glasgow, UK. Data were collected between June and October 2015, and were explored using thematic analysis.
Five themes were identified: âdiversity of destinations in the neighbourhoodâ, âprovision of services to support healthy environmentsâ, âownership of public space and facilities to encourage physical activityâ, âcollective control of public space to prevent disorderâ and âperceived value of the neighbourhoodâ. Findings highlighted the close interaction between these themes and more broadly between social and physical facets of neighbourhood environments that were unsupportive of physical activity. Discourse about economic aspects was pervasive and emerged as deeply affecting characteristics of the social and physical environment and upstream influences on physical activity. This study supports evidence that multi-faceted interventions addressing aspects of the social, physical and economic environment may be needed to support outdoor physical activity in deprived communities