The effect of physical activity on sleep quality, well-being, and affect in academic stress periods

The stress-buffering hypothesis postulates that physical activity and exercise can buffer the negative effects of (academic) stress on health. It still remains an open question whether students, who regularly engage in physical activity and exercise within their academic examination period, can successfully diminish these negative effects. Sixty-four subjects participated in this study and completed a total of five surveys, with T1 at the end of the semester break (baseline) and T2–T5 being presented every Friday in the last 4 weeks of the semester (examination period). They were asked to answer questions about their activity level, sleep quality, well-being and affect. Hierarchical linear models showed significant dependencies on time for all dependent measures. The expansion of the model for exercise also showed significant main effects of this predictor on well-being and positive affect (PA) and negative affect. Moreover, significant interactions with time for sleep quality and PA were found. Results suggest that physical activity and exercise in the academic examination period may be able to buffer the negative effects of stress on health-related outcomes. Therefore, activity levels should be maintained in times of high stress to prevent negative effects on sleep, well-being and affect in students

Changes in Physical Activity Patterns Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

With the outbreak of the Corona Virus Disease 19 (Covid-19) in late 2019, governments increasingly imposed containment strategies, including social distancing as well as restricted population movement, potentially having negative impacts on mental and physical health. A growing number of studies have examined the impact of the pandemic on different facets of physical activity (PA); an overview combining these (mixed) results, however, is missing. Thus, the objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to investigate whether and to which extent PA changed from before to during the Covid-19 pandemic, taking age, gender, and measurement method into account. The literature search was conducted using PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus. Results of the main characteristics were descriptively synthesized and analyzed in a meta-analysis quantifying effects of the pandemic on PA divided by age groups, with additional subgroup analyses of the characteristics age, gender, and measurement method being narratively synthesized. Overall, 57 studies with a total sample size of 119,094 participants (N between 10 and 60,560 subjects) from 14 countries worldwide with participants aged between four and 93 years were included. Thirty-two studies revealed a significant decline in PA, whereas only five studies found a significant increase in PA during the Covid-19 pandemic. Fourteen studies revealed mixed results. PA decreased in all age groups, independent of gender. Most self-reported and all device-based measurement methods showed a reduction in PA. However, effects were not found to be significant in all age groups. Nevertheless, the declining trend should be noted and governments should strive to enable PA within periods of pandemic restrictions, or promote alternatives such as digital training to avoid negative health consequences within the population

Anticipatory planning in childhood : The development of anticipatory motor planning and its relationship to executive functions

Der End-State Comfort (ESC) Effekt als Aspekt antizipativer Verhaltenskon-trolle spiegelt die Strategie einer Person wider, unangenehme Körperpositionen am Bewegungsende zu vermeiden. Bisher existieren nur wenige Studien zum ESC Effekt im Kindesalter, welche divergente Ergebnisse aufweisen. Mit Hilfe eines systematischen Reviews (Kapitel 2) konnten als mögliche Ursachen für diese inkonsistenten Befunde z.B. Alterseffekte, die Anzahl an nötigen Handlungsschritten, der Grad an erforderlicher Präzision, oder Unterschiede im Untersuchungsablauf, deklariert werden. In Kapitel 3 wurde eine weitere Annahme geprüft, welche besagt, dass die motorische Entwicklung auf der Entwicklung kognitiver (bzw. exekutiver) Funktionen beruht. Mit Hilfe einer Testbatterie, bestehend aus je drei Aufgaben zur Messung antizipativer Handlungskontrolle und zur Messung exekutiver Funktionen, konnte diese Annahme jedoch nicht bestätigt werden. Interessant ist außerdem, dass die unterschiedlichen Tests innerhalb der einzelnen Altersgruppen ebenfalls nicht miteinander zusammenzuhängen scheinen, was für eine interindividuell unterschiedliche Entwicklung der einzelnen Fähigkeiten spricht. Der Fokus zukünftiger Studien sollte daher in der Erforschung der in Kapitel 2 dargestellten Ursachen für die inkonsistenten Befunde liegen. Weiterhin sollten Ursachen dafür gefunden werden, dass die in Kapitel 3 verwendeten Sub-Tests keine Korrelationen aufweisen. Ein weiterer Fokus sollte auf dem möglichen Einfluss weiterer kognitiver Funktionen, wie z.B. der Inhibition, liegen.The end-state comfort (ESC) effect is an important aspect of anticipatory be-havioral control. It reflects a persons strategy to avoid uncomfortable body positions at the end of movements. As the focus of previous studies primarily laid on young adults, there are only few studies on the ESC effect in children, which show divergent findings. By means of the systematic review (Chapter 2), possible reasons for these inconsistent findings were provided (e.g. age effects, the number of action-steps, precision requirements, or task differences). One assumption provided in the systematic review was examined in Chapter 3. This assumption implied that motor development relies on the development of cognitive control, mainly on the development of executive functions. Therefore, a test battery was designed, consisting of three motor tasks to measure ESC and three cognitive tasks to measure executive functions. Nevertheless, results were not able to approve the assumption. An important finding was that the performance in the different motor and cognitive tasks were not related to each other, suggesting an interindividually different developmental trajectory for each of them. The focus of future studies should rely on the examination of potential constraints on ESC planning, like those outlined in Chapter 2, which possibly influenced the developmental trajectories of the ESC effect in childhood and caused the inconsistent findings in the studies reviewed. Moreover, causes should be detected for the fact, that the tasks used in Chapter 3 were not related to each other. Another focus should be on the influence of other executive functions, like inhibition, on the development of ESC.Tag der Verteidigung: 20.01.2015Paderborn, Univ., Diss., 201

Open Science in German Sport Psychology: State of the Art and Future Directions [Open Science in der deutschen Sportpsychologie. Wo wir stehen und wo es hingehen soll]

Open Science ist eine wichtige Entwicklung in der Wissenschaft, nicht nur, um die Replikationskrise oder Vertrauenskrise zu überwinden, sondern auch, um offen und transparent Forschungsprozesse zu beschreiben und um Replikation und Reproduktion zu ermöglichen. Die vorliegende Studie beschreibt den aktuellen Stand der Dinge zu Open Science-bezogenen Einstellungen, Verhaltensweisen und Intentionen sowie Gründe für eine mögliche Zurückhaltung bezogen auf Open Science. Insgesamt zeigten die Ergebnisse eine Kongruenz zwischen Open Science-bezogenen Einstellungen und Intentionen, wobei Open Science-bezogenes Verhalten diesen jedoch noch nachsteht. Als Gründe für diese verhaltensbezogene Zurückhaltung gaben die Wissenschaftler_innen zeitliche Limitationen, Zeitkonflikte und antizipierte kompetitive Nachteile, wenn nicht alle Wissenschaftler_innen Open Science betrieben, an. In Summe legen diese Ergebnisse nahe, dass die Open Science Entwicklung klar in der deutschsprachigen Sportpsychologie angekommen ist, aber dass es noch Potential zur Verbesserung gibt, insbesondere bezogen auf das Verhalten

The Tridirectional Relationship among Physical Activity, Stress, and Academic Performance in University Students: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Higher education students often suffer from physiological and psychological health problems caused by stress, which may negatively impact their academic performance (AP). Physical activity (PA) can be a promising strategy to buffer these stress-induced complaints. Therefore, the aim of this investigation was to summarize evidence for the tridimensional construct of PA, stress, and AP, as well as to quantify the relationships among these variables. Five databases (PubMed, Scopus, SMEI, ERIC, and Web of Science) were systematically searched in November 2019 for publications that examined PA, stress, and AP of university students, without any restrictions regarding the publication period. The systematic review includes four original research studies with a moderate-to-high risk of bias. Results of included studies were narratively summarized and quantified in a meta-analysis using random effect models. Whereas study results point to a positive relation between PA and AP, relationships between PA and stress seem to be negative, while the relation between stress and AP is undecided. The meta-analysis found no significant associations and considerable heterogeneity of the results. Findings indicate a research gap concerning the connection of PA, stress, and AP in university students. Future studies should use validated measuring tools and consider the timepoint of data collection in order to extract truly stressful periods

Key facets to build up eHealth and mHealth interventions to enhance physical activity, sedentary behavior and nutrition in healthy subjects – an umbrella review

Background Electronic (eHealth) and mobile (mHealth) health interventions can provide a large coverage, and are promising tools to change health behavior (i.e. physical activity, sedentary behavior and healthy eating). However, the determinants of intervention effectiveness in primary prevention has not been explored yet. Therefore, the objectives of this umbrella review were to evaluate intervention effectiveness, to explore the impact of pre-defined determinants of effectiveness (i.e. theoretical foundations, behavior change techniques, social contexts or just-in-time adaptive interventions), and to provide recommendations for future research and practice in the field of primary prevention delivered via e/mHealth technology. Methods PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library were searched for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (reviews) published between January 1990 and May 2020. Reviews reporting on e/mHealth behavior change interventions in physical activity, sedentary behavior and/or healthy eating for healthy subjects (i.e. subjects without physical or physiological morbidities which would influence the realization of behaviors targeted by the respective interventions) were included if they also investigated respective theoretical foundations, behavior change techniques, social contexts or just-in-time adaptive interventions. Included studies were ranked concerning their methodological quality and qualitatively synthesized. Results The systematic search revealed 11 systematic reviews and meta-analyses of moderate quality. The majority of original research studies within the reviews found e/mHealth interventions to be effective, but the results showed a high heterogeneity concerning assessment methods and outcomes, making them difficult to compare. Whereas theoretical foundation and behavior change techniques were suggested to be potential positive determinants of effective interventions, the impact of social context remains unclear. None of the reviews included just-in-time adaptive interventions. Conclusion Findings of this umbrella review support the use of e/mHealth to enhance physical activity and healthy eating and reduce sedentary behavior. The general lack of precise reporting and comparison of confounding variables in reviews and original research studies as well as the limited number of reviews for each health behavior constrains the generalization and interpretation of results. Further research is needed on study-level to investigate effects of versatile determinants of e/mHealth efficiency, using a theoretical foundation and additionally explore the impact of social contexts and more sophisticated approaches like just-in-time adaptive interventions. Trial registration The protocol for this umbrella review was a priori registered with PROSPERO: CRD42020147902

Comparison of Self-Reported and Device-Based Measured Physical Activity Using Measures of Stability, Reliability, and Validity in Adults and Children

Quantification of physical activity (PA) depends on the type of measurement and analysis method making it difficult to compare adherence to PA guidelines. Therefore, test-retest reliability, validity, and stability for self-reported (i.e., questionnaire and diary) and device-based measured (i.e., accelerometry with 10/60 s epochs) PA was compared in 32 adults and 32 children from the SMARTFAMILY study to examine if differences in these measurement tools are systematic. PA was collected during two separate measurement weeks and the relationship for each quality criteria was analyzed using Spearman correlation. Results showed the highest PA values for questionnaires followed by 10-s and 60-s epochs measured by accelerometers. Levels of PA were lowest when measured by diary. Only accelerometry demonstrated reliable, valid, and stable results for the two measurement weeks, the questionnaire yielded mixed results and the diary showed only a few significant correlations. Overall, higher correlations for the quality criteria were found for moderate than for vigorous PA and the results differed between children and adults. Since the differences were not found to be systematic, the choice of measurement tools should be carefully considered by anyone working with PA outcomes, especially if vigorous PA is the parameter of interest

Sleep quality, valence, energetic arousal, and calmness as predictors of device-based measured physical activity during a three-week mHealth intervention – An ecological momentary assessment study within the SMARTFAMILY trial = Schlafqualität, Valenz, energetische Erregung und Ruhe als Prädiktoren für gerätegestützt gemessene körperliche Aktivität während einer dreiwöchigen mHealth-Intervention – Eine ökologische Momentaufnahme-Studie im Rahmen der SMARTFAMILY-Studie

Physical inactivity is known to be a risk factor for several noncommunicable diseases and has a high prevalence in today’s society. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the psychological factors associated with physical activity (PA). Recent developments in the field of ambulatory assessment and technological advances are promising to enhance our understanding of this relationship by analyzing longitudinal data within- and between-persons. These analyses can reveal important factors to design behavior change interventions to enhance PA. Therefore, this study used an ecological momentary assessment during the 3‑week intervention period in the SMARTFAMILY2.0 trial and aimed to investigate whether valence, calmness, energetic arousal, and sleep quality predict daily steps and moderate to vigorous PA. Overall, 49 adults (35–60 years) and 40 children (5–19 years) were included in this analysis and self-rated their mental state within our smartphone application while also wearing a hip-worn accelerometer for 21 consecutive days (996 days included) during the intervention period. Multilevel analyses were conducted to predict daily PA while considering covariables (e.g., child/adult and non-wear time) both within- and between-persons. The results indicated that higher than average ratings of a person’s valence and energetic arousal on one day predicted increased PA while higher than average calmness predicted decreased PA at the same day within this person. Sleep quality and between-person effects of the affective states showed no clear associations to PA. Overall, these results showed that within-person associations of valence, calmness, and energetic arousal should be considered when designing PA interventions for both children and adults. The influence of sleep quality, as well as between-person effects, should be further explored by future studies