Daily Physical Activity-related Fluctuations In Body-awareness: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study

Abstract

The positive influence of physical activity on body-awareness is well documented, however little is known about acute within-person relationships in daily life. Identifying differences resulting from varying characteristics of physical activity could reveal important mechanistic information for interventions. PURPOSE: To assess daily physical activity-related fluctuations in body-awareness. METHODS: A seven-day smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment was completed by 32 students (Mage = 22.35 ± 2.20, 54% F, MBMI = 23.21 ± 2.65). Interoceptive accuracy, the accurate detection and tracking of internal bodily signals, was measured at baseline, whilst daily fluctuations in perceived body-awareness were measured using a validated questionnaire. Participants responded on physical activity-triggered smartphones, also reporting activity type across the last 15 minutes. RESULTS: Preliminary multi-level analyses revealed no association between accelerometer-assessed movement acceleration intensity and body-awareness (B = 0.00 p = .831). Considering physical activity type, however, we found significant increases following physical activity performed in a sport setting (B = 3.81, p = <0.001), yet no effect for daily physical activity e.g., walking upstairs (B = 0.09, p = .803). Furthermore, whilst interoceptive accuracy was associated with higher perceived body-awareness (B = 5.92, p = .041), no interaction with physical activity indicates that a better objective sense of the body did not moderate physical activity-related increases in perceived body-awareness. CONCLUSIONS: Characteristics e.g., context appear to moderate daily physical activity-related fluctuations in perceived body-awareness. More specifically, physical activity in a sport setting appeared to have distinct effects, whereas daily physical activity did not. This may be due to different motivational and attentional mechanisms between the two contexts, in line with previous research supporting the equal importance of cognitive (e.g., attention towards bodily signals) and physiological (e.g., salience of bodily signals) adaptations. These findings should inform future research investigating within-person determinants of body-awareness, taking characteristics of physical activity into consideration.