Abstract
Purpose This longitudinal study examined ‘normal’, ‘reversed’, and ‘reciprocal’ relationships between (1) physical activity and work-related fatigue; and (2) physical activity and task demands. Furthermore, the effects of across-time change in meaningful physical activity groups on levels of employees’ work-related fatigue and task demands were studied. These groups were based on employees’ compliance with the international physical activity norm.MethodsTwo waves with a one-year time lag of a national representative survey on the quality of work, health, and well-being among Dutch employees were used (N = 2275). Longitudinal effects were tested using Structural Equation Modelling. Meaningful physical activity groups were compared using group-by-time analysis of covariance.ResultsSupport was found for reciprocal relations between physical activity and work-related fatigue. It was found that an increase in physical activity is associated with a decrease in work-related fatigue over time and that an increase in work-related fatigue is associated with a decrease in physical activity over time. No significant longitudinal relations were found between physical activity and task demands. Employees whose compliance with the physical activity norm changed over time showed fairly stable levels of work-related fatigue and task demands.ConclusionsThe current findings provide evidence for the potential role of physical activity in the prevention and reduction in work-related fatigue. However, results also indicate that fatigued workers, who would benefit most from physical activity, are less physically active. Our results further indicate that relying on changes in compliance to the physical activity norm may not be the most suitable way to examine changes in work-related fatigue.
Highlights
There is a growing body of evidence that physical activity is an effective remedy against mental health problems (Conn 2010; Cooney et al 2013)
Our results further indicate that relying on changes in compliance to the physical activity norm may not be the most suitable way to examine changes in work-related fatigue
We focused on work-related fatigue as an indicator of work-related mental health problems, as work-related fatigue is the most commonly reported element of burnout (Maslach et al 2001) and prevalent among the working population
Summary
There is a growing body of evidence that physical activity is an effective remedy against mental health problems (Conn 2010; Cooney et al 2013). The ‘bi-directional’ relationships between physical activity and work-related mental health need to be addressed. Existing studies almost exclusively focused on the question how physical activity affects work-related mental health Bernaards et al 2006; Carson et al 2010; Jonsdottir et al 2010), and ignored the possibility that employees’ work-related mental health status may influence the amount of physical activity they engage. Int Arch Occup Environ Health (2016) 89:89–101 in This is unfortunate, as it may be expected that employees who report high levels of work-related fatigue lack the resources to engage in regular physical activity. It is likely that work-related mental health and physical activity mutually affect each other
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