Abstract
The aim of this paper is to describe and discuss some perspectives on definitions, constructs, and outcome parameters of physical behavior. The paper focuses on the following constructs: Physical activity and active lifestyle vs. sedentary behavior and sedentary lifestyle; Amount of physical activity vs. amount of walking; Detailed body posture and movement data vs. overall physical activity data; Behavioral context of activities; Quantity vs. quality; Physical behavior vs. physiological response. Subsequently, the following outcome parameters provided by data reduction procedures are discussed: Distribution of length of bouts; Variability in bout length; Time window; Intensity and intensity threshold. The overview indicates that physical behavior is a multi-dimensional construct, and it stresses the importance and relevance of constructs and parameters other than total amount of physical activity. It is concluded that the challenge for the future will be to determine which parameters are most relevant, valid and responsive. This is a matter for physical behavior researchers to consider, that is critical to multi-disciplinary collaboration.
Highlights
Over the last few decades, the methods used to objectively assess a person’s behavior in terms of body postures, body movements, and/or daily activities in a daily life setting have improved considerably
Outcome variables related to this type of behavior mainly focused on amount and volume parameters, such as number of steps, volume of physical activity as expressed by total number of counts, and total energy expenditure
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND ACTIVE LIFESTYLE vs. SEDENTARY BEHAVIOR AND SEDENTARY LIFESTYLE As already stated, physical activity can be defined as any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that requires energy expenditure (Caspersen et al, 1985)
Summary
Over the last few decades, the methods used to objectively assess a person’s behavior in terms of body postures (e.g., sitting, standing), body movements (e.g., walking, cycling), and/or daily activities (e.g., sports, gardening) in a daily life setting have improved considerably. Vagueness and variability exist in terminology, concepts and definition of behavior related to body postures, movements and daily activities An example of this is the term physical activity. In 2004 Garssen et al performed a study on effects of training in severely fatigued patients with Guillain Barre Syndrome (Garssen et al, 2004) It was assumed by doctors and therapists that this group had a low level of physical fitness, that they were hypoactive and that they had a lot of problems with functioning and participation in daily life. In the discussion section it was concluded: “In contrast with most physiologic and subjective variables, objectively measured daily physical activity using the Rotterdam Activity Monitor did not show any significant increase in activity This may suggest that changing the level of daily physical activity is not an important adaptation strategy in these fatigued patients.”. Perspectives on measuring physical behavior does not pretend to give a complete overview of literature, but aims to demonstrate by examples that physical behavior is more than total amount of activity
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