Abstract
The most common leisure-time activity is TV watching. An hour of TV contains ~16-20 min of commercials. Modifying TV watching behaviors by stepping in place during commercials (TV stepping) could increase physical activity (PA) (steps and time) in adults. PURPOSE: To evaluate the short-term effectiveness of TV stepping on adults' PA and TV viewing. A secondary aim was to test objective measures of PA under free-living conditions. METHODS: Twelve adults (36±15 y) participated in this study and wore 3 PA-monitoring devices [StepWatch-3 (criterion, on ankle), and Omron-HJ303 (on ankle and waist)] for 3 wk. During wk 1 (baseline), adults were asked to not alter their normal activity or TV habits to establish a baseline level of steps and TV viewing. In weeks 2 and 3 (TV stepping), adults received the same instructions, but with a goal of TV stepping for 120 min/day. Adults recorded daily steps, and self-reported time (min/day) spent TV viewing, and TV stepping in a logbook. RESULTS: Although the number of total daily steps was not significantly different between baseline (8054±3167), TV stepping 1 (8764±3122), and TV stepping 2 (8601±3011) (p=0.087), adults took more steps when watching TV during TV stepping 1 (1250±949) (p=0.019), and TV stepping 2 (871±475) (p=0.009) than at baseline (344±126). TV viewing time was reduced by about 34% to 109±55min/day (p=0.023) and 102±36min/day (p=0.005) during TV stepping 1 and 2 respectively, from 160±59min/day at baseline. TV stepping resulted in about 700 additional steps/day. There were no significant differences in any device's ability to count steps over the different conditions (p=0.66). On average, the StepWatch-3 (8473) counted more steps than the Omron ankle (5305), and Omron waist devices (4868) (p<0.05). The Omron ankle counted more steps than the Omron waist (p=0.022). CONCLUSION: TV stepping may be a useful strategy to increase activity levels of adults who find it difficult to find time in their day to exercise, but do spend time watching TV. It may also reduce TV viewing behavior. The Omron pedometers count about 40% fewer steps than the StepWatch-3, which we believe is due to the Omron under counting during free-living conditions. The effectiveness and efficacy of longer-term interventions focused on increasing the PA levels of adults with TV stepping should be investigated.
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