Sedentary Leisure Activities Research Articles

Finger clubbing and altered carbon monoxide transfer capacity in cannabis smokers: Table 1—

<h3>Aim</h3> The aim of this systematic review was to investigate the perceived barriers and facilitators to physical activity among children with disability. <h3>Methods</h3> 10 electronic databases were searched from the earliest time available to September 2010 to identify relevant articles. Articles were included if they examined the barriers or facilitators to physical activity for children with disability and were written in English. Articles were excluded if they included children with an acute, transient or chronic medical condition, examined sedentary leisure activities, or societal participation in general. Two reviewers independently assessed the search yields, extracted the data and assessed trial quality. Data were analysed descriptively. <h3>Results</h3> 14 articles met the inclusion criteria. Barriers included lack of knowledge and skills, the child9s preferences, fear, parental behaviour, negative attitudes to disability, inadequate facilities, lack of transport, programmes and staff capacity, and cost. Facilitators included the child9s desire to be active, practising skills, involvement of peers, family support, accessible facilities, proximity of location, better opportunities, skilled staff and information. <h3>Conclusion</h3> Personal, social, environmental, and policy and programme-related barriers and facilitators influence the amount of activity children with disability undertake. The barriers to physical activity have been studied more comprehensively than the facilitators.

Family and school determinants of overweight in 13‐year‐old Portuguese adolescents

To identify familial and school determinants of overweight in 13-year-old adolescents. All 27 public and 19 (79%) private schools allowed to contact age eligible students, 77.5% accepting to participate (1116 girls, 1045 boys). Self-administered questionnaires were completed and physical examination performed, including weight and height measurements. Overweight (> 95th percentile) and at risk of overweight (85th-95th) were defined using CDC standards. Its determinants were identified using logistic regression models, entering parents' education and all variables significantly associated in crude analysis. Prevalence of overweight (10.2%) and at risk of overweight (16.5%) was not influenced by type of school, vending machines and number of school canteen meals. In girls, the prevalence of body mass index (BMI) > 85th percentile increased significantly with decreasing age at menarche (45.7% if menstruating before 11-year and 13.2% when pre-menarche), and increasing parental BMI or time spent on sedentary activities. In multivariate analysis, age at menarche and increasing parental BMI remained significant risks in girls. In boys, besides parental BMI, ever smoking, sleeping < 9 h and sedentary leisure activities were significant determinants. Food offered at school had no significant impact on adolescents overweight, which was mainly dependent on parental anthropometrics and leisure time activities.

Compliance with the Australian national physical activity guidelines for children: Relationship to overweight status

Childhood obesity incidence has increased substantially and it has been argued that decreasing physical activity levels, coinciding with an increase in sedentary behaviours, are responsible. Australian guidelines were published in 2004, recommending that children participate in a minimum of 60 min of physical activity daily and spend no more than 2h a day using electronic media for entertainment. We aimed to compare compliance with these guidelines amongst children of differing weight status. The Childhood Injury Prevention Study (CHIPS) collected data from a randomly selected sample of Brisbane primary and preschool children aged 5-12 years. The following data were available for 518 participants: age, gender, measured height and weight and estimated time per week from a parent-completed 7 days diary in physical activity out of school and sedentary leisure activities including television viewing and computer use. Using age standardised body mass index estimates, approximately 20% of the cohort were overweight. Non-compliance with guidelines was 14.7% for out of school physical activity participation, and 30.9% for excess electronic media entertainment use. There was a 63% increase in the odds of overweight status amongst children who were non-compliant with the electronic entertainment recommendations than those who were compliant (adjusted odds ratio=1.63; 95% CI=1.05-2.54). Female gender and school level socioeconomic category were also independently associated with overweight status. Non-compliance with the minimal physical activity guideline increased the odds of being overweight by 28%, however this difference was not statistically significant. One in seven children from the Greater Brisbane area are at risk for being insufficiently active whilst a third overuse electronic media. Given that overuse of electronic entertainment was positively associated with childhood obesity, these children should be the target of public health campaigns to promote alternative leisure time activities.

Keeping it Simple: Encouraging walking as a means to active living

Behavioral medicine scientists are well aware of the negative health consequences of an inactive lifestyle and obesity. The numbers are alarming: at least 300,000 premature deaths a year, significant increased risk for chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes, consequent reduced quality and quantity of life, and more than $90 billion a year in direct U.S. health care costs (1). The percentage of obese U.S. adults has increased 74% between 1991 and 2001 (2), and the estimated current prevalence of obesity may be as high as 31% of adults (3). An estimated 75% of U.S. adults do not meet the recommended 30 min of moderate leisure-time activity on most days of the week, and about 33% are completely sedentary (4). In the past few years, the scientific literature and popular press have brought to our attention that the situation is equally bad or perhaps worse for adolescents and children (5,6). An emerging paradigm for addressing this health crisis is to examine the problem from an ecological perspective, not only to consider the intrapersonal and interpersonal factors that determine sedentary lifestyles but also to examine the impact of the physical environment and the broader concept of “Active Living” (7–9). According to this perspective, in the last half-century we have engineered physical activity out of our lives. Our communities are built to facilitate driving for transportation rather than walking or bicycling, labor-saving devices allow us to expend little energy on household tasks, and sedentary leisure activities seem to be attractive alternatives to more physically active options. As a result, walking, which is arguably the most basic of human behaviors for transportation and leisure, has been slowly eliminated by our own design. Studies show that the more moderate activity of walking can provide nearly all of the physical and mental health benefits of more vigorous forms of activity such as reduced risk for chronic diseases (e.g,. CVD, stroke, type 2 diabetes, anxiety, and depression) and decreased risk of all-cause mortality (10). Walking is the recommended activity prescription in a number of studies (11–14) and has the advantages of not requiring any special equipment or skills and being cost free. In addition, it can be done individually or in groups. This issue of Annals of Behavioral Medicine includes two articles that focus on walking. Fisher and Fuzhong report on a randomized trial of 56 neighborhoods to evaluate a 6-month walking group program for older adults (15). They found significant improvements on measures of physical and mental functioning and life satisfaction and in the amount of walking activity for intervention neighborhoods compared to control neighborhoods. This study demonstrates that a low-cost community-level intervention can positively impact not only activity levels but also perceived quality of life for neighborhoods. The community walking program did not require any special facilities or equipment and worked within each neighborhood’s existing environment. The study also demonstrates the feasibility of implementing a simple community program that can increase social support and enhance perceptions of the existing environment (e.g., reducing barriers, such as concerns about safety, and providing convenient walking routes). This study is a superb example of applying an ecological framework and revealing multiple program benefits to the community. Also in this issue, Tudor-Locke et al. tackle the basic issue of measuring walking behavior (16). Tudor-Locke and her colleagues previously published a number of studies on the use of pedometers for measuring walking activity (17–19). These inexpensive and unobtrusive devices are a great tool for providing feedback to individuals about the amount of steps they take. Step counts from pedometers have the potential to be an objective outcome measure and a motivating feedback mechanism for activity interventions. However, the field is still grappling with basic issues such as pedometer accuracy, step norms for different groups, factors that influence the variability of steps, and translation of health recommendations into steps-per-day guidelines. Tudor-Locke et al.’s article presents observational research of a full year of continuous self-monitoring using pedometers to determine the sources of natural variability of walking in an effort to better understand how to accurately measure steps with a pedometer. The findings revealed seasonal and weekly natural fluctuations in steps per day as well as individuals’ misperceptions about when they engaged in more or less activity. These misperceptions further emphasize the problems of relying on self-reported recalls of physical activity that are often used in epidemiological and experimental studies of physical activity (20,21) and the need for the use of objective measures of activity, especially when the emphasis is on moderate lifestyle activities.

Leisure time physical activity and early atherosclerosis: the Los Angeles Atherosclerosis Study

Purpose Some studies of leisure time physical activity find a cardiovascular benefit for moderate activity, whereas others find benefit only for regular vigorous activity. We examined the relation between physical activity and 3-year progression of carotid atherosclerosis. Methods Baseline examinations were conducted during 1995 to 1996 with two follow-up examinations at 1.5-year intervals. Intima-media thickness of the common carotid arteries was determined by B-mode ultrasound in a cohort of 500 randomly sampled women and men, aged 40 to 60 years, who were asymptomatic for cardiovascular disease. Sedentary leisure activity was defined as the lowest quartile of a general activity measure, whereas vigorous activity was defined as aerobic activity ≥3.5 times per week. The remainder defined the moderate activity group. Analyses were adjusted for confounding variables. Results The mean (± SE) age- and sex-adjusted rates of progression of intima-media thickness declined from 14.3 ± 1.7 microns per year in sedentary subjects, to 10.2 ± 1.0 microns per year in moderately active subjects, to 5.5 ± 1.5 microns per year in vigorously active subjects ( P for trend <0.0001), and remained statistically significant after adjustment for other confounding factors ( P for trend = 0.0004). Compared with the moderate activity group, the vigorous activity group had lower body mass index and resting heart rate and increased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level, whereas the sedentary group had an increased resting heart rate. Workplace activity was not protective. Conclusion Physical activity during leisure is inversely related to the progression of atherosclerosis in the carotid artery. This benefit appears to increase throughout the activity continuum.

Sociodemographic factors associated with long-term weight gain, current body fatness and central adiposity in Swedish women.

To examine sociodemographic factors associated with long-term adult weight gain and current general and central adiposity in women. Cross-sectional analysis based on data from the Malmö Diet and Cancer prospective cohort Study (MDCS), Sweden. 5464 women aged 45-73 y, who participated in the MDCS between 1994 and 1996. Weight change was defined as the difference between measured weight and recalled weight at age 20. Body composition was estimated from bioelectrical impedance analysis. Waist circumference and waist-hip ratio (WHR) were indicators of central obesity. Sociodemographic factors studied included reproductive, lifestyle and socioeconomic characteristics obtained from a questionnaire. At current age 13% of all women were obese (BMI>/=30), and nearly one-third had a body fat content of >33%. Since age 20, the majority of women (77%) had gained more than 10% of their initial weight. On average, the mean weight change was 12.6+/-10.0 kg during adult life. Age-adjusted group mean comparisons identified a number of significant sociodemographic variables predicting past weight gain and current obesity. In multivariate analysis, significant independent correlates of weight gain were: age, initial small body size, high parity, early menarche, non-use of hormone therapy, low self-rated health, non-smoking, no consumption of alcohol, sedentary leisure activity, past change in diet, retirement, low education, low socioeconomic status, and low socioeconomic status of origin. Many of the same variables were independently associated with current waist circumference, WHR, and percentage body fat. Large weight gain during adult life and a high rate of overweight were observed in this group of Swedish women. Many sociodemographic characteristics were associated with long-term weight gain and recent obesity indices. Initial BMI, smoking, age, physical activity and early socioeconomic status accounted for most of the explained variance in weight change. The findings indicate the importance of identifying environmental determinants of both weight gain and attained fatness, as well as fat distribution.

Lifestyle health behaviours of 11- to 16-year-old youth with physical disabilities

Health promotion strategies for youth with physical disabilities are needed to reduce their high risk of acquiring secondary disabilities in adulthood. Many secondary disabilities are associated with lifestyle habits and are potentially preventable. To determine their health promotion needs, the Health Behaviours in School-aged Children, a WHO Cross-national Study questionnaire, was administered to 101 youth with physical disabilities. Their responses were compared with youth in a Canadian national sample. In comparison with the national sample, youth with physical disabilities reported that they were equally healthy, but experienced higher frequency of symptoms of poor health such as headaches, stomachaches and backaches. With respect to lifestyle health behaviours they were less likely to smoke, drink alcohol and use marijuana than their counterparts in the national sample. Youth with physical disabilities reported less healthy diets, less exercise and more sedentary leisure activities. These findings support the need for health promotion strategies tailored to the particular pattern of risks for youth with physical disabilities.

The Needs of Physically Disabled People Aged 16–65 Years and Service Usage in Grampian

The work reported here forms part of a two-phase investigation of disability sponsored by Grampian Regional Council Social Work Committee. Following a questionnaire survey of about one in 40 of the region's households, 212 people with physical disabilities aged 16–65 were interviewed during 1989/90 to obtain an in-depth understanding of their perceptions of current and past service provision. Two-thirds of all those interviewed required some help with self-care across a wide range of activities. Sixty-six (31%) interviewees were found to use 150 items to help with self-care and a further 45 (21%) indicated that they would like equipment. Forty-one per cent of all self-care aids had been self-purchased. Minimal service use was discovered, the most common being dentistry and chiropody. Despite the level of disability, only seven respondents currently had a home help and 10 were in receipt of community occupational therapy. Very low involvement in voluntary organisations was found.Less than half of interviewees (45%) reported ‘going out’ every day and sedentary leisure activities were more common than visits to clubs or friends. The main reason given for non-participation in other leisure activities was physical difficulty. Only 13 people took part in social activities organised either wholly or partly for people with physical disabilities. In general, those interviewed sought better opportunities for integration into the life of their community. Two case studies are presented in an appendix, which illustrate the multifaceted nature of interviewees' problems and the nature and extent of formal and informal care within two survey households.

Elderly Recreational Vehicle Tourists: Motivations for Leisure

Relationships between motivations for leisure and participation in types of activities and demographic and socioeconomic variables were studied in 1,089 elderly recreational vehicle tourists. Subjects were drawn from a popular winter recreational vehicle tourist area and data were gathered through a self-report survey instrument. Leisure motivations investigated were: rest and relaxation, association with friends and family, physical exercise, learning experience, and self-fulfillment. Chi-square analysis indicated significant relationships between motivations and selected active and sedentary leisure activities, age, occupation, income, and per ceived health status. Little relationship was ascertained between motivations and educational level.