Excessive use of screen-based devices can be detrimental for child and adolescent health. While epidemiological reviews have been focusing on traditional screen-based activities (e.g., television, ...computer use), the availability of newer screen-based devices (e.g., mobile phones, tablets) has increased considerably in recent years. However, there is limited understanding of the descriptive epidemiology of these newer devices and their contribution towards health-related screen time guidelines (≤2 h/day). This systematic scoping review synthesizes the descriptive epidemiology of screen-based devices, incorporating newer forms of screens, among 5–18-year-olds. Medline, Web of Science, PsycINFO, SPORTDiscus, ERIC, Science Direct, and Scopus databases were searched for articles published in English since year 2000. Search terms included terms that related to screen time and target population. Data were extracted from 130 population-based surveillance studies (minimum sample size
N
= ≥5000). Screening and data extraction (study characteristics, estimates of prevalence rates and screen time-use point-estimates) were performed in duplicate for accuracy. Television viewing (64.3%) was the most common measure of screen time, whilst fewer reported on newer screen-based devices (mobile phones: 4.6%, active gaming consoles: <1%). On average, 52.3% of participants (
k
= 19 studies) exceeded 2 h/day of screen time and total screen time was 3.6 h/day (1.3–7.9 h/day). Findings can inform and facilitate future research and policy designed to limit overall screen time among children and adolescents for health gains where appropriate. Moreover, policy makers can use this information to track and monitor screen time among children and adolescents.
How many steps/day are enough? For adults Tudor-Locke, Catrine; Craig, Cora L; Brown, Wendy J ...
The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity,
07/2011, Volume:
8, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Physical activity guidelines from around the world are typically expressed in terms of frequency, duration, and intensity parameters. Objective monitoring using pedometers and accelerometers offers a ...new opportunity to measure and communicate physical activity in terms of steps/day. Various step-based versions or translations of physical activity guidelines are emerging, reflecting public interest in such guidance. However, there appears to be a wide discrepancy in the exact values that are being communicated. It makes sense that step-based recommendations should be harmonious with existing evidence-based public health guidelines that recognize that "some physical activity is better than none" while maintaining a focus on time spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Thus, the purpose of this review was to update our existing knowledge of "How many steps/day are enough?", and to inform step-based recommendations consistent with current physical activity guidelines. Normative data indicate that healthy adults typically take between 4,000 and 18,000 steps/day, and that 10,000 steps/day is reasonable for this population, although there are notable "low active populations." Interventions demonstrate incremental increases on the order of 2,000-2,500 steps/day. The results of seven different controlled studies demonstrate that there is a strong relationship between cadence and intensity. Further, despite some inter-individual variation, 100 steps/minute represents a reasonable floor value indicative of moderate intensity walking. Multiplying this cadence by 30 minutes (i.e., typical of a daily recommendation) produces a minimum of 3,000 steps that is best used as a heuristic (i.e., guiding) value, but these steps must be taken over and above habitual activity levels to be a true expression of free-living steps/day that also includes recommendations for minimal amounts of time in MVPA. Computed steps/day translations of time in MVPA that also include estimates of habitual activity levels equate to 7,100 to 11,000 steps/day. A direct estimate of minimal amounts of MVPA accumulated in the course of objectively monitored free-living behaviour is 7,000-8,000 steps/day. A scale that spans a wide range of incremental increases in steps/day and is congruent with public health recognition that "some physical activity is better than none," yet still incorporates step-based translations of recommended amounts of time in MVPA may be useful in research and practice. The full range of users (researchers to practitioners to the general public) of objective monitoring instruments that provide step-based outputs require good reference data and evidence-based recommendations to be able to design effective health messages congruent with public health physical activity guidelines, guide behaviour change, and ultimately measure, track, and interpret steps/day.
This study aimed to examine potential differences in walking, cycling, public transport and passive transport (car/moped/motorcycle) to work and to other destinations between college and non-college ...educated working young adults. Secondly, we aimed to investigate which psychosocial and environmental factors are associated with the four transport modes and whether these associations differ between college and non-college educated working young adults.
In this cross-sectional study, 224 working young adults completed an online questionnaire assessing socio-demographic variables (8 items), psychosocial variables (6 items), environmental variables (10 items) and transport mode (4 types) and duration to work/other destinations. Zero-inflated negative binomial regression models were performed in R.
A trend (p<0.10) indicated that more college educated compared to non-college educated young adults participated in cycling and public transport. However, another trend indicated that cycle time and public transport trips were longer and passive transport trips were shorter in non-college compared to college educated working young adults. In all working young adults, high self-efficacy towards active transport, and high perceived benefits and low perceived barriers towards active and public transport were related to more active and public transport. High social support/norm/modeling towards active, public and passive transport was related to more active, public and passive transport. High neighborhood walkability was related to more walking and less passive transport. Only in non-college educated working young adults, feeling safe from traffic and crime in their neighborhood was related to more active and public transport and less passive transport.
Educational levels should be taken into account when promoting healthy transport behaviors in working young adults. Among non-college educated working young adults, focus should be on increasing active and public transport participation and on increasing neighborhood safety to increase active and public transport use. Among college educated working young adults, more minutes of active transport should be encouraged.
In a teacher's career, each phase brings its own challenges. In a convenience sample of 913 teachers from 76 different schools, this cross-sectional study examined self-reported differences in ...burnout, motivation to teach, and (de-)motivating teaching styles, across the full teacher career. Three multivariate analyses of variances (controlled for gender) showed that in the first three years, teachers appeared lower on a structuring style. From 8 and more years of experience, teachers were higher on emotional exhaustion. By the end of their career (>24 years of experience) teachers appeared at greater risk of becoming more controlled motivated and too demanding.
•Burnout, teachers’ motivation, and (de-)motivating teaching styles were compared between six professional life phases.•Guidance of beginning teachers should focus on helping them to become more structuring.•Almost no differences were found between teachers with 8-31 years of experience.•From their mid-career, teachers were more vulnerable to be emotionally exhausted.•Teachers with >24 years of experience reported high levels of controlled motivation and controlling teaching.
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to assess the prevalence, content, and nature of information and/or advice regarding physical activity and sedentary behaviour available online for cancer ...survivors.
Methods
A search strategy was designed to identify website links that were most likely to be accessed by cancer survivors, living in five English speaking nations, looking for information about maintaining and improving health after a cancer diagnosis. All content pertaining to physical activity and sedentary behaviour was extracted, and proportions of website links containing key information were calculated. Content analysis was performed on the data to describe the nature of information provided.
Results
Of the 394 website links reviewed, 73.4% contained information about physical activity; however, most websites did not detail recommendations, strategies and potential risks of engaging in physical activity. Less than 10% of the links reviewed contained information about sedentary behaviour. Results varied according to website and cancer type.
Conclusions
Although the importance of physical activity is frequently mentioned, online content on the subject lacks comprehensive, specific advice. Health advice online for cancer survivors regarding the importance of avoiding sedentary behaviour is scarce with little to no detail on how to achieve this.
Implication of cancer survivors
Until website conveners improve the comprehensiveness and specificity of the information they provide, cancer survivors may find it difficult to find, via the Internet, the advice required to properly guide and facilitate their safe participation in physical activity and avoidance of sedentary behaviour.
The World Health Organization's 'Global Recommendations on Physical Activity for Health' state that adults should engage in regular moderate-to-vigorous intensity aerobic physical activity (MVPA; ...e.g. walking, running, cycling) and muscle-strengthening activity (MSA; e.g. strength/resistance training). However, assessment of both MVPA and MSA is rare in physical activity surveillance. The aim of this study is to describe the prevalence, correlates and chronic health conditions associated with meeting the combined MVPA-MSA guidelines among a population representative sample of U.S. adults.
In this cross-sectional study, data were drawn from the U.S. 2015 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. During telephone interviews, MVPA and MSA were assessed using validated questionnaires. We calculated the proportions meeting both the global MVPA and MSA physical activity guidelines (MVPA ≥150 min/week and MSA ≥2 sessions/week). Poisson regressions with a robust error variance were used to assess: (i) prevalence ratios (PR) for meeting both guidelines across sociodemographic factors (e.g. age, sex, education, income, race/ethnicity); and (ii) PRs of 12 common chronic health conditions (e.g. diabetes, coronary heart disease, hypertension, depression) across different categories of physical activity guideline adherence (met neither reference; MSA only; MVPA only; met both).
Among 383,928 adults (aged 18-80 years), 23.5% (95% CI: 20.1, 20.6%) met the combined MVPA-MSA guidelines. Those with poorer self-rated health, older adults, women, lower education/income and current smokers were less likely to meet the combined guidelines. After adjustment for covariates (e.g. age, self-rated health, income, smoking) compared with meeting neither guidelines, MSA only and MVPA only, meeting the combined MVPA-MSA guidelines was associated with the lowest PRs for all health conditions (APR range: 0.44-0.76), and the clustering of ≥6 chronic health conditions (APR = 0.33; 95% CI: 0.31-0.35).
Eight out of ten U.S. adults do not meet the global physical activity guidelines. This study supports the need for comprehensive health promotion strategies to increase the uptake and adherence of MVPA-MSA among U.S. adults. Large-scale interventions should target specific population sub-groups including older adults, women, those with poorer health and lower education/income.
The relation between neighbourhood environmental factors and domain-specific sedentary behaviours among adults remains unclear. This study firstly aims to examine the association of perceived and ...objectively measured neighbourhood safety, aesthetics, destinations and functionality with transport-related, work-related and leisure-time sedentary behaviour. Secondly, the study aims to assess whether these associations are moderated by age, gender or educational level.
In 60 randomly sampled neighbourhoods from 5 urban regions in Europe (Ghent and suburbs, Paris and inner suburbs, Budapest and suburbs, the Randstad, and Greater London), a virtual audit with Google Street View was performed to assess environmental characteristics. A total of 5,205 adult inhabitants of these neighbourhoods reported socio-demographic characteristics, sedentary behaviours, and neighbourhood perceptions in an online survey. Generalized linear mixed models were conducted to examine associations between physical environmental neighbourhood factors and sedentary behaviours. Interaction terms were added to test the moderating role of individual-level socio-demographic variables.
Lower levels of leisure-time sedentary behaviour (i.e. all leisure activities except television viewing and computer use) were observed among adults who perceived greater numbers of destinations such as supermarkets, recreational facilities, or restaurants in their neighbourhood, and among adults who lived in a neighbourhood with more objectively measured aesthetic features, such as trees, water areas or public parks. Lower levels of work-related sedentary behaviour were observed among adults who perceived less aesthetic features in their neighbourhood, and among adults who lived in a neighbourhood with less objectively measured destinations. Both age, gender and educational level moderated the associations between neighbourhood environmental factors and sedentary behaviours.
Preliminary evidence was found for associations between neighbourhood environmental factors and domain-specific sedentary behaviours among adults. However, these associations varied according to objective or subjective environmental measures. More research is needed to confirm and clarify the associations.
Abstract Purpose To examine tracking of weekday and weekend screen time (ST; i.e., television TV and computer PC time) from early adolescence to early adulthood and to identify social ecological ...predictors of weekday and weekend ST among boys and girls separately. Methods Data were retrieved from elementary schools (n = 59) in Flanders (Belgium). At baseline, 1,957 children (age, 9.9 ± .43 years) and one of the parents filled out a questionnaire on sedentary behavior and individual, social, and environmental variables. After a 10-year follow-up period, six hundred fifty-five 20-year-olds (age, 19.9 ± .43 years) filled out an adapted questionnaire on sedentary behavior, of which 593 contained full data at baseline and follow-up. Multiple regressions were performed to examine predictors (baseline) of ST (follow-up), and logistic regressions were used to analyze tracking of ST. Results For boys, a consistent positive predictor of weekday and weekend TV and PC time at follow-up was ST at baseline ( p < .01). For girls, drinking more soda at baseline predicted more weekday and weekend TV and PC time at follow-up ( p ≤ .02). Some other individual variables also predicted ST in both boys and girls. Tracking was only found among boys; those exceeding the ST guideline at baseline were three to five times more likely to exceed this guideline at follow-up ( p ≤ .001). Tracking was not present among girls. Conclusions To minimize TV and PC time during early adulthood, interventions for adolescent boys should focus on minimizing ST. For girls, focus should be on healthy eating. However, more research is warranted to confirm these conclusions.
Muscle-strengthening exercise (use of weight machines, free weights, push-ups, sit-ups), has multiple independent health benefits, and is a component of the Global physical activity guidelines. ...However, there is currently a lack of multi-country muscle-strengthening exercise prevalence studies. This study describes the prevalence and correlates of muscle-strengthening exercise across multiple European countries.
Data were drawn from the European Health Interview Survey Wave 2 (2013-14), which included nationally representative samples (n = 3,774-24,016) from 28 European countries. Muscle-strengthening exercise was assessed using the European Health Interview Survey Physical Activity Questionnaire. Population-weighted proportions were calculated for (1) "insufficient" (0-1 days/week) or (2) "sufficient" muscle-strengthening exercise (≥2 days/week). Prevalence ratios were calculated using multivariate Poisson regression for those reporting sufficient muscle-strengthening by country and by sociodemographic/lifestyle characteristics (sex, age, education, income, self-rated health etc.).
Data were available for 280,605 European adults aged ≥18 years. Overall, 17.3% (95% CI = 17.1%-17.5%) reported sufficient muscle-strengthening exercise (≥2 days/week). Muscle-strengthening exercise was geographically patterned with the lowest prevalence reported in South-eastern European countries (Romania, Malta and Cyprus: range: 0.7%-7.4%), and the highest prevalence in the Nordic countries (Iceland, Sweden, and Denmark: range: 34.1%-51.6%). Older age, insufficient aerobic activity, poorer self-rated health, lower income/education, being female, and being overweight/obese were significantly associated with lower likelihood of reporting sufficient muscle-strengthening exercise, independently of other characteristics.
Most European adults do not report sufficient muscle-strengthening exercise, and prevalence estimates varied considerably across countries. Low participation in muscle-strengthening exercise is widespread across Europe, and warrants public health attention.
More knowledge is warranted about multilevel ecological variables associated with context-specific sitting time among adolescents. The present study explored cross-sectional and longitudinal ...associations of ecological domains of sedentary behaviour, including socio-demographic, social-cognitive, health-related and physical-environmental variables with sitting during TV viewing, computer use, electronic gaming and motorized transport among adolescents.
For this longitudinal study, a sample of Belgian adolescents completed questionnaires at school on context-specific sitting time and associated ecological variables. At baseline, complete data were gathered from 513 adolescents (15.0±1.7 years). At one-year follow-up, complete data of 340 participants were available (retention rate: 66.3%). Multilevel linear regression analyses were conducted to explore cross-sectional correlates (baseline variables) and longitudinal predictors (change scores variables) of context-specific sitting time.
Social-cognitive correlates/predictors were most frequently associated with context-specific sitting time. Longitudinal analyses revealed that increases over time in considering it pleasant to watch TV (p < .001), in perceiving TV watching as a way to relax (p < .05), in TV time of parents/care givers (p < .01) and in TV time of siblings (p < .001) were associated with more sitting during TV viewing at follow-up. Increases over time in considering it pleasant to use a computer in leisure time (p < .01) and in the computer time of siblings (p < .001) were associated with more sitting during computer use at follow-up. None of the changes in potential predictors were significantly related to changes in sitting during motorized transport or during electronic gaming.
Future intervention studies aiming to decrease TV viewing and computer use should acknowledge the importance of the behaviour of siblings and the pleasure adolescents experience during these screen-related behaviours. In addition, more time parents or care givers spent sitting may lead to more sitting during TV viewing of the adolescents, so that a family-based approach may be preferable for interventions. Experimental study designs are warranted to confirm the present findings.
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