Behavioral, Psychological, and Demographic Predictors of Physical Fitness

1989 ◽  
Vol 65 (3_suppl2) ◽  
pp. 1123-1135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry L. Conway

Achieving higher levels of physical fitness has become a goal of many Americans both for personal reasons (e.g., improved health and well-being) and for organizational reasons (e.g., corporate cost-savings; operational effectiveness). Understanding the factors which relate to physical fitness could help people improve their fitness. This study examined 1,357 Navy men to estimate the associations among behavioral, psychological, and background factors and four components of physical fitness: (a) cardiorespiratory endurance (1.5-mile run), (b) muscular endurance (sit-ups), (c) flexibility (sit-and-reach test), and (d) body composition (estimated percent fat). Controlling for exercise activities, physical fitness was positively associated with “wellness” behaviors, believing in the importance of physical fitness, expecting to reach/maintain ideal weight, being athletic as a youth, and education; fitness was negatively associated with tobacco use, “preventive/avoidance” behaviors, age, and ever being overweight. Identifying and dealing constructively with such factors may help to structure better fitness programs tailored to the individual.

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
B Barr

Abstract The European Health Equity Status Report makes innovative use of microdata, at the level of the individual, to decompose the relative contributions of five essential underlying conditions to inequities in health and well-being. These essential conditions comprise: (1) Health services (2) Income security and social protection (3) Living conditions (4) Social and human capital (5) Employment and working conditions. Combining microdata across over twenty sources, the work of HESRi has also produced disaggregated indicators in health, well-being, and each of the five essential conditions. In conjunction with indicators of policy performance and investment, the HESRi Health Equity Dataset of over 100 indicators is the first of its kind, as a resource for monitoring and analysing inequities across the essential conditions and policies to inform decision making and action to reduce gaps in health and well-being.


Retos ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
pp. 107-116
Author(s):  
Manel Valcarce-Torrente ◽  
Oscar L Veiga ◽  
Ángela Arroyo-Nieto ◽  
Camilo Morales-Rincón

  El objetivo del presente estudio fue identificar y comparar las principales tendencias fitness para el año 2021 en Colombia con los hallazgos de la encuesta nacional realizada el año anterior y con los rankings español e internacional del año 2021. La información fue obtenida a través de una encuesta online replicando la metodología desarrollada por el Colegio Americano de Medicina el Deporte en las encuestas internacionales sobre tendencias en fitness. El cuestionario se envió a 3.800 profesionales de distintos departamentos deportivos y de regiones de Colombia obteniéndose un total de 1700 respuestas (tasa de respuesta del 32.07%). Los resultados sitúan en el top 5 de tendencias en Colombia las “clases remotas/online”, las “apps de ejercicios”, los “programas de ejercicio para combatir la obesidad en niños y adolescentes”, los “programas de ejercicio para poblaciones con enfermedades” y los “programas fitness para adultos mayores”. Dentro del top 20 se encuentran 14 tendencias coincidentes con la encuesta nacional del año anterior, con ligeros cambios de posición; 11 equivalencias con el ranking español y 9 con el ranking de la encuesta internacional de 2021. Los resultados muestran una relevancia de la práctica de actividad física con fines orientados a la salud y el bienestar, además de un creciente interés por el uso de la tecnología en el sector del fitness. Abstract. The aim of the current study was to identify the main trends for the year 2021 in Colombia with the findings of the national survey carried out the previous year and with the Spanish and international rankings for 2021. The information was obtained through a survey online replicating the methodology developed by the American College of Sports Medicine in international surveys on trends in fitness. The questionnaire was sent to 3,800 professionals from different sports departments and regions of Colombia, obtaining a total of 1,700 responses (response rate of 32.07%). The results place in the top 5 of trends in Colombia: “online training”, “exercise apps”, “exercise programs against children and adolescent obesity”, “exercise programs for populations with diseases” and “fitness programs for older adults ”. Within the top 20 there are 14 trends that coincide with the national survey of the previous year, with slight changes in position; 11 equivalences with the Spanish ranking and 9 with the 2021 international survey ranking. The results show a relevance of the practice of physical activity for health and well-being-oriented purposes, as well as a growing interest in the use of technology in the fitness sector.


2020 ◽  
Vol 96 (1132) ◽  
pp. 120.2-120
Author(s):  
Emma Barnard ◽  
Wendy French

A project is being developed between artists and researchers to identify how to reduce loneliness and isolation in the older woman which could be a model for health and well-being clinics to adapt.Regular sessions with artists and wordsmiths can help to minimise the stress caused by the menopause (add (1 or 2) reference(s) if available). Fears, anxieties and depression are symptoms often experienced with this life stage. Mid-life crisis is an expression that can be an unhelpful way to describe the natural aging of a woman’s body. Negative concepts and poor jokes can add to a woman feeling diminished around the natural process of aging. A regular group might talk and explore these feelings with an artist ready to translate words into pictures, and create with the group a positive collage of loss in this respect. We would see whether looking at poems written by women who have gone through the menopause, finding how to identify with others and their loss, and exploring whether the experiences of others help the individual to feel better about themselves. Would this collaborative approach with women help them to feel more positive about the next life stage and therefore enable them to live a healthier life?


Author(s):  
Carrie Heeter ◽  
Marcel Allbritton ◽  
Chase Bossart

Healthcare professionals and research scientists generally recognize the potential value of mind–body practices grounded in ancient wisdom, but often have limited direct experience with such practices. Meditation participant self-reports provide a window into subjective experiences of three Viniyoga meditations and how and why those meditations could contribute to health and well-being outcomes. Each of the meditations in this analysis had a unique structure and used a different aspect of the ocean as a meditation object. Yoga philosophy and yoga anatomy models of the human system are used to help explain participants’ experiences and associated personal benefits and insights. Four aspects of the individual that can influence what happens for them in meditation are illustrated with tangible examples: (1) What is happening in generally in someone’s life; (2) the state of their system (mind, body, breath) around the time of the meditation; (3) reactions to the meditation steps and instructions; and (4) their prior experiences with the object of meditation. Summaries of the practices, and why and for whom each meditation might be beneficial are discussed. The authors’ perspectives are grounded in Viniyoga and yoga therapy.


Author(s):  
Oleg Panchenko

The transition to an informational lifestyle significantly increases the creative potential of society as a whole, and the individual in particular. Along with this, there is a significant increase of the load on the human’s mind under conditions of increasing flows of information and its turbulence. The information environment essentially becomes the main source of information for a person, has a direct impact on his mental activity, on the formation of his social behavior. A person is forced to live in this environment, to perceive its realities adequately, to adapt to information threats from this environment. The awareness of these threats has led to careful attention to information security. A child, being a specific member of a society, nevertheless acts as a full-fledged participant in information relations, and must be in such a state of protection, in which there is no risk associated with information causing harm to his health, physical, mental, spiritual and moral development.A child in his development, processing information, actively assimilates social experience, as well as a system of social connections and relationships, and subsequently reproduces all this in his life. In the course of this process, he acquires the qualities, values, beliefs and forms of behavior that he needs for normal life.Ensuring the information security of a child implies protection because of the destabilizing effect of information on health and mental, spiritual and moral development; creation of conditions for the information environment for positive socialization and individualization of the personality, optimal social, personal, cognitive and physical development, preservation of somatic, mental and psychological health and well-being, the formation of a positive worldview. The latter is possible when determining the main directions of state policy in the interests of children and the key mechanisms for its implementation, based on the generally recognized principles and norms of the international law.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luisa A. Grimm ◽  
Georg F. Bauer ◽  
Gregor J. Jenny

Abstract Background: Research shows that leaders influence the health and well-being of employees, by being either a buffer or major source of employee's work stressors. Various leadership behaviors and their relation to employee outcomes have been examined. Yet, a satisfactory explanation of how leaders’ behavior influences health has not been found. A new line of research investigates the construct of “health-oriented leadership”, that is, the health awareness of leaders towards themselves (“self-care”) and towards their employees (“staff-care”). It is hypothesized that this health-orientation has a direct effect on both leader’s and employees’ health, as well as an indirect effect mediated by their working conditions.Methods: Data were derived from four company research projects, that involved employee and leader surveys on work, health, and well-being. The sample consisted of 50 teams, with 191 leaders and 604 team members. To test the relation between a leader’s self-care and his/her engagement, exhaustion, as well as staff-care, multiple regression analyses and mediation analyses were conducted. The relation between a leader’s staff-care, the team’s job resources and demands, and the individual employee outcomes engagement and exhaustion were tested with multilevel analyses.Results: Regression analysis showed that the stronger a leader's health-orientation towards him/-herself (“self-care”), the stronger was the health-orientation towards his/her employees (“staff-care”). A leader’s self-care was also associated with higher work engagement and lower exhaustion and this relation was mediated by his/her job resources and demands, respectively. Multilevel analysis showed that a leader's staff-care was associated with employee work engagement and exhaustion, and that this relation was mediated by team-level job resources and demands, respectively.Conclusions: The health-orientation of leaders relates to their own as well as their teams' engagement and exhaustion, which is partly mediated by job demands and resources. Thus the construct of health-orientation may prove worthy of further exploration. For practical conclusions, this study provides support for researching not different leadership styles with very specific facets, but a general orientation towards health, which can be implemented into coaching and consulting sessions for organizations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 440
Author(s):  
Melanie L. Freeman

Adjusting to frequent separations and reunions can put pressure on the relationships and families of those who work away. Although the work context is different, there are similar effects and challenges for workers, families and organisations across the military, expatriate and fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) research domains. Mental health, work performance, job satisfaction, relationships and parenting are all negatively affected by the extended periods of deployment or posting and the regular and ongoing shorter periods of FIFO work. At the individual level, personality dimensions (emotional stability, sociability, openness to new experiences), locus of control, intelligence, self-sufficiency and cultural intelligence have been shown to significantly affect these impacts and provide organisations with starting points for both the screening of candidates for roles and coaching them to better adjust and cope cross-culturally. The recruitment and onboarding processes should be underpinned by the principles of managing expectations and building capability, and this means that realistic and relevant information should focus on the realities of the work, the work environment and host country. The onboarding process that seeks to socialise the worker into the organisation and the culture should assume the worker will take at least 6 months to settle into the role. Predeparture training should engage with the worker and their families to ensure the development of coping skills and practical strategies for managing communication, parenting and relationships. Effectively managing the psychosocial risks faced by workers across these domains will improve the mental health and well-being of workers and their families.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia Zainuddin ◽  
Julia Robinson ◽  
Jennifer Algie ◽  
Melanie Randle

Purpose This paper aims to examine driving retirement and its impact on the well-being of older citizens. The concepts of value creation and destruction are used to understand older consumers’ experiences with the self-service consumption activity of driving. This paper formally introduces the concept of value re-creation, as a means of restoring the overall value lost from the destruction of certain components of previous value structures. In doing so, this paper explores the different ways that resources across the micro, meso and macro levels of the ecosystem can be re-aligned, in order for older citizens to maintain their well-being after driving retirement. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative, individual-depth interview approach was undertaken with 26 participants living in New South Wales, Australia. The participants comprised of both drivers approaching driving retirement age, as well as driving retirees. Thematic analysis was undertaken to analyse the data. Findings The findings identified that emotional value in the forms of freedom, independence/autonomy and enjoyment, functional value in the forms of convenience and mobility and community value are created from driving. Driving retirement destroys certain components of this value (e.g. enjoyment and convenience) irrevocably, however freedom, independence/autonomy, mobility and social connectedness can still be maintained through re-aligning resources across the micro, meso and macro levels of the ecosystem. New components of value are also created from driving retirement. These include peace of mind, which contributes to the re-creation of the emotional value dimension, and cost savings, which creates the new value dimension of economic value. These changes to the value structure effectively re-create the overall value obtained by individuals when they retire from driving. Originality/value The main contribution of this work is the formal introduction of the concept of value re-creation at the overall and value dimension level, and development of a conceptual model that explains how this value re-creation can occur. The model shows the resource contributions required across all levels of the ecosystem, expanding on existing conceptualisations that have predominantly focussed on resource contributions at the individual and service levels.


Author(s):  
Andrea LaMarre ◽  
Sigrún Daníelsdóttir

Weight-neutral approaches have gained traction over the past decades. These perspectives challenge dominant weight loss paradigms by foregrounding how a focus on health need not be accompanied by an injunction to reduce body size. This chapter explores the roots of the Health at Every Size® (HAES®) paradigm as one weight-neutral approach to positive embodiment. Evidence is reviewed for the effectiveness of HAES, highlighting how it often outperforms weight loss approaches in promoting health and well-being; some recently raised concerns are discussed, including the potential for healthism in an approach that emphasizes health. Finally, it considers how strategies for self-compassion and self-care can be accompanied with parallel efforts to promote social justice for people in all bodies, including bodies marginalized along lines of gender, race, class, ability, and so on. Sustainable gains in promoting positive embodiment must be achieved by advocating for body acceptance at the individual and collective levels.


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