Effects of Healthy Lifestyle on Physical and Mental Health Status
Date
2019-05
Authors
Byer, Amber Lee
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Abstract
This study explored the impacts of physical activity, sedentary behaviors, and consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages on physical and mental health. Previous studies suggest that physical inactivity or increased consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages may place adults at higher risk for poor physical and mental health outcomes. However, the impacts of these lifestyles on poor mental and physical health as well as daily activities have not been thoroughly studied. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among 280 convenience sample of adults between October and November 2018. Kendall’s tau correlations and multivariate logistic regression procedures were performed. In this study, poor physical and mental health as well as poor daily activities were defined as having ≥3 poor days per month. About 60% of participants were either overweight or obese. More than half reported anxiety symptoms (53.2%), while only 16% reported depression symptoms. Sedentary time ≥ 8 hours per weekend day was the significant predictor of poor physical health (OR=3.01), poor mental health (OR=2.08), and poor daily activities (OR=1.94). Having anxiety symptoms was a significant predictor of poor mental health (OR=8.79) and poor daily activities (OR=3.26), while having less than 4,000 metabolic equivalent-minutes per week was a significant predictor of poor physical health (OR=1.87). In contrast, overweight/obesity or consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages did not predict mental or physical health. Spending more than 8 sedentary hours per weekend day appears to be a consistent predictor of poor physical and mental health, as well as poor daily activities. Further studies are needed to determine cause-effect relationships between weekend sedentary behaviors and health status.
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Keywords
depression, anxiety, health status, sedentary, behavior, physical activity, Honors College
Citation
Byer, A. L. (2019). Effects of healthy lifestyle on physical and mental health status (Unpublished thesis). Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas.