Self-Regulatory Imagery and Physical Activity in Middle-Aged and Older Adults: A Social-Cognitive Perspective

Coaction of Exercise and Eating Improvements Within a Behavioral Obesity Treatment: Directionality and Psychological Mechanisms

Purpose: Because coaction (a favorable change in one behavior increasing the probability of a similarly favorable change in another behavior) associated with health behaviors has been identified, directionalities of such relationships within weight-loss behaviors (e.g., exercise, healthy eating) and their theory-based psychological mechanisms requires more investigation. Method: Women with obesity and either disturbed mood (n = 61) or normal mood (n = 58) participated in a cogntive-behavioral weight-management treatment within a community setting. Analyses of both group differences, and mediation models using aggregate data of behavioral and psychological variables, were conducted. Results: Improvements in measures of self-regulation, self-efficacy, mood, exercise, and fruit/vegetable intake were significant overall; with fruit/vegetable increase greater in the disturbed mood group. The prediction of increase in fruits/vegetables from baseline-Month 6 by increase in exercise from bascline-Month 3 (β = .24) was stronger than effects of change in fruit/vegetabe intake on exercise (β = .16). Overall mediation models were significant where changes in self-regulation and self-efficacy were entered as serial mediators of predictions of fruit/vegetable change by change in exercise (R2= .35 and .32), and vice versa (R2= .24 and .23). Paths demonstrating effects through self-regulation change and self-efficacy change were significant in the prediction of eating and exercise changes, respectively. Conclusion: Contributions to advancements in behavioral theory and treatment curricula targeting self-regulation and self-efficacy to improve exercse-eating change relationships were suggested.  .

Effects of Increased Physical Activity/Exercise on Long-Term Losses in Weight and Waist Circumference: Serial Mediation from Changes in Exercise-Related to Eating-Related Self-Regulation

BACKGROUND

Behavioral obesity treatments have generally been unsuccessful at facilitating long-term weight reductions. Increased physical activity/exercise is a strong predictor of maintained weight loss. It has been proposed this is more linked to increases in exercise-related self-regulation carrying-over to eating-related self-regulation than through direct energy expenditures.

METHODS

Women with obesity participated in 10-month community-based behavioral treatments that had theory-based foci on either self-regulation skills building (n = 59) or knowledge of weight loss methods (n = 54). Physical activity/exercise, exercise-related self-regulation, and eating-related self-regulation were assessed at baseline and months 3, 6, and 12 in the prediction of weight and waist circumference changes over 24 months.

RESULTS

Significant overall improvements on all measures were found, which were significantly greater in the self-regulation-focused group than the knowledge-focused group. Mean reductions in waist circumference/weight were - 4.64 cm/ - 5.17 kg (- 5.5% of baseline weight) and - 0.66 cm/ - 1.19 kg (- 1.2% of baseline weight), respectively. Aggregated data indicated that early increase in physical activity/exercise significantly predicted 24-month reductions in both weight and waist circumference. Serial mediation analyses indicated that a sequential path from exercise-related self-regulation (baseline-month 3) → eating-related self-regulation (baseline-month 6) → eating-related self-regulation (baseline-month 12) fully mediated the physical activity/exercise-weight/waist circumference change relationships. Energy expenditures from physical activity/exercise accounted for 21% of lost weight.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings of this field research supported benefits of progressively building self-regulation skills, first for physical activity/exercise then controlled eating, through accordingly focused behavioral treatments. Opportunities for tailoring large-scale community-based interventions grounded in theory were enhanced.

Association of work performance and interoceptive awareness of 'body trusting' in an occupational setting: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVES

Work performance has been known to be influenced by both psychological stress (mind) and physical conditions (body). The aim of this study was to investigate the association between work performance and 'body trusting', which is a dimension of interoceptive awareness representing mind-body interactions.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted among a sample of workers in an industrial manufacturing company in Japan. Participants were assessed with a self-reported questionnaire including evaluations of work performance, body trusting, psychological distress, pain persistence, workplace and home stressors, and workaholism. Participants' sociodemographic, health and lifestyle characteristics were collected from their annual health check data. The association between work performance and body trusting was examined using multivariable regression analyses in the overall sample and in a subsample of people with pain.

RESULTS

A total of 349 workers participated in the study. A significant association between work performance and body trusting was observed, with higher body trusting representing higher work performance. The association was significant after controlling for psychological distress, workplace and home stress, workaholism and participants' characteristics (p<0.001). Compared with people without pain (n=126, 36.1%), people with pain (n=223, 63.9%) showed less body trusting, which was associated with decreased work performance after controlling for pain-related variables (p<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Workers with higher body trusting showed higher work performance, even after controlling for various influencing factors. Body trusting may be an important target to promote work performance and to prevent loss of performance induced by health problems.

The Association Between Self-Regulation and Daily Sports Activities in a Nationally Representative Sample of Older Adults. Findings From the German Ageing Survey

There is a large body of literature about the determinants of exercising regularly in older adults. However, to date, there is limited evidence showing that self-regulation is associated with exercising regularly. Existing studies are mostly restricted to rather specific or small samples. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine whether self-regulation is associated with daily sports activities among older adults. For the current study, cross-sectional data were used from the German Ageing Survey (n = 7,757), a nationally representative sample of community-dwelling individuals aged 40 and over in Germany. Logistic regression analysis showed that daily sports activities is positively associated with self-regulation [OR: 1.32 (95%-CI: 1.11–1.58)]. The present study highlights the importance of an association between daily sports activities and self-regulation. Knowledge about this association is useful in addressing cases where older adults exercise less than daily.