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Biomedical subjects

J Wardle

Publications and source records attributed to J Wardle.

150 records · Page 9Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Leisure-time physical exercise: prevalence, attitudinal correlates, and behavioral correlates among young Europeans from 21 countries.

BACKGROUND: Increasing leisure time physical exercise is a major target of public health programs throughout the developed world, but few international comparisons of exercise habits among people from diverse cultures have been published. The objectives of this study were to assess the prevalence of exercise among young adults from 21 European countries, to analyze associations with health beliefs and risk awareness, and to investigate relationships among exercise, other health-related behaviors, and emotional well-being. METHODS: The European Health and Behaviour Survey, a questionnaire survey of 7,302 male and 9,181 female university students ages 18-30 years from 21 countries, was analyzed. RESULTS: Age-adjusted prevalence of physical exercise in the past 2 weeks averaged 73.2% among men and 68.3% among women, but varied markedly from more than 80% to less than 60% across country samples. Beliefs in the health benefits of exercise were consistently associated with physical exercise, as was desire to lose weight. Awareness of the influence of exercise on heart disease averaged 52% among men and 54% among women, but was not strongly associated with engagement in exercise. Associations among exercise, lack of smoking, and sleep time were observed, but results for alcohol consumption were inconsistent. Social support and depression were independently associated with physical exercise. CONCLUSIONS: Physical exercise levels are highly variable across samples of relatively privileged young Europeans from different countries. Associations with other health behaviors and with emotional well-being suggest that regular physical exercise is consistent with a healthy lifestyle. Links with health beliefs are consistent despite sociocultural differences, but deficient knowledge of the health consequences of a sedentary lifestyle remains a cause for concern.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Cultural variation in health locus of control.

OBJECTIVE: To compare health locus of control scores in women from different ethnic backgrounds. METHOD: One-hundred and twenty-eight caucasian, South Asian and Afro-Caribbean women completed written or orally presented versions of the multidimensional health locus of control scale, as well as ratings of religiousness, health status and occupational status. RESULTS: South Asian women scored higher on 'chance' and 'powerful others' locus of control as predicted. They also had higher scores on internality. The ethnic differences persisted after controlling for occupation and health status. High religiousness among the South Asians appeared to explain some, but not all, of their higher scores. CONCLUSION: South Asians may differ from British caucasians in relation to their beliefs about internal and external influences on health.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Emotional fainting and the psychophysiologic response to blood and injury: autonomic mechanisms and coping strategies.

This experiment was designed to examine the psychophysiologic response pattern associated with emotional fainting. A survey was carried out among students, from which 30 volunteers who reported that they felt faint at the sight of blood or injury were recruited, together with 26 nonfainters. Blood pressure, heart rate, and respiration rate were monitored while subjects viewed a film depicting open-heart surgery and a neutral control film. Parasympathetic cardiac control was indexed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), and coping was assessed by questionnaire. Responders (n = 17, group FPOS) were defined by a positive survey rating plus marked lightheadedness during the surgery film, and they were compared with nonresponders (group FNEG). Group FPOS showed a classic diphasic response with increases in heart rate and systolic blood pressure early in the surgery film followed by decreases in both variables, and the pattern was significantly different from that found in group FNEG. Data from three subjects who fainted corroborate these observations, although there were marked individual differences in response. The two groups did not differ in RSA, although RSA was smaller in both groups early in the surgery film than at other points. The positive fainting response group reported focusing their attention on bodily sensations, while those who showed little distress used intellectual coping strategies. The results are discussed in terms of the psychophysiologic mechanisms involved in fainting.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Increased salivary cortisol reliably induced by a protein-rich midday meal.

OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to determine whether an increase in salivary free cortisol would be reliably elicited by a midday meal, thus providing a convenient physiological challenge to the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, and whether this cortisol release depended on the protein content of the meal. METHOD: In healthy men, free cortisol was measured in saliva samples taken before and after two identical protein-rich midday meals (39% energy as protein) and compared with a day on which no meal was eaten. Next, in healthy women in a nonclinical setting, salivary cortisol was measured before and after a protein-rich meal (32% energy as protein) on one day and a low-protein meal (5% energy as protein) on another day. Measures of mood, appetite, and psychological well-being were also taken. RESULTS: An acute meal-dependent increase in salivary cortisol occurred, which was reliable over 2 test days. This increase in cortisol depended on the proportion of protein in the meal, increasing after the high-protein but not the low-protein meal. The extent of this increase in cortisol correlated significantly with poor psychological well-being in women. Some postmeal improvement of mood (positive affect) was associated with the high- but not the low-protein meal. CONCLUSIONS: The cortisol response to meals may have implications for the effects of meal composition on mood, cognitive function, and food choice. The measurement of free cortisol in saliva provides a psychologically stress-free and reliable technique to assess the cortisol response to a standard protein-rich meal, ie, a physiological challenge to the HPA axis in men and women that could be investigated in naturalistic settings outside the laboratory.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Stress and food choice: a laboratory study.

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated experimentally whether acute stress alters food choice during a meal. The study was designed to test claims of selective effects of stress on appetite for specific sensory and nutritional categories of food and interactions with eating attitudes. METHODS: Sixty-eight healthy men and women volunteered for a study on "the effects of hunger on physiology, performance, and mood." Eating attitudes and food preferences were measured on entry to the study. The stressed group prepared a 4-minute speech, expecting it to be filmed and assessed after a midday meal, although in fact speeches were not performed. The ad libitum meal included sweet, salty, or bland high- and low-fat foods. The control group listened to a passage of neutral text before eating the meal. Blood pressure, heart rate, mood, and hunger were measured at baseline and after the 10-minute preparatory period, when appetite for 34 foods and food intake were recorded. RESULTS: Increases in blood pressure and changes in mood confirmed the effectiveness of the stressor. Stress did not alter overall intake, nor intake of, or appetite for the six food categories. However, stressed emotional eaters ate more sweet high-fat foods and a more energy-dense meal than unstressed and nonemotional eaters. Dietary restraint did not significantly affect appetitive responses to stress. CONCLUSIONS: Increased eating of sweet fatty foods by emotional eaters during stress, found here in a laboratory setting, may underlie the previously reported finding that dietary restraint or female gender predicts stress-induced eating. Stress may compromise the health of susceptible individuals through deleterious stress-related changes in food choice.

Adolescent↗