‘Christmas-Themed’ Physical Activity Decreases Sedentary Time During Holidays

Weight Gain During Christmas Season

Inactivity and weight gain are particularly prevalent throughout the Christmas season, with data indicating that the average person puts on between 0.4 and 0.9 kg of weight during this time. The viability of implementing a holiday-based activity intervention is not evident, though.

Researchers from Loughborough University conducted a pilot study to assess the viability and outcomes of a Christmas-themed physical activity intervention during Advent. It aimed to increase physical activity levels and reduce inactive time.

Christmas-Themed Physical Activity Intervention

Between November 11 and 30, 2021, they recruited 107 inactive persons (who did not fulfill the UK criteria for physical activity) through social media sites, workplaces, and community organizations.

The majority (88%) were white women with an average age of 46 years and 56% were obese or overweight.

Participants were randomly allocated to either the intervention group (71) or the control group after gathering baseline data (36).

Throughout Advent (1-24 December, 2021), intervention participants received daily emails with a physical activity suggestion centered around Christmas that was to be done that day.

Examples were ‘Lay the table’ planks, ‘Star’ jumps, ‘Dasher the reindeer’ sprints, ’10 Lords A Leaping’ rope skips, and ‘Rocking around the Christmas tree’ dances.

Three levels of difficulty were provided for each concept: Easy Elf (low difficulty), Moderate Mrs. Claus (moderate difficulty), and Strenuous Santa (high intensity). Each day, the participants were free to select the level of physical activity they would engage in.

On December 1, participants in the control group were given a pamphlet on healthy living.

All participants completed an online questionnaire to report their weekly physical activity duration in minutes and the number of days they engaged in muscle-strengthening exercises.

For the course of the study, about half of the participants in each group were requested to wear an accelerometer (a device that monitors the amount and intensity of physical activity) on their wrists all the time.

Participants in the intervention were also asked to rate how much they enjoyed the suggested activity ideas and to recall which activity they had undertaken each day and at what level of intensity.

The researchers recognize that because this was a pilot study, they were unable to evaluate the impact of the brief intervention that led to only minor behavioral changes. Evidence suggests that the intervention may have the capacity to alter health behaviors over the long run and be safe, affordable, and readily scaled up.

One of the pilot study’s findings was that, on average, in weeks one and two, both groups reported engaging in equivalent amounts of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.

In comparison to the control group, the intervention group had engaged in roughly 21 minutes more of weekly moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and slightly over half a day more of weekly muscle-strengthening exercises at week three.

Accelerometer data revealed that across the intervention period, the intervention group engaged in similar amounts of physical activity- 15 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous intensity, 22 minutes of mild intensity, and 37 minutes of total physical activity- than the control group.

During the intervention, individuals in the intervention group also spent, on average, 59 minutes less time sitting down than those in the control group each day.

Overall, 41 (69%) of 59 intervention group participants out of 60 said they completed the Active Advent intervention ideas every day, and 42 (70%) of 60 said they liked the intervention. 12 (21%) completed Moderate Mrs. Santa Claus, 18 (30%) completed Easy Elf, and 11 (18%) of these participants completed Strenuous Santa.

Although the study was not intended to test this conclusively, there were no reported safety problems.

“The public was interested to engage in a Christmas-themed physical activity intervention, which also reduced sedentary time and showed promise for increasing participation in physical activity,” write the authors. “Enjoyment of, and adherence to the intervention shows that the public would welcome public health campaigns to help them become more physically active and less sedentary during the holiday season,” they concluded.

Source: Medindia