This study aimed to examine whether a dose-response relationship exists between psychological distress and types of physical activity (total, occupational, and leisure-time). The study subjects (233 men and 313 women) were recruited for a study on cardiovascular disease in the Yangpyeong community located in South Korea. The type and characteristics of physical activity were measured with a modified version of the Stanford 5 city project's questionnaire by well-trained interviewers using a standard protocol. The Psychological Well-being Index-Short Form was used to assess psychological distress. Both the intensity and duration of time in either total physical activity or occupational physical activity (OPA) were not related to the distress score. However, a long duration of time (1 hr/day) in severely intensive (> or =6 metabolic equivalent) OPA was related to a high distress score in men (14.1 for none vs. 19.7, p-for-trend=0.005), even after the adjustment for leisure-time physical activity (LTPA). A long duration in time (1 hr/day) in LTPA was related to a lower distress score in men independent of their OPA (16.7 for none vs. 13.1, p-for-trend=0.02). In conclusion, the dose-response relationship of physical activity on psychological distress appeared to differ among the different types of activities. The type of activity may be an important determinant of whether physical activity produces psychological benefits.

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A dose-response relationship between types of physical activity and distress.

This study was conducted to analyze the distribution of the psychosocial well-being index among adults living in two rural communities in Korea and to examine its correlation with lifestyle variables such as sleep duration, regular exercise, and sedentary time. Using the cohort data of the Atherosclerosis Risk of a Rural Area Korean General Population, this study examined 3631 participants living in Wonju and Pyeongchang in Gangwon Province; their preliminary data were established from 2005 to 2007 while their follow-up data were collected 3 years later. This study investigated demographic characteristics, lifestyle habits, disease history, Psychosocial Well-being Index-Short Form (PWI-SF) scores, sleep duration, regular exercise, and sedentary time during work. Using repeated measures ANOVA, this study examined how the variables and PWI-SF scores changed over the course of 3 years and identified the correlation between them based on mixed model analysis. Afterwards, using the generalized estimation equation, this study identified each variable’s risk towards the PWI-SF high-risk group and performed a stratified analysis by occupation after dividing the participants into farmers and non-farmers. The PWI-SF high-risk group was found to be 18.9% of the participants from preliminary data and 15.5% from follow-up data. The odds ratio towards the PWI-SF high-risk group was 1.503 (95% CI 1.241–1.821) in the short sleep duration group and 1.327 (95% CI 1.136–1.550) in the non-regular exercise group. A stratified analysis by occupation showed that middle and long sedentary time in the white-collar group increased the risk toward the PWI-SF high-risk group. Short sleep duration, no regular exercise, and long sedentary time in the white-collar group were identified as risk factors toward the PWI-SF high-risk group in the rural communities, and policy interventions are needed to address this issue.

/pdf/factors-increasing-the-risk-for-psychosocial-stress-among-ojyh5iye8k.pdf

Factors increasing the risk for psychosocial stress among Korean adults living in rural areas: using generalized estimating equations and mixed models

This study was conducted to understand the relationship between stress and exercise frequency in postmenopausal women of Korea. The participants were 1,883 postmenopausal women who had visited a single medical center in Daegu, between 2005 January to 2009 December. We excluded women who had been previously diagnosed depressive disorders or had been treating in hormonal replacement therapy. We used PWI-SF (psychosocial well being index short form) for measuring stress. The sum of PWI-SF score was classified into healthy (less than 8), latently stressed (9∼26) and high risk stressed (more than 27) groups. The frequency of exercise was divided into none, mild (1∼2 times a week), moderate (3∼4 times a week) and intense (more than 5 times a week) groups. We analyzed the data by utilizing chi-square test, ANOVA and ANCOVA. Our study showed a significant negative correlation between PWI-SF and frequency of exercise. Furthermore our result showed a statistically significant correlation between level of education, income and stress, while alcohol and smoking were not significantly associated with PWI-SF. Our result demonstrated that higher frequency of exercise was associated with low PWI-SF score in postmenopausal women of Korea. (Korean J Stress Res 2016;24:161∼166)

Hwan Seok Lee

Papers

The effect of exercise on daily minor stress.