Publications by authors named "Arto J Pesola"

Physical activity guidelines targeting different populations with and without chronic diseases or disabilities are required to meet the diverse functional and physiological needs experienced by different subgroups of people to achieve optimal health benefits. As the importance of physical activity guidelines in promoting optimal health and well-being becomes increasingly recognised, there is a critical need for their systematic evaluation to ensure they remain effective, applicable and aligned with evolving health needs and scientific insights. This study aims to systematically review, critically evaluate, and compare global physical activity and sedentary behaviour guidelines on frequency, intensity, time, and type of exercise for adults, pregnant and postpartum women, and people living with chronic conditions and/or disabilities.

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Background: Non-communicable diseases are rising rapidly in low- and middle-income countries, leading to increased morbidity and mortality. Reducing sedentary behavior (SB) and increasing physical activity (PA) offer numerous health benefits. Workplaces provide an ideal setting for promoting SB/PA interventions; however, understanding the barriers and enablers is crucial for optimizing these interventions in workplace environments.

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Article Synopsis
  • A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to explore the causal relationships between genetically determined sedentary behaviors and various health outcomes, looking at data from 31 MR studies.
  • The analysis identified 47 significant causal associations, with increased leisure TV watching linked to higher risks of heart diseases and type 2 diabetes, while leisure computer use showed protective effects against certain health conditions like arthritis and Alzheimer's.
  • The study concludes that different sedentary behaviors have unique effects on health, emphasizing the need for targeted interventions that not only reduce sedentary time but also encourage healthier sedentary activities.
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Introduction: Muscle activation during interruptions to prolonged sedentary time is a hypothesized mechanism underlying observed cardiometabolic benefits. We examined associations of quadriceps and hamstring muscle activity patterns with cardiometabolic risk markers and how these patterns varied between different sitting-interruption countermeasures.

Methods: Electromyographic (EMG) data (shorts) were gathered for 1 to 2 d from healthy adults in a free-living study ( n = 172, age 40.

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Background: High levels of sedentary behavior in workplaces are currently recognized as an independent risk factor for cognitive dysfunction and poor mental health. However, sedentary patterns vary between workdays and non-workdays, which may influence cognitive functions.

Objective: The present study aimed to quantify and compare work and nonwork device-measured sedentary time (ST) and its association with cognitive function in Indian office workers.

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The efficacy of interrupting prolonged sitting may be influenced by muscle activity patterns. This study examined the effects of interrupting prolonged sitting time with different muscle activity patterns on continuously monitored postprandial glycemic response. Eighteen overweight and obese men (21.

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Objective: Cycling is an important part of children's active travel, but its measurement using accelerometry is a challenge. The aim of the present study was to evaluate physical activity duration and intensity, and sensitivity and specificity of free-living cycling measured with a thigh-worn accelerometer.

Methods: Participants were 160 children (44 boys) aged 11.

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Background: Thigh-worn accelerometers can accurately measure time spent sitting, standing and walking in free-living settings.

Aim: To investigate the concurrent validity of a new Fibion accelerometer and a validated ActivPAL4 accelerometer for estimating sedentary and upright time in healthy individuals.

Methods: A total of 29 healthy individuals, aged between 18 and 50 years, wore the Fibion and ActivPAL4 devices on the same thigh with a medical adhesive tape during one typical weekday.

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Background: Despite functional and cognitive benefits, few adults and older adults do strength training twice per week with sufficient intensity. Exercise-based active video games (exergaming) may amplify the cognitive benefits of exercise and increase adherence and motivation toward training. However, the benefits of a well-defined and monitored dose of strength training, executed simultaneously or sequentially with a cognitive element, has received little attention.

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Background: Both reducing sitting and increasing physical exercise promote health but exercising more does not necessarily reduce sitting time. One reason for this non-dependency may be that different aspects of exercise motivation are differently related to sitting time. Identifying the type of exercise motivation that would also be associated with sitting time can help to reduce sitting indirectly through increased exercise, thus bringing greater benefits.

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Background And Aims: Wearing an accelerometer during night-time could conflate sedentary behavior time and sleep hours. It is important to assess the impact of including night-time data on sedentary and upright behavior in a sedentary population. Therefore, we investigated differences in sitting and upright time and associated energy expenditure (EE), recorded by a Fibion accelerometer, with and without night-time data in Emirati women working in desk-based jobs.

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Background: The social ecological approach suggests that the spatial context among other factors influence physical activity behavior. Ample research documents physical environmental effects on physical activity. Yet, to date inconsistent associations remain, which might be explained by conceptual and methodological challenges in measuring the spatial dimensions of health behavior.

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The COVID-19 pandemic and the associated governmental restrictions suddenly changed everyday life and potentially affected exercise behavior. The aim of this study was to explore whether individuals changed their preference for certain types of physical exercise during the pandemic and to identify risk factors for inactivity. An international online survey with 13,881 adult participants from 18 countries/regions was conducted during the initial COVID-19 related lockdown (between April and May 2020).

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European children and adolescents spend most of their daily life and especially their school hours being sedentary which may increase their risk for chronic non-communicable diseases later in life. After the curriculum reform of Finnish basic education in 2014, most of the new or renovated comprehensive schools in Finland incorporate open and flexible classroom designs. Their open learning spaces may provide students opportunities to reduce sedentary behavior during school hours.

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Background: Prolonged (excessive) sitting is detrimentally associated with cardiovascular, metabolic and mental health. Moreover, prolonged sitting has been associated with poor executive function, memory, attention and visuospatial skills, which are important cognitive aspects of work performance. Breaking up prolonged sitting with standing or light-intensity exercises at the workplace is recognized as a potential measure in improving cognition.

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Involvement in sport and exercise not only provides participants with health benefits but can be an important aspect of living a meaningful life. The COVID-19 pandemic and the temporary cessation of public life in March/April/May 2020 came with restrictions, which probably also made it difficult, if not impossible, to participate in certain types of sport or exercise. Following the philosophical position that different types of sport and exercise offer different ways of "relating to the world," this study explored (dis)continuity in the type of sport and exercise people practiced during the pandemic-related lockdown, and possible effects on mood.

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The functional movement screen (FMS) is commonly used to evaluate sports injury risks, but no study has been reported for Wushu athletes. The aim of this study was to identify optimal FMS cut-off points for previously injured Wushu athletes and to examine the associations with other possible factors. In this study, a total of 84 Chinese Wushu athletes (15.

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Limited data are available regarding strength and endurance training adaptations to occupational physical performance during deployment. This study assessed acute training-induced changes in neuromuscular (electromyography; EMG) and metabolic (blood lactate, BLa) responses during a high-intensity military simulation test (MST), performed in the beginning (PRE) and at the end (POST) of a six-month crisis-management operation. MST time shortened (145 ± 21 vs.

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Background: We aimed to examine the associations of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), static strength and explosive strength with cognitive functions in young males.

Methods: Eighty-six young males (age 16-24 years) participated in the study and took part in a number of tests including: static strength (grip strength test), explosive strength (Sargent jump test), and CRF (via direct measure of maximal oxygen uptake [VO2max]). Static strength and explosive strength were scaled by allometrically modeled skeletal muscle mass (SMM) and height while VO2max was scaled by SMM and body mass (BM).

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Background: Children's habitual physical activity, including active travel and catching public transit (walking and cycling to and from destinations), and independent mobility (mobility without an adult) have decreased. Public transit trips are physically active and can provide access to hobbies independent of parents, but there is no device-measured data about children's total physical activity time following the introduction of free public transit. Our aim is to compare physical activity and independent mobility between children living in two Finnish towns, one with a recently introduced free public transit system, and the other without free public transit.

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We investigated the ability of energy expenditure, movement sensing, and muscle activity to discriminate sedentary and non-sedentary activities in children. Thirty-five 7-11-year-old children participated in the study. Simultaneous assessment of oxygen uptake (V̇O), triaxial accelerometry, and thigh muscle electromyography (EMG) were performed during eight different sedentary and non-sedentary activities including lying down, sitting-, standing-, and walking-related activities, which were performed in a random order.

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Background And Purpose: The association between weight status with simple cognitive tasks such as reaction time (RT) may not be observed in young people as cognitive functioning development has reached its peak. In the present study, we aimed to examine the association between overall and central adiposity with overall and central processing of RT in a sample of young adult men with different weight status from Ardabil, Iran.

Methods: Eighty-six young males between June-July 2018 completed RT tests as well as premotor time (PMT) using surface electromyography changes in isometric contraction response to an audio stimulus.

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Background: This research compared accelerometry (ACC)-derived and muscle electromyography (EMG)-based estimates of physical activity (PA) and sedentary time in typical PA tasks and during the daily lives of children.

Methods: Data was included from two exploratory studies. In Study I, 6-7-year-old children ( = 11, 64% girls) were assessed for eight PA tasks (walking, stair negotiation, climbing, crawling, swinging, balancing, trampoline jumping and a game of tag).

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Commercial indoor activity parks provide children with a variety of entertaining physical activities. This study examined whether visiting SuperPark affects total daily sitting and physical activity time. The participants (8 girls and 7 boys, aged 10.

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