Cross-Sectional Associations Between Sitting Time and Several Aspects of Mental Health in Belgian Adults.

Background: Sedentary behavior (including sitting) is negatively associated with physical health, independent from physical activity (PA). Knowledge on the associations with mental health is less elaborated. Therefore this study aims to investigate the relationship between sitting and 5 indices of mental health in adults (psychological distress, depression, anxiety, somatization, and sleeping problems), and between sitting interactions (sitting×gender, sitting×age, sitting×education, and sitting×PA) and these mental health indices.

Association of physical activity, waist circumference and body mass index with subjective health among Belgian adults.

Background: The present study aimed to explore associations of physical activity (PA), waist circumference (WC) and body mass index (BMI) with subjective health in a nationally representative sample of Belgian adults.

Methods: Data from the 2004 Belgian Food Consumption Survey were used. A face-to-face questionnaire about sociodemographic and socioeconomic characteristics, general health, subjective health, lifestyle and PA was completed.

The relationship between physical activity and mental health varies across activity intensity levels and dimensions of mental health among women and men.

Objective: To explore gender-specific variations related to activity intensity in the relationship between physical activity (PA) and mental health (MH). Evaluating whether psychological well-being enhances with increases in PA at recommended levels and above, in the general population.

Design: Cross-sectional.

Specific associations between types of physical activity and components of mental health.

Findings of previous studies suggest that the relationship between physical activity and mental health may change across different domains of physical activity, different dimensions of mental health, and different population subgroups. The present study examined associations between five types of physical activity with different contents: housework, leisure active transportation, biking to/from work, walking to/from work, and sports participation, and two dimensions of mental health: perceived stress and psychological distress, in 1919 participants aged 20-65 years, using the data from the Flemish Policy Research Centre Sport, Physical Activity and Health. Multiple logistic regression analyses were performed with the total sample, and with the sample stratified by gender, age, and occupational category.