Association of Residency Applicants' Hobbies and Subsequent Technical Proficiency Ratings as General Surgery Chief Residents: A Multi-Institutional Study.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether participation in certain hobbies (e.g., participation in sports, playing musical instruments, or other hobbies requiring fine motor skills), preresidency, are associated with higher technical skills ratings at the time of residency graduation. DESIGN: Faculty members from 14 general surgery residency programs scored individual graduates from 2017 to 2020 on their technical skills using a 5-point Likert scale. Hobbies for these residents were collected from their Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) data. A single reviewer classified each ERAS hobby into predefined categories including musical instruments, sports requiring hand-eye coordination, team sports, and activities necessitating hand-eye coordination. Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated for the relationship between each category of hobby-as well as the total number of hobbies in each category-and the outcome of surgical faculty ratings of residents' technical surgical skills during their last year of residency. A proportional odds model including the above predictive variables was also fit to the data. SETTING: Fourteen general surgery residency programs. PARTICIPANTS: General surgery residency graduates from 14 different programs from 2017 to 2020. RESULTS: There were 296 residents across 14 institutions. The average ranking of residents' technical skills was 3.24 (SD 1.1). A total of 40% of residents played sports involving hand-eye coordination, 31% played team sports, 28% participated in nonsport hobbies that require eye-hand coordination, and 20% played musical instruments. Correlation coefficients were not statistically significant for any of the categories. In the proportional odds model, none of the variables were associated with statistically significant increased odds of a higher technical skills rating. CONCLUSIONS: There was no correlation between general surgery chief residents' technical skills as rated by faculty, and self-reported pre-residency hobbies on the ERAS application. These findings suggest such hobbies prior to residency are unlikely to predict future technical skills prowess.

Moderating effect of country-level health determinants on the association between hobby engagement and mental health: cross-cohort multi-level models, meta-analyses, and meta-regressions.

BACKGROUND: Theories from anthropology, evolutionary psychology, and sociology have focused on the potential adaptive benefits of hobby engagement for mental health in older adults. However, previous studies have used data from single countries, potentially biased by specific measurement and methodological approaches, cohort effects, or cultural specificities. Whether there are genuine benefits for mental health in older adults cross-culturally remains unknown. This study explored the consistency of this association across 16 different nations. METHODS: For this epidemiological study, we used data from adults aged 65 years or older across 16 countries in the USA, Europe, and Asia, represented in five longitudinal studies (ELSA, JAGES, HRS, SHARE and CHARLS; N=93 263, 45-62% female, mean age 72-76 years, data collected 2008-20). We harmonised measures of self-reported engagement in hobbies and past-times, depressive symptoms (validated scales), and Likert scale responses for self-reported health, happiness, and life satisfaction. We conducted fixed-effects models and longitudinal regression models of hobbies and mental health for each country and then pooled in multinational meta-analyses. We accounted for all time-constant factors including those unobserved (eg, genetics, past leisure behaviour, medical history, psychological traits) and identified time-varying factors (eg, sociodemographic background, clinical conditions, daily functioning). We tested the potential moderating effects of country-level determinants of health in meta-regressions and multilevel models. FINDINGS: Meta-analytic fixed-effects findings showed that having a hobby was associated with fewer depressive symptoms (pooled coefficient -0·10, 95% CI -0·13 to -0·07, I2=69·5%, H2=3·28), and higher levels of self-reported health (0·06, 0·03 to 0·08, I2=48·1%, H2=1·93), happiness (0·09, 0·06 to 0·13, I2=67·0%, H2=3·03), and life satisfaction (0·10, 0·08 to 0·12, I2=33·6%, H2=1·51). Results were consistent in meta-analyses of longitudinal regression models testing directionality of findings. Macro-level factors such as life expectancy, world happiness index, country wealth, and income inequality predicted prevalence of hobby engagement, but they showed only marginal moderating effects on the association between hobbies and mental health. INTERPRETATION: Despite some heterogeneity in measurement between the cohorts, the apparent universality of the health benefits of hobbies internationally suggests that facilitating greater opportunities for engagement across demographic groups and between countries could be an important part of multidisciplinary care. Findings have implications for social prescribing schemes (currently in trial in many countries) and multidisciplinary work on origins and human behavioural patterns of hobby engagement. FUNDING: National Endowment for the Arts, Wellcome Trust, Belgian Nnational Scientific Fund (FNRS).

Hobby engagement and mental wellbeing among people aged 65 years and older in 16 countries.

Growing aging populations pose a threat to global health because of the social and psychological challenges they experience. To mitigate this, many countries promote hobby engagement to support and improve mental health. Yet, it remains unclear whether there is consistency in benefits across different national settings. We harmonized measures of hobby engagement and multiple aspects of mental wellbeing across 16 nations represented in five longitudinal studies (N = 93,263). Prevalence of hobby engagement varied substantially across countries, from 51.0% of Spanish respondents to 96.0% of Danish respondents. Fixed effects models and multinational meta-analyses were applied to compare the longitudinal associations between hobbies and mental wellbeing. Independent of confounders, having a hobby was associated with fewer depressive symptoms (pooled coefficient = -0.10; 95% confidence intervals (CI) = -0.13, -0.07), and higher levels of self-reported health (pooled coefficient = 0.06; 95% CI = 0.03, 0.08), happiness (pooled coefficient = 0.09; 95% CI = 0.06, 0.13) and life satisfaction (pooled coefficient = 0.10; 95% CI = 0.08, 0.12). Further analyses suggested a temporal relationship. The strength of these associations, and prevalence of hobby engagement, were correlated with macrolevel factors such as life expectancy and national happiness levels but overall, little variance in findings was explained by country-level factors (<9%). Given the relative universality of findings, ensuring equality in hobby engagement within and between countries should be a priority for promoting healthy aging.

Impact of Occupations and Hobbies on the Severity of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: An Electrodiagnostic Perspective.

OBJECTIVE: This study describes the clinical and electrodiagnostic (EDX) findings as well as occupations and hobbies in 613 patients diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). METHODS: Patients with moderate, moderately severe, or severe CTS based on EDX criteria were included. RESULTS: The most common occupations included workers in offices, construction/maintenance, and assembly lines. The occupation severity scores were greatest in garment workers, musicians, and landscapers. Regardless of occupation, patient age and occupation duration were significantly correlated ( P < 0.001). Gardeners had the highest average severity score of the hobbies, followed by painters, those who sew, and individuals who perform house chores. CONCLUSIONS: Physicians should be aware of particular occupations and hobbies associated with a greater risk of severe CTS and offer modifications to their patients' work duties and hobbies to minimize the likelihood of developing severe CTS.

Hobby Engagement and Risk of Disabling Dementia.

BACKGROUND: The association between hobby engagement and risk of dementia reported from a short-term follow-up study for individuals aged ≥65 years may be susceptible to reverse causation. We examined the association between hobby engagement in age of 40-69 years and risk of dementia in a long-term follow-up study among Japanese, including individuals in mid-life, when the majority of individuals have normal cognitive function. METHODS: A total of 22,377 individuals aged 40-69 years completed a self-administered questionnaire in 1993-1994. The participants answered whether they had hobbies according to the three following responses: having no hobbies, having a hobby, and having many hobbies. Follow-up for incident disabling dementia was conducted with long-term care insurance data from 2006 to 2016. RESULTS: During a median of 11.0 years of follow-up, 3,095 participants developed disabling dementia. Adjusting for the demographic, behavioral, and psychosocial factors, the multivariable hazard ratios of incident disabling dementia compared with "having no hobbies" were 0.82 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.75-0.89) for "having a hobby" and 0.78 (95% CI, 0.67-0.91) for "having many hobbies". The inverse association was similarly observed in both middle (40-64 years) and older ages (65-69 years). For disabling dementia subtypes, hobby engagement was inversely associated with the risk of dementia without a history of stroke (probably non-vascular type dementia), but not with that of post-stroke dementia (probably vascular type dementia). CONCLUSION: Hobby engagement in both mid-life and late life was associated with a lower risk of disabling dementia without a history of stroke.

Work-life balance in dreams: Frequency and emotional tone of work-related and hobby-related dreams.

As dreams reflect waking life, the so-called continuity hypothesis of dreaming, the literature showing that work-related stress affects dreams negatively is very plausible. As in waking life, hobbies are an important component in the work-life balance. In the present study, the work-life balance in dreams was studied. Overall, 1695 persons (960 women, 735 men; mean age: 53.84 ± 13.99 years) participated in an online survey entitled "Everyday life and dreams". The data collected refer to the pre-pandemic period. The findings indicate that hobby-related dreams are more frequent in persons who often engage in their hobbies, supporting the notion of a thematic continuity. As expected, the emotional tone of hobby-related dreams was more positive compared with dreams in general and work-related dreams in particular. Interestingly, the emotional valence of hobby-related dreams was related to the valence of general emotionality towards work in waking life, supporting the idea of an emotional continuity between waking and dreaming. The work-life balance in dreams could be defined as the difference of the percentages of work-related and hobby-related dreams; it is linked to work-related stress and the hobby frequency, factors similar to those that shift the work-life balance in waking life toward the "work" end of the spectrum.

Topical Review of Hobbies and Cognitive Health.

BACKGROUND: Establishing preventive measures to improve cognitive health of the growing older adult population is a public health priority. Though, the links between low-cost non-pharmacologist interventions that target activities like hobbies and cognitive health remain unclear. OBJECTIVE: We conducted a topical review of extant literature to characterize prior findings in context and identify potential research opportunities. METHODS: Search criteria was conducted with search terms "Hobbies and Dementia", "Hobbies and Cognitive Health," "Leisure Activities and Dementia," and "Leisure Activities and Cognitive Health". From the initial 383 articles, 25 articles were selected for review by using broad inclusion and exclusion criteria. RESULTS: Of the 25 articles included in this review, 19 were longitudinal cohort, 1 was a retrospective cohort, 2 were case-control, and 3 were cross-sectional. These studies classified hobbies as leisure activities that were cognitive/intellectual, cultural, religious, social, gardening, traveling, or physical. These studies were conducted in the United States (9), United Kingdom (3), Sweden (3), France (5), Finland (1), Korea (1), Japan (2), and China (1). The associations of different types of hobbies with dementia from these studies were not consistent. Inconsistencies could be due to limitations of study design, lack of standardized methods, sample diversity, and differences in factors like social/cultural environment across the study populations. CONCLUSION: This review examined existing evidence for the association between engagement in different types of hobbies and dementia and identified key knowledge gaps and promising approaches for future research.

Musings on Some Dentist-Musicians.

Many successful dentists and doctors enjoy a wide variety of hobbies, including music. Some are avid listeners; others play instruments as amateurs or even professionals; sometimes they sing. A few are recording artists. Their interests might be classical or modern, including jazz. This paper examines the musical lives of a few general practitioners, hospital dentists and academics in the United Kingdom. Clearly striving for success in one's profession leaves room for other activities.

Social hobbies can increase self-esteem and quality of life in female breast cancer patients with type A personality trait: KRATOS study.

Self-esteem is a way of coping with stress for cancer patients and this improves their quality of life. It was aimed to determine the relationship between type A personality traits and self-esteem and quality of life in women with breast cancer and to determine the effective factors. 154 women with breast cancer and 78 healthy women were included. Bortner's Rating scale, Rosenberg's Self-Esteem scale, and EORTC QOL-C30 scale were used. The relationship between the presence of hobbies, self-esteem, quality of life, and personality type was examined. Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis, Fisher's Exact, and Spearman Rank correlation tests were performed. Independent factors affecting personality type, self-esteem, and quality of life were determined by multivariate logistic (binary) regression analysis. The p < 0.05 value was significant in the SPSS v19 program. There was no age difference between the patients (54 ± 11 years) and the control group (42 ± 8 years) (p = 0.108). The rate of type A personality was 69% in patients and 58% in controls (p = 0.093). Similarly, the rate of high self-esteem was 93% in patients and 96% in controls (p = 0.098). Besides personality type and self-esteem, there was no relationship between personality type and quality of life in cancer patients (p = 0.960 and p = 0.946, respectively). A relationship was established between self-esteem and quality of life (p = 0.018) in patients. In patients with type A personality, hobbies providing socially active communication were common (p = 0.039), and had more than two hobbies (p = 0.015). Type A personality trait was independently effective on self-esteem (p = 0.046). Hobby orientation and the number of hobbies had independent effects on self-esteem (p = 0.032, p = 0.041), quality of life (respectively, p = 0.004, p = 0.007), and personality type (respectively, p = 0.014, p = 0.027). Hobbies that provide active social communication may have important effects on changes in personality traits, self-esteem, and quality of life in patients with breast cancer.

Evaluating the association of well-being strategies on line manager resilience.

BACKGROUND: Line management tends to be associated with increased responsibility and accountability in the workplace and can be a challenging and high-pressured role. More resilient line managers are more likely to continue to perform despite work stressors. AIMS: This study aimed to assess the association of various coping strategies and resources on resilience levels amongst line managers working within a corporate office-based environment. METHODS: A questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was carried out over 4 weeks in 2020. The questionnaire probed demographic factors and the use of strategies and resources which may enhance resilience. Resilience was assessed using the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale. RESULTS: On regression analysis, resilience tended to increase with increasing years of line management. When each strategy/resource was considered separately and adjusted for the number of years of line management, exercise outside of work (B, 0.302; 95% confidence intervals [CIs], 0.109 to 0.495), hobbies/interests (B, 0.252; 95% CIs, 0.095 to 0.410) and socializing (B, 0.204; 95% CIs, 0.042 to 0.367) were all significant predictors of resilience. CONCLUSIONS: The key coping strategies and resources that had the strongest association with resilience amongst office-based line managers were those that related to their personal lives, with exercise being of particular importance. This study highlights the importance of emphasizing work-life balance and lifestyle factors within workplace manager training and resilience programmes, as well as in the occupational health clinic. Additional support and health promotion for managers in their first few years of management responsibility may also be beneficial.

Are there neurophysiological differences behind the play of different chess modalities?: An international grandmaster case study.

The study of mental load is an emerging research topic in the field of sport sciences. In the sport of chess, there is a need to understand the mental demands of the sport of chess in order to manage training loads. The present study aimed to analyze the electrical brain pattern of an elite chess player during different chess games: 15 + 10, blindfold 15 + 10, lightning game, and problem-solving chess tasks. The participant was a male 33-year-old chess player with 2562 points of ELO and more than 26 years of chess experience, training between 3 and 4 h a day. The 15 + 10 game consisted of 15 min + 10 s increment per move. In the blindfold game, the participant cannot see the positions of the pieces and does not touch them. In the lightning game, the participant played four consecutive one minute game. In addition, two high-level, two low-level, and two medium-level chess problems were performed. Electroencephalographic (EEG) and heart rate variability (HRV) responses were measured to assess the electrical brain pattern and autonomic modulation respectively. The participant won both games at 15 + 10 (normal and blindfold), lost three and drew one of the four lightning games, solved the two low-level and the two medium-level problems and solved one of the two high-level problems. Although in both games the player achieved victory the average player move quality measured with both pure analysis and analysis with additional limitations were lower in 15 + 10 blindfold game than in 15 + 10 game. Increments in theta and alpha power spectrums can be observed during the most demanding chess games (blindfold chess, lightning game, and the chess problem at difficult- level). Furthermore, the highest alpha power spectrum values can be observed during blindfold chess. In conclusion, this is the first study investigating the EEG pattern of a International Chess Grandmaster during a blindfold chess game. We found that in the chess games where lower performance is exhibited, theta and alpha power spectrums increased.

Taking hobbyists seriously: The reef tank hobby and knowledge production in serious leisure.

Studies of communities that produce knowledge about the natural world have largely focused on groups working with or for academic scientists and conforming to the epistemic values of academic knowledge production. This paper details a community that produces natural knowledge outside of those parameters. The reef hobbyist community, a group that works with aquariums as a form of non-professional leisure, has developed historical narratives, publishing standards, and recognized forms of expertise that are not shared by academic scientists. However, their goal is to produce knowledge about coral systems and their hobby has resulted in a wealth of knowledge about coral husbandry. In this paper, I identify the structure of this community, highlight several prominent groups that make up the network of reef hobbyists, and trace the ways that they produce knowledge about the marine environment through their actions. This paper contributes to discussions about diverse ways of knowing and differing forms of knowledge production in the history and philosophy of science. By examining the history and practices of a well-developed knowledge community outside of academic science, I hope to call attention to the ways that philosophers and historians have centered academic science and its structure and use of knowledge, even in conversations about non-professional knowledge producers. This paper pushes scholars to think more deeply about the way knowledge is developed in non-academic groups.

[Non-participation in social activities of rural older adults: Results from the Toyama dementia survey].

Objective　Social activities play an important role in the maintenance of health and well-being of the older adults. The aim of this study was to identify characteristics of the rural older adults who do not participate by type of social activities.Methods　This survey examined 1,537 older adults randomly selected at a sampling rate of 0.5% from among those living in Toyama prefecture of Japan, in 2014. Of the total, 947 ambulatory older adults living in their own homes were analyzed using Poisson regression. Results were presented as prevalence ratio (PR). The level of statistical significance was set at P<0.05 (two-sided test).Results　The participants included 426 men (mean age 73.9 ± 6.5 years) and 521 women (mean age 74.8 ± 7.0 years).　In terms of work, both men and women did not work at an older age (men PR 1.15 over 75 years old, women PR 1.11 over 70 years old). Men did not work during outpatient treatment (PR 1.09) and the Revised Hasegawa Dementia Scale (HDS-R) 21-25 points (PR 1.09) and 20 points or below. Women who did not drink alcohol did not work (PR 0.93).　Both men and women did not participate in residential activities at older ages (men PR 1.12 over 70 years old, women PR 1.11 over 80 years old). Men with 20 points or below on HDS-R (PR 1.16) and with work history of only physical labor (PR 1.12), and women living with family (PR 0.92) were less likely to participate in residential activities.　In the hobby group, both men and women with work history of only physical labor were less likely to participate (men PR 1.05, women PR 1.08). Men with education of 9 years or below (PR 1.05) and women living alone (PR 1.07) were less likely to participate. Hobby groups did not relate with age and cognitive decline.　In the senior citizens' club, men and women who did not drink alcohol were less likely to participate (men PR 0.91, women PR 0.89). Men who smoked (PR 1.06), men with psychological symptoms (PR 1.09), and women with 20 points or below on HDS-R (PR 1.13) were less likely to participate.Conclusion　Factors related to non-participation of older adults in rural cities depended on the type of social activities. In order to promote social activity among the older adults in rural cities, it is important to consider specific measures taking into account the type of social activities.

Community-level social participation and functional disability among older adults: A JAGES multilevel longitudinal study.

PURPOSE: This study investigates the contextual association between types of community-level social participation and functional disability. METHODS: We used 6-year prospective cohort data from the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study 2010-2016, a nationwide survey of 35,519 functionally independent older adults (mean age: 73.30 ± 5.91 years, 49.6% females). The incidence of functional disability was obtained from municipal long-term care insurance databases. Social participation was assessed at individual and community levels and was categorized as: volunteer, sports, hobby and neighborhood groups, and senior citizen clubs. We calculated the 95% confidence interval (CI) and the hazard ratio (HR) by applying a three-level multilevel survival analysis. RESULTS: During the 6-year observation period, the onset of functional disability occurred among 3473 adults. A higher prevalence of sports (HR 0.88, 95% CI 0.80 to 0.96) and hobby group participation (HR 0.91, 95% CI 0.87 to 0.96) showed significant contextual relationships with functional disability after adjusting for potential confounders. Among females, community-level neighborhood group participation significantly lowered the incidence of functional disability (HR 0.87, 95% CI 0.76 to 0.998). CONCLUSIONS: We found a beneficial effect of a contextual relationship between community-level sports and hobby group participation and functional disability among older adults. Moreover, females benefited a lot from community-level social participation. We propose that promoting sports and hobby groups in a community may help to prevent functional disability among older adults.