Do Worry and Brooding Predict Health Behaviors? A Daily Diary Investigation.

BACKGROUND: Meta-analyses have reported associations between perseverative cognition (both worry and brooding) and increased engagement in health-risk behaviors, poorer sleep, and poorer physiological health outcomes. METHOD: Using a daily diary design, this study investigated the within- and between-person relationships between state and trait perseverative cognition and health behaviors (eating behavior, physical activity, alcohol consumption, and sleep) both cross-sectionally and prospectively. Participants (n = 273, 93% students, Mage = 20.2, SD = 4.11, 93% female) completed morning and evening diaries across 7 consecutive days. RESULTS: Multilevel modeling analyses revealed that, cross-sectionally, higher levels of state worry were associated with more time spent sitting and higher levels of state brooding predicted less daily walking. CONCLUSION: Worry and brooding may represent useful intervention targets for improving inactivity and walking levels, respectively.

The association between worry and rumination with sleep in non-clinical populations: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Associations have been found between perseverative cognition (PC: worry and rumination) and somatic markers of ill-health. Further studies have reported associations between sleep and both PC and poorer health. As such, sleep disturbance may represent a pathway between PC and ill-health. Therefore, studies assessing the relationship between PC and sleep in non-clinical populations were synthesised. Meta-analyses (k = 55) revealed small- to medium-sized associations between higher PC and poorer sleep quality (SQ, r = -0.28), shorter total sleep time (TST, r = -0.15) and longer sleep onset latency (SOL, r = -0.16). Variations included associations between SQ and rumination (r = -.33) and worry (r = -.23). Associations were stronger in studies measuring SQ via self-report rather than actigraphy, and where SOL and TST outcomes were cross-sectional. Associations with SOL were stronger when outcomes were from non-diary studies and when trait, rather than state PC, was measured, but weaker where studies incorporated more measures of PC. Effect sizes were generally larger where studies were higher quality and being female may act as a protective factor between PC and longer SOL. Therefore, there is a consistent association between PC and sleep which may partially explain the link between PC and ill-health.

Dyadic interventions to promote physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviour: systematic review and meta-analysis.

Several interventions have targeted dyads to promote physical activity (PA) or reduce sedentary behaviour (SB), but the evidence has not been synthesised. Sixty-nine studies were identified from MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Web of Science, and 59 were included in the main meta-analyses (providing 72 independent tests). Intervention details, type of dyadic goal, participant characteristics, and methodological quality were extracted and their impact on the overall effect size was examined. Sensitivity analyses tested effect robustness to (a) the effects of other statistically significant moderators; (b) outliers; (c) data included for participants who were not the main target of the intervention. Dyadic interventions had a small positive, highly heterogeneous, effect on PA g = .203, 95% CI [0.123-0.282], compared to comparison conditions including equivalent interventions targeting individuals. Shared target-oriented goals (where both dyad members hold the same PA goal for the main target of the intervention) and peer/friend dyads were associated with larger effect sizes across most analyses. Dyadic interventions produced a small homogeneous reduction in SB. Given dyadic interventions promote PA over-and-above equivalent interventions targeting individuals, these interventions should be more widespread. However, moderating factors such as the types of PA goal and dyad need to be considered to maximise effects.

Interventions to reduce consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages or increase water intake: evidence from a systematic review and meta-analysis.

A systematic review and meta-analyses were conducted to evaluate the effects of interventions to reduce sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) or increase water intakes and to examine the impact of behaviour change techniques (BCTs) in consumption patterns. Randomized and nonrandomized controlled trials published after January 1990 and until December 2016 reporting daily changes in intakes of SSB or water in volumetric measurements (mL d-1 ) were included. References were retrieved through searches of electronic databases and quality appraisal followed Cochrane principles. We calculated mean differences (MD) and synthesized data with random-effects models. Forty studies with 16 505 participants were meta-analysed. Interventions significantly decreased consumption of SSB in children by 76 mL d-1 (95% confidence interval [CI] -105 to -46; 23 studies, P < 0.01), and in adolescents (-66 mL d-1 , 95% CI -130 to -2; 5 studies, P = 0.04) but not in adults (-13 mL d-1 , 95% CI -44 to 18; 12 studies, P = 0.16). Pooled estimates of water intakes were only possible for interventions in children, and results were indicative of increases in water intake (MD +67 mL d-1 , 95% CI 6 to 128; 7 studies, P = 0.04). For children, there was evidence to suggest that modelling/demonstrating the behaviour helped to reduce SSB intake and that interventions within the home environment had greater effects than school-based interventions. In conclusion, public health interventions - mainly via nutritional education/counselling - are moderately successful at reducing intakes of SSB and increasing water intakes in children. However, on average, only small reductions in SSBs have been achieved by interventions targeting adolescents and adults. Complementary measures may be needed to achieve greater improvements in both dietary behaviours across all age groups.

Can the effects of implementation intentions on exercise be enhanced using text messages?

Implementation intentions planning in advance the situation in which one will act, have been proposed to be an effective self-regulatory technique for changing health behaviour. Encouraging people to receive text message reminders of their implementation intentions should enhance their strength and, thus, it was predicted that this combined approach would be particularly effective in increasing exercise. Participants (N = 155) were randomly allocated to one of five conditions (implementation intentions and SMS, implementation intention, SMS or one of two control groups) then completed self-report measures of exercise behaviour and motivation. Four weeks later, they responded to similar items. Results suggested that the combined intervention increased exercise frequency significantly more than the other strategies including the implementation intention group. It is proposed, therefore, that implementation intention effects can be enhanced via plan reminders.