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How does Time Use and availability affect the associations between Activity Space, the environment and Physical Activity among European Adults?

Description du projet

Chronométrer l’activité physique des adultes européens

Le manque d’activité physique peut augmenter le risque d’apparition de maladies non transmissibles. Deux tiers de la population adulte (âgée de 15 ans ou plus) de l’Union européenne n’atteint pas les niveaux recommandés d’activité physique (au moins 150 minutes par semaine). Les deux raisons les plus citées sont le fait de vivre dans un environnement obésogène et le manque de temps. Le projet TUASPA, financé par l’UE, examinera les associations entre l’activité physique et l’environnement bâti en matière de temps disponible et de perception du temps. L’étude aura lieu dans la ville espagnole de Barcelone, où l’activité physique de 150 travailleurs sera suivie à l’aide de GPS et d’accéléromètres.

Objectif

European adults are in dire need of increasing their physical activity (PA) levels. Leading an active lifestyle helps to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and improve mental health and cognitive function. The WHO estimates that physical inactivity is responsible for more than one million premature deaths/year in the European region alone, as 40% of European adults fail to reach PA recommendations.

Living in obesogenic environments is one culprit for the lack of PA and one that has been extensively studied by environmental epidemiologists. A second cause of physical inactivity, is lack of time, but despite being frequently cited in studies and surveys, time use and time pressure have been seldom addressed in relation with the built environment. PA campaigns can be easily spoiled if people have no time available to invest in exercising. And in our contemporary societies, time availability is also deeply rooted on the built environment and the characteristics of our activity spaces. Factors such as how long our commute is, or whether one can connect home-work-school with public transit are going to affect both how much time we have left, and how much PA do we gain from active transport.

This project aims at addressing this glaring gap in the literature, by incorporating time availability and time perceptions to the study of the associations between PA and the built environment. It does so by recruiting 150 employed adults (50% women; 33% with children) in the Metropolitan Region of Barcelona and tracking their PA patterns during a week, using a GPS and accelerometer devices. Time availability is assessed using daily EMA surveys aimed at describing their subjective use of time in relation with their physical activity.

By triangulating GPS, accelerometer, GIS and EMA measures this project will build informed activity spaces that will allow to examine the associations between the environment and PA through the new lens of time availability.

Régime de financement

MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EF

Coordinateur

UNIVERSITAT AUTONOMA DE BARCELONA
Contribution nette de l'UE
€ 172 932,48
Adresse
EDIF A CAMPUS DE LA UAB BELLATERRA CERDANYOLA V
08193 Cerdanyola Del Valles
Espagne

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Région
Este Cataluña Barcelona
Type d’activité
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Liens
Coût total
€ 172 932,48