Browsing by Author "Ebner-Priemer, Ulrich"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2

Open Access
The association between short periods of everyday life activities and affective states: a replication study using ambulatory assessment
(2013) Bossmann, Thomas; Kanning, Martina; Koudela-Hamila, Susanne; Hey, Stefan; Ebner-Priemer, Ulrich
Regularly conducted exercise programs effectively influence affective states. Studies suggest that this is also true for short bouts of physical activity (PA) of 10 min or less. Accordingly, everyday life activities of short duration might be used to regulate affective states. However, this association has rarely been studied in reference to unstructured activities in ongoing real-life situations. The current study examined the influence of various everyday life activities on three dimensions of mood (valence, calmness, energetic arousal) in a predominantly inactive sample. Ambulatory Assessment (AA) was used to investigate the association between actual PA and affective states during the course of 1 day. Seventy-seven students ages 19-30 participated in the study. PA was assessed with accelerometers, and affective state assessments were conducted hourly using an e-diary with a six-item mood scale that was specially designed for AA. Multilevel analyses indicated that the mood dimensions energetic arousal (p = 0.001) and valence (p = 0.005) were positively influenced by the intensity of the activity carried out in the 10-min prior to the assessment. As their activity increased, the participants’ positive feelings and energetic arousal increased. However, the students’ calmness was not affected by their activity levels. The findings highlight the importance of integrating short activity intervals of 10 min or less into everyday life routines to improve affective states.
Open Access
Using activity triggered e-diaries to reveal the associations between physical activity and affective states in older adult’s daily living
(2015) Kanning, Martina; Ebner-Priemer, Ulrich; Schlicht, Wolfgang
Background: Evidence suggests that elderly show positive affects after participating in an exercise program. However, it is less clear, how physical activities in daily living enhance affective states. This is surprising, as most of elderly’s physical activities are part of their daily living. We used activity-triggered e-diaries to investigate the within-subject effects of physical activity on three dimensions of affective states (valence, energetic arousal, calmness) in everyday life. Methods: Older adults (N = 74) between 50 and 70 years took part in the study during three consecutive days. Physical activity in daily living was objectively assessed with accelerometers. Affects were measured 10 minutes after a study participant surpassed a predefined threshold for activity or inactivity. The participants were prompted by an acoustic signal to assess their momentary affective states on an e-diary. Data were analyzed with hierarchical multilevel analyses. Results: When older individuals were more physically active, they felt more energized (energetic arousal) and agitated (calmness). However, they did not feel better (valence). Interestingly, body mass index (BMI) and valence were associated in a significant cross-level interaction, which demonstrates that BMI was a moderating variable. Lower BMI scores were associated with higher valence affect scores after being physically active. Conclusions: Activities in daily living only partially enhance the elderly’s affective states, because participants feel energized and agitated but not better. Accordingly to the moderating effect of BMI, older people with lower BMI feel better whereas older people with higher BMI did not feel better after being physically active in daily living.