BACKGROUND：A small proportion of adults, aged 25‒44 years old, exercise regularly. It is important to promote maintaining an active lifestyle among middle-aged adults. The promotive and obstructive factors, related to exercise habits among various populations, have been quantitatively investigated. However, there have been no studies focusing on individuals aged 25‒44 years old. OBJECTIVE：This study qualitatively investigated the promotional and obstructive factors, related to having and maintaining an active lifestyle among adults aged 25‒44 years old. METHODS：Participants were recruited until theoretical saturation had been attained, such that no new promotional and obstructive factors were extracted from three consecutive participants. Individuals in the action or contemplation stage, based on the transtheoretical model, were included. A structural–construction qualitative research method was to develop the concepts and categories of promotive and obstructive factors for the action and contemplation stages, respectively. RESULTS：There were eight participants with both promotional and obstructive factors in the action stage. Meanwhile, among those in the contemplation stage, there were eight with promotional factors and 11 with obstructive factors. Among individuals in the action stage, nine promotional factors and 11 obstructive factors were determined. In contrast, there were six promotive factors and 10 obstructive factors among those in the contemplation stage. CONCLUSION：This study identified the promotive and obstructive factors, related to the initiation and maintenance of an active lifestyle, among individuals, aged 25‒44 years old.

View full abstract

BACKGROUND：A 24 -hour periodic regression analysis is often conducted for the humans’ rest-activity rhythm indexed by activity amount. However, this analysis cannot be said to accurately capture the rest-activity rhythm of inpatients. OBJECTIVE：We preliminarily developed a new evaluation method to accurately visualize the complex 24 -h rest-activity rhythms of inpatient life. METHODS：Physical activity of one male inpatient was measured. The periodic regression analysis in a 24 - or 12-h cycle as well as a synthetic 24 - and 12-h cycle were applied to the activity amount data. RESULTS：A periodic regression analysis with only a 24 -h period resulted in y = 1.19352 + 0.115537 × cos（15・t-183.662）. The multiple contribution ratio（R２）was 0.76. A periodic regression analysis with only a 12-h period resulted in y = 1.19352 + 0.0444696 × cos（30・t-273.522）. The R２ was 0.11. The results of the synthetic periodic regression curve combining the 24 - and 12-h periodic components were y = 1.19352 + 0.115537 × cos（15・ t-183.662）+ 0.0444696 × cos（30・t-273.522）. The R２ was 0.87. The synthetic periodic regression curves were able to capture the subject’s rest-activity rhythms more accurately. CONCLUSION：The synthetic periodic regression analysis on the activity amount was able to capture more accurately the rest-activity rhythm of the subject. In the future, it is necessary to examine the reliability and validity of the rest-activity rhythm based on synthetic periodic regression analysis by increasing the number of subjects.

View full abstract