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The effect of physical activity on psychological distress, cortisol and obesity: results of the farming fit intervention program

BACKGROUND: Rural and regional Australians have a higher likelihood of mental illness throughout their lifetime than people living in major cities, although the underlying reasons are not yet well defined. Additionally, rural populations experience more lifestyle associated co-morbidities including...

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Autores principales: Brumby, Susan, Chandrasekara, Ananda, Kremer, Peter, Torres, Susan, McCoombe, Scott, Lewandowski, Paul
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3840635/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24165391
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-1018
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author Brumby, Susan
Chandrasekara, Ananda
Kremer, Peter
Torres, Susan
McCoombe, Scott
Lewandowski, Paul
author_facet Brumby, Susan
Chandrasekara, Ananda
Kremer, Peter
Torres, Susan
McCoombe, Scott
Lewandowski, Paul
author_sort Brumby, Susan
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Rural and regional Australians have a higher likelihood of mental illness throughout their lifetime than people living in major cities, although the underlying reasons are not yet well defined. Additionally, rural populations experience more lifestyle associated co-morbidities including obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Research conducted by the National Centre for Farmer Health between 2004 and 2009 revealed a positive correlation between obesity and psychological distress among the farming community. Chronic stress is known to overstimulate the regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and cortisol secretion which are associated with abdominal adiposity. Increasing physical activity may normalise cortisol secretion and thereby positively impact both physical and mental health. This paper assesses the effects of increasing physical activity on obesity, health behaviors and mental health in Victorian farming men and women. METHODS: Farming Fit was a six month quasi-experimental (convenience sample) longitudinal design control-intervention study. Overweight or obese (BMI ≥25 kg/m(2)) farm men (n = 43) and women (n = 29) were recruited with demographic, health behaviors, anthropometric, blood pressure and biochemistry data collected at baseline and at a six months. Salivary cortisol and depression anxiety stress scale results were collected at baseline, three and six months. The intervention group (n = 37) received a personalized exercise program and regular phone coaching to promote physical activity. RESULTS: The intervention group showed significant reductions in body weight and waist circumference. Results indicated that following the six month exercise program, the intervention group were 2.64 ± 0.65 kg lighter (p < 0.001), had reduced waist circumference by 2.01 ± 0.86 cm (p = 0.02) and BMI by 0.97 ± 0.22 kg/m(2) (p < 0.001) relative to the control group. CONCLUSION: Increasing physical activity altered measures of obesity in farm men and women but did not affect mental health measures or cortisol secretion levels. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ACTRN12610000827033
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spelling pubmed-38406352013-11-27 The effect of physical activity on psychological distress, cortisol and obesity: results of the farming fit intervention program Brumby, Susan Chandrasekara, Ananda Kremer, Peter Torres, Susan McCoombe, Scott Lewandowski, Paul BMC Public Health Research Article BACKGROUND: Rural and regional Australians have a higher likelihood of mental illness throughout their lifetime than people living in major cities, although the underlying reasons are not yet well defined. Additionally, rural populations experience more lifestyle associated co-morbidities including obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Research conducted by the National Centre for Farmer Health between 2004 and 2009 revealed a positive correlation between obesity and psychological distress among the farming community. Chronic stress is known to overstimulate the regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and cortisol secretion which are associated with abdominal adiposity. Increasing physical activity may normalise cortisol secretion and thereby positively impact both physical and mental health. This paper assesses the effects of increasing physical activity on obesity, health behaviors and mental health in Victorian farming men and women. METHODS: Farming Fit was a six month quasi-experimental (convenience sample) longitudinal design control-intervention study. Overweight or obese (BMI ≥25 kg/m(2)) farm men (n = 43) and women (n = 29) were recruited with demographic, health behaviors, anthropometric, blood pressure and biochemistry data collected at baseline and at a six months. Salivary cortisol and depression anxiety stress scale results were collected at baseline, three and six months. The intervention group (n = 37) received a personalized exercise program and regular phone coaching to promote physical activity. RESULTS: The intervention group showed significant reductions in body weight and waist circumference. Results indicated that following the six month exercise program, the intervention group were 2.64 ± 0.65 kg lighter (p < 0.001), had reduced waist circumference by 2.01 ± 0.86 cm (p = 0.02) and BMI by 0.97 ± 0.22 kg/m(2) (p < 0.001) relative to the control group. CONCLUSION: Increasing physical activity altered measures of obesity in farm men and women but did not affect mental health measures or cortisol secretion levels. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ACTRN12610000827033 BioMed Central 2013-10-28 /pmc/articles/PMC3840635/ /pubmed/24165391 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-1018 Text en Copyright © 2013 Brumby et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Brumby, Susan
Chandrasekara, Ananda
Kremer, Peter
Torres, Susan
McCoombe, Scott
Lewandowski, Paul
The effect of physical activity on psychological distress, cortisol and obesity: results of the farming fit intervention program
title The effect of physical activity on psychological distress, cortisol and obesity: results of the farming fit intervention program
title_full The effect of physical activity on psychological distress, cortisol and obesity: results of the farming fit intervention program
title_fullStr The effect of physical activity on psychological distress, cortisol and obesity: results of the farming fit intervention program
title_full_unstemmed The effect of physical activity on psychological distress, cortisol and obesity: results of the farming fit intervention program
title_short The effect of physical activity on psychological distress, cortisol and obesity: results of the farming fit intervention program
title_sort effect of physical activity on psychological distress, cortisol and obesity: results of the farming fit intervention program
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3840635/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24165391
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-1018
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