Health Education 101, Professor, 2013
Definition of Terms 2
Review of Literature 3
Methods 4
Results 5
Discussion 6
Conclusion 7
Works Cited 8
Definition of Terms
exercise – mental exertion for the purpose of improving one’s health .
mind-set – an attitude or mood .
placebo – a substance with no pharmacological effect but is administered as a control in an
experiment .
work – exertion to accomplish something .
obesity – the condition of being severely overweight .
Review of Literature
It is well documented that there are health benefits to exercising for at least thirty minutes three times each week. A consistent health regiment schedule helps to decrease the risk of diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, certain cancers, obesity, certain cancers, and premature death. Most Americans are aware that physical activity is a necessary component in a healthy lifestyle, but The Department of Health and Human Services is able to estimate that 38% of adult Americans engage in no leisure activity of any kind and only 23% of American adults perform physical activity that is vigorous enough to promote cardiovascular health. Despite the knowledge of this information, the obesity problem in America continues to rise, creating more complications in the health of children and adults and increasing the costs associated with health care.
Another study had one group of participants use their actual work as their exercise, the placebo group, and another group, who had the same job tasks, received no information. The group that was told that their work counted as exercise reported feeling health benefits after four weeks and they also lost weight and reduced their blood pressure.
Methods
The Institutional Review Board at the University of Texas at Austin approved all experimental procedures for this study. The participants were employees of the University’s Division of Housing and Food Service and were asked to participate during two employee meetings. The randomization for the study was determined by the location of employment, either north-end or south-end employees. All participants were told that the study was to learn more about ways in which employee health could be improved, they could assist the researchers by participating in a series of health screenings, and they would receive personal health information and educational materials.
The intervention group received an additional 30 minute educational seminar about the benefits of their work-related duties and that their work duties fulfilled the guidelines set forth by the Centers for Disease Control as having a healthy and active lifestyle. The educational materials that this group received included the average number of calories expended for tasks such as vacuuming, carrying trash, and cleaning bathrooms, their typical job-related duties. The materials also had encouraging information such as the work does not need to be difficult to count as exercise and every little bit that is done helps.
The control group received a 30 minute seminar about taking responsibility for job safety. Their educational materials included information about proper lifting techniques and other aspects about on the job safety.
All participants completed a baseline screening including informed consent, behavior survey, and physiological data collection. All measurements were repeated in four weeks and eight weeks after the baseline study was done.
Results
Only the results for participants who completed all three health screenings are included in the results. There were no significant findings between the groups regarding resting heart rate, body weight, BMI, or body fat percentage. There was a decrease in waist circumference in the intervention group from the beginning to the end of the study.
When asked about exercise habits, in both groups, more participants answered that they were participating in regular exercise during the second and third measures than at the initial questioning of the survey. Even though the number of participants who considered they to participate in exercise on a regular basis increased, there were no increases in actual exercise being performed across all measures used to analyze the amounts.
During the eight weeks of the study, neither group demonstrated any significant changes in how much food they consumed, their daily consumption of fruits and vegetables, the amount of water they drank, how much alcohol was drunk, how many cigarettes were smoked, or how much caffeine was consumed.
There were no measureable changes in either study group during the eight weeks of any component that was studied. The participants maintained their lifestyles, including their eating and drinking habits, as well as their activity levels. Both groups gained the perception that they were exercising on a consistent basis throughout the study. This could be motivated by the health screening and the knowledge that their data was being monitored over the time period, although they made no actual changes to their lifestyles.
Discussion
There was no placebo pill given in this study to replicate the placebo effect. Rather, it was the amount of education and awareness about physical activity that was used with one study group and not the other. Increasing ones’ awareness that daily tasks, such as the physical activity of one’s job, can provide health benefits was instead used as the placebo in this study. By altering the perception of physical activity the participants of one group to see them as being involved in regular exercise. The only scant change that was detected between weeks one and eight was that there was a decrease in the amount of sugary food consumed by both groups. This may be attributed the education provided at the health screenings.
There were limitations to this study that should be noted. Since all participants worked on the same campus, there could have been interaction between the two groups of participants. Additionally, only 39 participants were counted in the study since they were the only ones to complete all three health screenings.
Conclusion
Simply stating to adults that their physically active work counts as exercise does not mean that they are going to change any of their other habits in life. The amount of drinking and smoking that the participants were doing initially in the study remained the same at the end. Just hearing that their work made them physically active did not make the participants interested in making other changes in their habits to live a healthier lifestyle.
The health screenings themselves did not motivate the participants to try to lose weight or lower their BMI, as these too stayed consistent with both groups of participants. It would be reasonable to think that some of the participants in the intervention group might use the study as a motivating factor to make some life-improving changes in their lifestyles since they would be monitored over an eight week period, but it was not the case .
Americans have come to depend on a pill to fix everything. Too many people do not want to put forth the work that exercise entails to reap the benefits that it provides. Even though obesity has reached epidemic proportions in this country, people still seem unwilling to change. Now those poor eating and lifestyle choices the adults have developed are being passed on to the youngest generation. Children are learning how to be obese from their parents. It is a cycle that does not seem to end. It is discussed. People are well-aware of the problem. Children and teens are educated about the risks. Yet the plague of obesity continues to sweep the nation. People are not willing to invest the time or expend the energy into getting fit, but they are willing to go through the drive through and get a super-sized meal.
Works Cited
Dixie Stanforth, Mary Steinhardt, Michael Mackert, Ohilip Stanforth, Christian Gloria. "An Investigation of Exercise and the Placebo Effect." American Journal of Health and Behavior (2011): 257-268. web.
n.a. dictionary.com. n.d. web. 28 April 2013.
