BackgroundPrenatal cigarette smoke exposure may have adverse psychological effects on offspring. The objective was to assess the association between parental smoking during pregnancy and offspring happiness at age 18, as well as depression.MethodologyParticipants were part of a birth cohort study in Pelotas, Brazil (5,249 participants). Happiness was measured by the Subjective Happiness Scale, a Likert-like scale with four questions generating a score from 1 to 7, with ≥ 6 indicating "happiness". Depression was measured using the Mini International Psychiatric Interview.​ResultsAbout one third of mothers reported having smoked during pregnancy and 4.6% reported smoking 20 or more cigarettes a day. The prevalence of happiness was 32.2% (95% CI 30.8; 33.7), depression 6.8% (95% CI 6.1; 7.6), and simultaneous happiness and depression less than 1%. The prevalence of offspring happiness decreased as smoking in pregnancy increased, even after control for confounding variables, showing an OR = 0.79 [95% CI 0.55; 1.13]. The opposite happened to depression; the prevalence of offspring depression increased as smoking in pregnancy increased (<20 cigarettes/day OR = 1.38 [95% CI 1.03; 1.84] and ≥20 cigarettes/day OR = 2.11[95% CI 1.31; 3.40]. Smoking by the partner was associated with decreased offspring happiness after adjustment for confounders, but did no show association with offspring depression.ConclusionsOffspring were less likely to be happy and more likely to be depressed if their mother smoked during pregnancy, and less likely to be happy if their father smoked during mother’s pregnancy. Although we can not affirm that this is a “causal pathway”, public policies to reduce smoking in pregnancy could improve the health of the offspring in the short and long term.

Abstract--This study compared all-domains and domain-specific physical activity scores assessed through four variations of the IPAQ long version: (a) typical week, administered by an interviewer; (b) typical week, self-administered; (c) past seven days, interviewer-administered; (d) past seven days, self-administered. The sample included 38 physical education college students. Self-reported scores were in general twice higher than interview-administered scores, regardless the recall period used. In terms of domain-specific scores, occupational physical activity scores generated by self-report were 6-7 times greater than those originated from interviews. The same trend was observed for household physical activity. Transport physical activity scores did not change according to the mode of administration. In terms of leisure-time physical activity, scores were similar except for the interviewer-administered past seven days, whose scores were lower than the other three versions of IPAQ. In conclusion, the mode of administration of IPAQ does matter; higher scores are obtained through self-report as compared to interviews, probably by misinterpretation of the instrument in self-report mode. The recall period had little effect on physical activity estimates.Keywords: physical activity, physical activity assessment, validity of tests, reproducibility of results, questionnaires Resumo--"O modo de administração faz diferença: estudo de comparação usando o IPAQ." Este estudo comparou o escore total e separado por domínios de atividade física obtidos através de quatro variações do IPAQ versão longa: (a) semana típica, administrado por entrevistador; (b) semana típica, autopreenchido; (c) últimos sete dias, administrado por entrevistador; (d) últimos sete dias, autopreenchido. A amostra incluiu 38 estudantes universitários de educação física. Os escores autopreenchidos eram, em geral, duas vezes maiores do que por entrevista, independentemente do período recordatório. No que se refere aos escores por domínios, o domínio de atividade física ocupacional autopreenchido obteve escores 6-7 vezes maiores do que os originados por entrevista. O mesmo padrão foi observado no domínio de atividades domésticas. Os escores das atividades de deslocamento não modificaram de acordo com o modo de administração. Em relação às atividades de lazer, os escores foram similares, com exceção dos últimos sete dias administrado por entrevista, que foram inferiores aos outros três. Em conclusão, pontuações mais altas são obtidas através do autopreenchimento em comparação às entrevistas, provavelmente por erro de interpretação no modo autopreenchimento. O período recordatório teve pouco efeito sobre os escores de atividade física. Palavras-chave: atividade física, avaliação da atividade física, validade dos testes, reproducibilidade dos resultados, questionáriosResumen--"El modo de administración hace diferencia: estudio comparativo utilizando el IPAQ." Este estudio comparó la pontuación total y las puntuaciones aisladas de los domínios de actividad fí...

We make tens of thousands of decisions every day, most being rather simple. However, these simple decisions accumulate and shape our lives...and our health. So what motivates us to make these conscious and subconscious decisions? And is there any way in which we can be persuaded to opt for one behaviour over another?Biologically we are wired to maximise caloric input and minimise energy expenditure.Hunger is the alarm bell for our homoiostatic control mechanism for sugar needs; hunger is punishment for not eating. Traditionally, homeostatic drive and negative feedback systems were considered to control motivation, i.e. the maintenance of a stable internal system by adjusting the real physiological state to a built in value. Satiety through eating gives us an immediate dopamine reward rush, especially with high calorie foods like fat and sugar. Hunger motivates us eat, but also eat too much to provide energy stores for the future. Eating appears to be an automatic behaviour.As cavemen, moving was, well, just part of life. Without it, there was no food or resources to survive. Our bodies respond well to physical activity: we are happier, have more neurogenesis, faster learning abilities and higher self-confidence. All these attributes happen after long-term regular exercise. In the short run, exercise is a painful and tiresome affair.Weight does not seem to play by the rules of homeostasis -we do not have a "set point" weight, which our body strives to maintain. Sea level has been so stable for centuries that the term 'sea level' has a definite meaning for altitude i.e. 8850m below the peak of Mount Everest. But this could change. No one fills up the ocean when it gets too low, but it is stable because of a settled balance between evaporation, raining and polar freezing. Like sea level, body weight is the sum total balance of a number of interlinked processes.Food, drink and technology companies are tapping into this automatic behaviour, environment in which we are totally sedentary and eat as much as possible. The world we live in increasingly accommodat our biological wiring, with more and more cars, less and less walking and most of our day to day transactions being done online in front of a screen, even our entertainment is becoming increasingly more "screen-based". Food is easy to access and cheap, especially when high in fat and sugar and with low veggie content. Junk food is spreading like a plague and is being pushed into becoming part of our diets. Our environment is changing to one we are not adapted to, turning our world into some sort of grotesque experiment.Advertisements play on the nutritional ignorance of the population or use misleading messages to persuade us to satisfy our biological homeostatic drives. As a global population we are simply unaware or misinformed about what we are eating and how much physical activity we need to do. But, experts in physical activity and nutrition are not exempt of sedentarism and unhealthy eating habits, that knowing