Influence of Habitual Physical Behavior – Sleeping, Sedentarism, Physical Activity – On Bone Health in Community-Dwelling Older People

Abstract

Sedentary behavior (SB) has emerged as an independent public-health risk and may contribute to the lower bone mineral density (BMD) in old (>60 years of age) than young adults. The purpose of this study was to quantify SB and habitual physical behavior (PB) in community-dwelling older adults and how this correlates with BMD. In 112 relatively healthy and independent-living individuals aged 72.5 ± 6.4 years, BMD, PB and SB were determined using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry and 7-day three-dimensional accelerometry, respectively. In men, only healthy and osteopenic BMDs were found, whereas in women, osteoporotic BMD classifications also occurred. Our sample spent ∼61%, 7%, 12% and 19% of daily waking hours in SB, standing, LIPA [light intensity physical activity (PA)] and MVPA (medium-to-vigorous intensity PA), respectively. In men, after accounting for covariates (BMI, total fat, android:gynoid ratio), sleeping (hours/day), number of breaks in SB, number of SB ≥ 5 min, number of PA bouts, total duration of PA bouts (min), mean PA bouts duration (min), LIPA (%PA bout time) and MVPA (%PA bout time) were all predictors of BMD. In women, after accounting for covariates (age, BMI, total fat, android:gynoid ratio), SB (hours/day), SB (% waking hours), LIPA (hours/day), LIPA (% waking hours), MVPA (% waking hours) and number of short SB (i.e., <5 min), total time spent in PA (min) significantly correlated with BMD. In conclusion, the PB predictors of bone health in older persons include: night time sleeping duration, number of short bouts of SB, number and duration of bouts of PA relative to total waking hours. While radar graphs of PB patterns for healthy, osteopenic, osteoporotic individuals highlighted significant differences in PB between them, they were not consistent with the expectations from the Mechanostat Theory: i.e., more loading leads to better bone. Rather, our results suggest that a balance of activities must be maintained across the PB spectrum, where certain PB parameters are especially impactful in each sex, supporting the recently coined multifactorial-based variations in the Mechanostat threshold.

Validation of the Spanish Healthy Lifestyle Questionnaire

“…Specifically, the results of the CFA revealed that the structure was adequate, as shown by acceptable fit indices and McDonald's omega coefficients showed high levels of internal consistency. Such findings confirm that a questionnaire has been developed for the Spanish population that includes all the essential dimensions that make up a healthy lifestyle ( Aparicio-Ugarriza et al, 2019 , Jakicic et al, 2018 , Meredith et al, 2018 ; Onambele-Pearson et al, 2019 ).…”

“…However, the same was not true of the Rest habits factor. Recent studies, such as those of Monteiro et al (2019) and Onambele-Pearson et al (2019) , reflect the close relationship observed between the practice of physical activity and healthy eating habits. Intrinsic motivation towards is an important factor towards the practice of physical activity ( Rodrigues et al, 2018 ), and it is therefore important that people have high level of self-determined motivation towards such practice as this will lead them to adopt other habits, such as eating a balanced diet ( Durocher and Gauvin, 2020 , Teixeira et al, 2020 ).…”

“…It is a well-established fact that living a healthy lifestyle (HLS) is important from an early age ( Arriscado et al, 2017 ). This includes engaging in habits related to balanced nutrition (balanced diet and respect for meal schedules) ( Aparicio-Ugarriza et al, 2019 ), practice of physical exercise ( Jakicic et al, 2018 ), and optimal rest ( Onambele-Pearson et al, 2019 ) and, in contrast, avoiding a sedentary lifestyle, lack of rest, smoking, drug use and excessive alcohol intake ( Meredith et al, 2018 ). Harmful lifestyle habits such as a sedentary lifestyle, unbalanced diet, lack of rest, and the use of harmful substances are, in the long term, associated with diseases such as obesity, type II diabetes, hypercholesterol, and even cancer, thus leading to a premature increase in morbidity ( Dunton, 2018 , Ezzati and Riboli, 2013 ).…”

Displacing Sedentary Behaviour with Light Intensity Physical Activity Spontaneously Alters Habitual Macronutrient Intake and Enhances Dietary Quality in Older Females

“…This is promising considering intake of all eight selected nutrients has previously been individually (calcium [ 50 ], zinc [ 43 ], magnesium [ 51 ], phosphorus [ 52 ], vitamin C [ 43 ], vitamin D [ 53 ], protein [ 54 ], omega-3 fatty acids [ 55 ]), and collectively [ 43 ] associated with bone health in older adults. Furthermore, a more fragmented sedentary behaviour pattern is specifically associated with enhanced BMD in older adults, due to frequent exposure of bone structures to mechanical loading [ 74 ].…”

Optimal Fuel Taxation With Suboptimal Health Choices

“…Meeting the minimum recommendations alternative normative viewpoint, which we are not assessing in this article, would be to evaluate how urban transport policy is conducive to improving health, which seems predominant in the public health assessments we build on. For what could lead to different welfare evaluations of behavioural failures see Crisp, 2017;Fleurbaey and Blanchet, 2013; of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week has significant health benefits, which include reduced risk of cognitive impairment and dementia (Loprinzi et al, 2018), almost halving the risk of depression (Catalan-Matamoros et al, 2016), a 6% reduction in the risk of hypertension (Liu et al, 2017), a reduction in the risk of type 2 diabetes (Smith et al, 2016), cardiovascular disease, as well as higher bone mineral density (Onambele-Pearson et al, 2019). This is true even for exercise carried out in areas with elevated pollution levels (Tainio et al, 2016).…”