Department of Public Health, Syddansk Universitet Det Sundhedsvidenskabelige Fakultet, Odense, Denmark.
VIVE - The Danish Center for Social Science Research, Aarhus, Denmark.
BMJ Open. 2019 Feb 13;9(2):e024043. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-024043.
Many sedentary individuals are aware of the health benefits of regular physical activity and start becoming more physically active. Yet, despite good intentions, many struggle to keep up initial exercise levels and experience a decline in exercise frequency. A possible explanation is that it is hard to establish habits or routines, and that such routines-once established-might be easy to break. In this paper, we analyse whether a break in habitual/routine behaviour-induced by the Easter holidays-results in individuals exercising less after the break.
The study included a sample of 1210 members of a Danish chain of fitness centres who were gym members at least since the preceding New Year's Day. Participants granted access to gym attendance data, which were automatically recorded when entering the gym. We use a regression discontinuity design encompassing a time period of 10 weeks prior to and 10 weeks after Easter.
We found a significant and relevant discretionary drop in exercise frequency right after the Easter holidays of 0.24 times per week (p=0.001) corresponding to a fall of 12.25% compared with the week prior to the Easter holidays. The effect was especially profound for individuals below retirement age and for individuals who had attended the gym with a higher frequency (twice a week or more) in the 6 weeks prior to the Easter break.
This information is potentially relevant for helping individuals maintain an exercise habit. Motivational support should focus on the time period after normative breaks, such as Easter or other holidays.
许多久坐不动的人都意识到定期进行身体活动的健康益处，于是开始变得更加活跃。然而，尽管他们有良好的意愿，但许多人难以保持最初的运动水平，运动频率也会下降。一个可能的解释是，很难养成习惯或常规，而且一旦养成，这些常规就很容易被打破。在本文中，我们分析了复活节假期是否会打破习惯性/常规行为，从而导致个人在假期后运动减少。
该研究包括丹麦健身连锁机构的 1210 名成员作为样本，这些参与者至少从去年的元旦起就是健身房的会员。参与者允许我们访问健身房的出勤数据，这些数据在进入健身房时会自动记录。我们使用了一个回归不连续性设计，涵盖了复活节前 10 周和复活节后 10 周的时间段。
我们发现，在复活节假期后，运动频率显著且明显地减少了 0.24 次/周（p=0.001），与复活节前一周相比，下降了 12.25%。对于未退休的个体和在复活节前 6 周内更频繁（每周两次或更多次）去健身房的个体来说，这种影响尤其明显。
这些信息对于帮助个人保持锻炼习惯可能是相关的。动机支持应该集中在假期后，如复活节或其他假期后的时间。
