Read the publication:
The study is published in the scientific journal ScienceDirect: Associations of types of physical activity with self-rated physical and mental health in Denmark.
What is the study about?
The article is an analysis of the correlation between practicing different types of physical activity and self-assessed physical and mental health. The analysis is based on the answers from the questionnaire survey of adult Danes' movement habits, which 163,131 answered in 2020.
The analysis examines 16 types of sports / exercise as well as cycling as a form of transport and gardening.
The statistical analysis consists of ordinal regression analysis, where the correlation between practicing a specific form of physical activity and self-assessed health takes into account the respondents' other physical activity habits and their socioeconomic and sociodemographic background.
Main conclusions:
The analyses show, firstly, that the correlation for most types of sport/physical activity is stronger for self-rated physical health than for self-rated mental health.
Secondly, there are large differences in the strength of the correlation between the different types of physical activity.
Thirdly, the correlation is significantly stronger for those who practice an activity type most days of the week than for those who do it less often.
Fourthly, the analysis shows that the more different types of activity a person does during a week, the better the self-rated health, but this applies primarily to self-rated physical health.
Published: 2024.
Authors:
Bjarne Ibsen, Karsten Elmose-Østerlund and Jens Høyer-Kruse.
Contact:
Bjarne Ibsen, bibsen@health.sdu.dk.
Support/Funding:
Nordea-fonden.