Comparison of Active and Sedentary Bout Lengths in Normal and Overweight Adults using eMouverecherche

Abstract

Background: Physical inactivity and long sedentary time are common in obese people. The eMouveRecherche application was developed to provide accurate minute-by-minute classification of physical activity in light, moderate, vigorous intensity and sedentary bouts. The aim was to compare the frequency and length of bouts in Normal-Weight (NW) and Overweight (OW) adults. Methods: Fifty-seven adult participants either normal weight or overweight wore a smartphone with the eMouve application for the entire waking period of the day. The continuous 1-5, 5-15, 15-30, 30-60 and higher than 60-minute bouts for each behavior were counted. Results: The total number of bouts was higher in NW than in OW (12.4 vs. 9.8 bouts.h-1 , p < 0.001). The breakdown of immobile and active bouts according to their length was different in the two groups. The NW had a significantly higher percentage of brief immobile bouts (1-5 min) (65.2% vs. 49.7%), while OW had a significantly higher percentage of 5-15 min (26.8% vs. 19.1%) and 15-30 min sedentary bouts (11.8% vs. 8.0%). The 1-5 min bouts of light-intensity activity were statistically more frequent in OW (93.6% vs. 83.5%), whereas bouts of 5-15 min (15.1% vs. 6.4%) and 15-30 min bouts (1.3% vs. 0%) were more common in NW. Conclusion: The frequency of both immobile and light-intensity activity bouts was lower in OW, whereas the duration of bouts was respectively longer for immobile behavior and shorter for light-intensity activity, resulting in a continuous sedentary pattern with few active breaks. The overweight appears to be a barrier to the spontaneous practice of light-intensity physical activity.