Dr Angelo Tremblay discusses the relationship between mental work and obesity

1. How do wepreventobesityin 2011? Angelo Tremblay Division of Kinesiology

3. By promotingadequatesleep

4. By increasing the physicalwork/cognitive effort ratio

5. By investing in nutrition competence and healthyfoodavailability

6. By promotinghealthyfood-relatedbehaviours

8. Mental work and energyintake in Laval Universitystudents

10. 2 tasks: read an article and write an abstract of 350 words or rest

11. 45 minutes for eachtask

12. Ad libitum buffet after the task

14. Short-termeffects of exercise of differentintensities and of KBW on relative energyintake Relative energyintake = differencebetween ad libitum energyintakeaftereachtask and energyexpenditure of the taskabove RMR Chaput and Tremblay, Physiol. Behav. 90: 66-72, 2007.

15. Methods Repeated measures/within-subjects design. 3 conditions: 1) resting in a sitting position, 2) reading-writing and 3) performing a comprehensive battery of computerized tests. Conditions randomly assigned to subjects. 45 minutes for each condition. Blood sampling at every 8 minutes. Ad libitum buffet after each condition.

16. Mental workload quantification ControlReading-writing Test-battery NASA-TaskLoad Index1 18.5  12.8 59.2  15.4** 63.3  16.2** Reaction time (ms) 2617  84 857  193** 883  136** **p < 0.01 versus control values. 1Questionnaire assessing the overall perceived workload. 2Secondary task assessing the degree of mental solicitation. Adapted from Chaput et al, Psychosomatic Med 70: 797-804, 2008

17. Impact of KBW on glucose instability, cortisolemia and ad libitum energy intake as assessed by the reaction time Adaptedfrom Chaput and Tremblay, IJO 2009; ObesFacts 2009 *p < 0.05.

18. Question #2Are worry/stress levels related to school work factors to consider? (p=0.062) p=0.010 Prevalence of overweight/obesity (%) Boys Girls

19. INFLUENCE OF A SPORT-STUDIES PROGRAM ON BODY WEIGHT, PHSICAL FITNESS AND ACADEMIC SUCCESS Description of the regular program: Four 45-min (instead of 7) periods of class attendance per day Two hours per day for homework Hockey theoretical teaching for 30 to 90 min per day Physical activity (training on ice) for at least 90 min/day

20. Body mass index and physical fitness in studentsparticipating in the regular sport-studies program at the beginning (Stage 1) and the end (Stage 3) of the academicyear Values are means. * Significantdifferencebetween stages: p < 0.05 AdaptedfromPérusse-Lachance et al. Unpublished data.

21. Academicresults in studentsparticipating in the regular sport-studies program at the beginning (Stage 1) and the end (Stage 3) of the academicyear Values are means of the differencebetween the individual mark and the mean value of a reference group not involved in the program. AdaptedfromPérusse-Lachance et al. Unpublished data.

22. Quick get-together A research group at Laval University in Quebec, Canada, holdsitsweekly meetings on the run. "Our directorbelieveswecanaccomplish more during a 45-minute running meeting because of fewer distractions and a more relaxed state of mind," says Mélanie Jacqmain, a Laval researcher. "Its an excellent way to combine work and exercise." And by the way, the group’s focus area is the prevention and treatment of obesity. Runner’s World March 2002, Vol 37 No 3 p. 28