Socio-ecological influences on human activity: An epidemiological analysis of physical activity and sleep

Shin, Jong Cheol

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/105910 Copy

Description

Title

Socio-ecological influences on human activity: An epidemiological analysis of physical activity and sleep

Author(s)

Shin, Jong Cheol

Issue Date

2019-07-08

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Grigsby-Toussaint, Diana

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Grigsby-Toussaint, Diana

Committee Member(s)

• Alston, Reginald
• An, Ruopeng
• Kwan, Mei-Po

Department of Study

Kinesiology & Community Health

Discipline

Community Health

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Physical activity
• Sleep
• Epidemiology
• GIS
• Greenspace
• Exercise
• Environment

Abstract

"The main focus of my dissertation is to explore the influence of environmental determinants on physical activity and sleep. I examined the influence of green space on human activity with various research approaches: a systematic review, spatial analysis, and epidemiological analysis. In the first study, titled ""Green space exposure and sleep: Systematic review,"" I explored the literature related to green space and sleep regardless of study type. With a peer-researcher, I initially reviewed 5722 distinct journal articles from eight electronic databases, and then selected a total of 13 unique articles that were most relevant to my study. Out of 13 studies, there are seven cross-sectional studies that used either a questionnaire or the combination of GIS and remote sensing images for green space measurement, and mostly used questionnaire for both sleep quality and quantity measurement; while there are six intervention studies such as walking program, gardening, and forest working environment. The results indicate that most of the articles (n=11) supported the positive effect of green space exposure on improving both sleep quality and quantity. Therefore, the amount of green space exposure or green space-related health programs may mitigate population- and individual-level sleep problems. In the second study, titled ""An examination of socio-environmental influences on health outcomes in Illinois: Spatial boundaries matter for community green space measurement"", I examine the impact of community green space and other socio-economic factors on physical activity. In this paper, I demonstrate that residence and administrative unit-based approaches are insufficient for studying health outcomes in spatial epidemiology because they do not adequately capture the place which is related to people's actual activity area. Moreover, appropriate usage of green space data sources is required to examine the real effect of environmental exposures. To address the uncertain geographic context problem, I conceptualized community green space to capture the area of actual activity with the consideration of the context of daily physical activity. Results from this study showed that the administrative unit-based spatial boundary was mismatched to actual human activity area, while the context-based spatial boundary accurately reflected the actual human activity area. Time-integrated green space, which can cover the temporal aspects of true green space exposure, was significantly associated with the higher level of physical activity, while maximum the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), which is the one-time measurement of the maximum level of vegetation in an area during a year, was not. In the third study, titled “Socio-environmental determinants of physical activity and sleep across the US”, I explore the environmental effect of socio-environmental factors on sleep insufficiency and the absence of leisure-time physical activity. To establish the conceptual components for activity-related information, socioeconomic and health behavior variables from national survey data, aggregated at the city level (i.e., census place), was merged with various environmental data sets such as green space, noise, nighttime light, natural amenity, crime rate, food accessibility, and fitness facilities. Through exploratory factor analysis, results showed four factors from 12 of the exogenous variables were selected and categorized from the 29 initial variables. With the redesigned factors, I examine the significance of personal and environmental determinants for sleep and physical activity. In the analysis, I utilize the context-based spatial boundary, and also consider the bi-directional relationship between physical activity and sleep. As a result, the cities which had a better socioeconomic status and environment showed a lower risk of insufficient sleep and physical activity. To sum up, the findings illustrate the relationship among the environment and human activities, and this indicates that better environments can help mitigate the risk of insufficient sleep and lack of physical activity."

Graduation Semester

2019-08

Type of Resource

text

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/105910

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2019 Jong Cheol Shin

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