Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior, and Postnatal Depressive Symptoms: A Review
Section snippets
Context
Postnatal depression is defined as depression (major or minor) that occurs after giving birth and up to 12 months post-delivery.1 The illness affects up to 19% of mothers post-pregnancy,2 although studies have shown that elevated depressive symptoms are experienced by approximately 50% of postpartum women.3 This debilitating condition has been linked to a lower quality of life for both mother and newborn.4 Mother–infant interactions are compromised among mothers who are experiencing postnatal
Search Strategy
In early 2012, a systematic search was conducted for original research articles published in the past 20 years (1991–2012) using the following electronic databases: MEDLINE (via PubMed); Cinahl; PsycINFO; SPORTDiscus; ScienceDirect; ProQuest; and Google Scholar. Included in the search were the following terms: physical activ*, exercise, sedentary behav*, TV/television viewing, sitting, computer, postnatal, postpartum, depress*, mental health, new mothers, women. Reference lists of relevant
Evidence Synthesis
Approximately 1700 citations were initially identified. After all abstracts were reviewed, a total of 22 studies were found to be potentially eligible for inclusion. After screening the full papers according to the inclusion criteria (as described in the Evidence Acquisition section), five studies were excluded (one43 was a protocol paper, two44, 45 did not measure physical activity/sedentary behavior, and two46, 47 included broad measures of well-being rather than including a measure of
Discussion
The majority of observational (6 of 10) and all intervention studies (n=7) reported an inverse association between physical activity (either pre-pregnancy, during pregnancy, or postpartum) and presence of postnatal depressive symptoms. Far less research has investigated the association between sedentary behavior and postnatal depressive symptoms (n=2), and inconsistent findings were shown. Although associations of physical activity and depression in the general population have been established,
Acknowledgments
No financial disclosures were reported by the authors of this paper.
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2021, Asian Journal of PsychiatryCitation Excerpt :Our study revealed that being active in the social site was also a significant factor for PPD. Studies conducted previously also examined the link between sedentary hours, physical activity, and PPD (Teychenne. and York., 2013; Teychenne et al., 2016). Several studies recently also identified the increased activity on the social website as a risk factor for PPD (Edward et al., 2014; Stringfellow, 2016).
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2020, Journal of Affective DisordersCitation Excerpt :SB has received increasing attention with evidence suggesting that SB, independent of physical activity (PA), is a risk factor for biological health and mental health in general populations (De Winter et al. 2018; Ellingson et al., 2018; Koster et al.. 2012). Several review studies indicated that even people who meet physical activity recommendations are still at a higher risk of mental distress if they have extended SB (Teychenne et al., 2015; Teychenne and York 2013). Indeed, PA and SB cannot be seen as the negation of each other, and many people who meet the recommended level of PA can also have a high level of SB (Craft et al. 2012; Mansoubi et al., 2014; Vancampfort et al., 2017).