Free-time physical activity and pain perception: An analysis of daily records from Brazilian teachers
Section snippets
INTRODUCTION
In the general population, chronic painful symptoms are related to depression, anxiety, sleep problems, a low quality of life, noncommunicable diseases, and an increased occurrence of absenteeism [1]. In basic education, the working conditions experienced daily by teachers have proven to be intense and exhausting, influencing professional performance [2], health and quality of life [3,4]. These professionals are exposed to a high workload, inadequate infrastructural conditions, bureaucratic
Study design, population and location
This study is part of a larger project entitled Pro-Mestre, a prospective observational cohort study in which the baseline occurred between 2012 and 2013 and the follow-up was performed after 24 months (2014 and 2015) [24,25]. The present cross-sectional analyses were performed with data on physical activity obtained only in the questionnaire applied in the follow-up, in addition to the self-report on pain recorded in a diary, which took place over 7 days following the same interview, as
RESULTS
The population was predominantly female (66.7%), with an average age of 44.0 ± 9.3 years, ranging from 25 to 65 years. The mean BMI was 26.02 ± 4.11 kg/m2, and the average time spent watching TV was 81.5 ± 74.3 minutes per day. The mean score for depressive symptoms was 12.7 ± 9.1 points. More than half (52.5%) of the teachers reported practicing physical activity for more than 60 minutes/week (Table 1).
Fig. 1 shows the unadjusted OR of the association between the practice of FTPA and pain
DISCUSSION
With the aim of analyzing the relationship between the practice of free-time physical activity and pain perception during the day and at bedtime in teachers, we confirmed our initial hypothesis that teachers who engage in regular leisure-time physical activity are less likely to complain of pain both during the day and at bedtime. This study identified that the odds of experiencing pain during the day was 82.0% lower among teachers who practiced more than 240 minutes/week of free-time physical
CONCLUSION
In summary, this study found that practicing physical activity in free time is associated with a lower frequency of reporting pain during the day or at bedtime among teachers.
COLLABORATIONS
M.C.S.S., F.L.G., S.M.A., C.M.G., E.G., M.Z.C. and A.E.M. declare that they contributed to the design of the project, analysis and interpretation of data, writing of the article, relevant critical review of the intellectual content and final approval of the version to be published.
FUNDING
This research was supported by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Level Personnel, Ministry of Education, Brazil (Grant number: 88882.448066/2019-01) and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (Grant number: 308406/2018-4).
DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
None.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To CAPES, CNPq and PRO-MESTRE for the incentive and opportunity.
REFERENCES (51)
- et al.
Occupational stress, anxiety and depression among Egyptian teachers
J. Epidemiol. Glob. Health.
(2017) - et al.
Evaluation of a daily activity diary for chronic pain patients
Pain
(1984) - et al.
Agreement between sleep diary and actigraphy in a highly educated Brazilian population
Sleep Med
(2017) - et al.
How do sleep disturbance and chronic pain inter-relate? Insights from the longitudinal and cognitive-behavioral clinical trials literature
Sleep Med. Rev.
(2004) - et al.
Sequential daily relations of sleep, pain intensity, and attention to pain among women with fibromyalgia
Pain
(1996) - et al.
Physical activity and COVID-19. The basis for an efficient intervention in times of COVID-19 pandemic
Physiol. Behav.
(2022) - et al.
Physical exercise as non-pharmacological treatment of chronic pain: Why and when
Best Pract. Res. Clin. Rheumatol.
(2015) - et al.
Chronic pain: a review of its epidemiology and associated factors in population-based studies
Br. J. Anaesth.
(2019) - et al.
Factors influencing mental health improvements in school teachers
PLoS One
(2018) - et al.
Systematic review on the prevalence of illness and stress and their associated risk factors among educators in Malaysia
PLoS One
(2019)