Research project How are individuals’ physical activity, sleep, and mental health related within and across days? That is the main question in this research project.
This project will use an intensive longitudinal design that involves multiple n-of-1 studies to examine the temporal dynamics of physical activity, sleep, and cognitive and mental health. The results will contribute with novel insights into how physical activity, sleep, and cognitive and mental health are related within and across days using a research design with high ecological validity. Knowledge gained from the project increase our understanding of how to design personalized behavioral interventions to optimize individuals’ health.
In the current project, we adopt an idiographic approach, which is concerned with the study of a particular individual. With an idiographic approach we can obtain a detailed account of one or several individuals’ physical activity, sleep, and cognitive and mental health in daily life and test whether theories and hypotheses are supported at the individual level. This approach will provide detailed information about dynamic relations in the context of daily life, it enhances the ecological validity, and the results can be used to develop personalized behavior change studies.
We will conduct multiple n-of-1 studies (also known as single-case studies), which will provide a detailed account of the temporal within-person dynamics of physical activity, sleep, and cognitive and mental health within and across days. Physical activity and sleep will be assessed using an accelerometer, whereas cognitive and mental health data will be collected via a smartphone application.
We aim to recruit 8-12 adults (males and females) to the study in the age range of 20 to 65. Accelerometers will continuously collect data on physical activity and sleep, whereas self-reported data on mental health will be collected through a smartphone application multiple times per day during 2-4 months.
