The Association between Work-Related Physical Activity and Depression

Nestor Asiamah^1, and Henry Kofi Mensah²

¹Research, Africa Center for Epidemiology, Accra, Ghana

²Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

Cite this paper:
Nestor Asiamah and Henry Kofi Mensah. The Association between Work-Related Physical Activity and Depression. Journal of Physical Activity Research. 2017; 2(1):1-6. doi: 10.12691/jpar-2-1-1

Abstract

Working long hours is often said to be associated with depression. Research has also shown that physical activity is a remedy for depression. If this is the case, work involving an adequate level of physical activity may reduce depression. This study therefore examines the association between work-related physical activity and depression. A cross-sectional quantitative research design was applied. Three groups of workers having varied physical activity levels were compared. Each group had 218 volunteer participants. Analysis of Variance and a linear contrasts test were used to present results. Data analysis shows that sedentary jobs have the highest level of depression (Mean = 26.03, SD = 10.24, 95%CI = 25.26-27.80). Partially sedentary jobs produce a depression level higher than SEDJOB but lower than PHYJOB (Mean = 15.867, SD = 7.49, 95%CI = 14.9, 16.9). Physical jobs produce the lowest level of depression (Mean = 11.119, SD = 6.26, 95%CI = 10.3, 12.0). The study thus finds a statistically significant negative association between work-related physical activity and depression at 1% significance level. Thus, depression decreases with increased work-related physical activity. It may therefore be necessary for organizations to implement systems that encourage workers to regularly engage in work-related physical activity. They may have to create recreation centers (e.g. Gyms) where workers can exercise after hours of work in sedentary conditions.

Keywords:
physical activity work-related physical activity sedentary behavior depression

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