Physical activity and public health research at UiT

Research in the field of physical activity and health at UiT covers a broad range of subjects, including physical activity in the prevention and rehabilitation of disease, methods for measuring physical activity, epidemiological research, intervention studies, and methodological studies, across all ages.

The research group "Physical activity and public health" is an interdisciplinary research group at UiT, offering a network for physical activity researchers. The overall goal of the research group is to generate a knowledge base for implementing measures for increased physical activity in the population.

Research focus:

Prevalence, pattern and trends in physical activity in the population
Physical activity in the prevention and rehabilitation of chronic diseases
Method development for measuring physical activity and sedentary behaviour

Leader of the research group is associate professor Bente Morseth, School of Sport Sciences. The group has members from several departments and faculties at UiT, including School of Sport Sciences, Department of Community Medicine, Department of Psychology, Department of Computer Science, Department of Education, Department of Health and Care Sciences, and Norwegian Centre for E-health Research.

Latest news from our research

Ble friluftslivet en korona vinner?

Ble friluftslivet en korona vinner?

En spørreundersøkelse som inviterer 10 000 turgåere som booket DNT hytter sommeren 2020 skal få frem hva som kjennetegner brukere som overnattet på hyttene og oppholdt seg i naturen. Ny kunnskap forventes å kunne forbedre arbeidet med å skape gode rammer for alle som måtte ha lyst til å besøke DNT’s hytter.

I sommersesongen 2020 var der spesielle vilkår for bruk av DNT’s hytter. På grunn av korona pandemien ble DNT-hyttene nedstengt i mars. For første gang kom folk seg ikke inn på DNT-hyttene i påska. Flere av de betjente hyttene ble først åpnet i mai, og etter hvert flere av de 530 hyttene i DNT-systemet. For de som planla turer med overnatting sommersesongen 2020 ble det imidlertid endringer. Plassgarantien var borte. Særlig ubetjente og selvbetjente hytter måtte bookes på forhånd. På den andre siden har det å kunne booke en seng og vite at en er sikret sengeplass for hele familien vært etterspurt, spesielt blant barnefamilier. Mange venter derfor spent på kunnskap om hvem som besøkte hyttene i sommer.

Det skal denne undersøkelsen gi svar på. I undersøkelsen settes et brukerperspektiv i fokus. Formålet er å belyse, hvem som bruker DNT’s hytter, hva brukerne driver med, når de er på hyttetur, hvilke motiver de har for at drag på hytta og hvilke preferanser de har i forhold til rammene. I tillegg stilles det spørsmål om hvilken innvirkning korona pandemien fikk for brukerne.

DNT håper at mange vil svare på undersøkelsen, som sendes ut i disse dager, da det er et viktig input for utvikling og tilrettelegging av hyttetilbudet. Generalsekretæren for DNT uttaler: «Vi har lenge vært nysgjerrig på å få vite mer om bruken av våre hytter. I utviklingen av hyttetilbudet, er det vesentlig for oss å vite, hvem brukerne er og hva de foretrekker. Både for å tilfredsstille eksisterende brukere, men også for å kunne tiltrekke seg nye brukere».

Forskere ved UIT-Norges arktiske universitet og Syddansk Universitet, Danmark utfører forskningsprosjektet i samarbeid med DNT.

Link to this page

Course in physical activity and health

Research

There are several ongoing research projects in the field of physical activity and public health at UiT, from physical activity trends and prevalences to population studies and randomized, controlled studies. You can read more about some of the studies below.

Physical activity projects

ACTIHEALTH: Physical activity in the Tromsø Study

NEXAF: The Norwegian Exercise in Atrial Fibrillation Study

RESTART: REinventing STrategies for healthy Ageing

Physical activity in the Fit Futures Study

ONWARDS: E-health interventions to promote physical activity among underserved populations

Publications

Latest publications on physical activity and health from the research group:

Heitmann KA, Lochen ML, Hopstock LA, Stylidis M, Welde B, Schirmer H, Morseth B: Cross-sectional associations between accelerometry-measured physical activity, left atrial size, and indices of left ventricular diastolic dysfunction: The Tromso Study. Prev Med Rep 2021, 21:101290.
Sagelv EH, Ekelund U, Hopstock LA, Aars NA, Fimland MS, Jacobsen BK, Lovsletten O, Wilsgaard T, Morseth B: Do declines in occupational physical activity contribute to population gains in body mass index? Tromso Study 1974-2016. Occup Environ Med 2020.
Johansson J, Strand BH, Morseth B, Hopstock LA, Grimsgaard S: Differences in sarcopenia prevalence between upper-body and lower-body based EWGSOP2 muscle strength criteria: the Tromsø study 2015–2016. BMC Geriatr 2020, 20(1).
Arnes AP, Nielsen CS, Stubhaug A, Fjeld MK, Hopstock LA, Horsch A, Johansen A, Morseth B, Wilsgaard T, Steingrimsdottir OA: Physical activity and cold pain tolerance in the general population. Eur J Pain 2020.
Syed S, Morseth B, Hopstock LA, Horsch A. A novel algorithm to detect non-wear time from raw accelerometer data using convolutional neural networks. Submitted, preprint: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.08.20148015v1.
Deraas T, Hopstock LA, Henriksen A, Morseth B, Sand AS, Njølstad I, Pedersen S, Sagelv EH, Johansson J, Grimsgaard S. Complex lifestyle intervention among inactive older adults with elevated cardiovascular disease risk and obesity. A mixed- method, single-arm feasibility study for RESTART- a randomized controlled trial. Submitted, preprint: https://assets.researchsquare.com/files/rs-39292/v1/bcbe991e-8852-4d78-8433- 2fff72c6b4c7.pdf.
Aars NA, Beldo S, Jacobsen BK, Horsch A, Morseth B, Emaus N, Furberg AS, Grimsgaard S. The association between objectively measured physical activity and longitudinal changes in body composition in adolescents; The Tromsø Study Fit Futures Cohort. BMJ Open 2020.
Beldo S, Morseth B, Christoffersen T, Halvorsen P, Hansen BH, Furberg AS, Ekelund U, Horsch A. Prevalence of accelerometer- measured physical activity in adolescents in Fit Futures - part of the Tromsø Study. BMC Public Health 2020;20(1):1127.
Syed S, Morseth B, Hopstock LA, Horsch A. Evaluating the performance of raw and epoch non-wear algorithms using multiple accelerometers and electrocardiogram recordings. Sci Rep 2020, 10(1).
Morseth B, Hopstock LA. Time trends in physical activity in the Tromsø study: An update. PLoS ONE 2020, 15(4):e0231581.
Sagelv EH, Hopstock L, Johansson J, Hansen BH, Brage S, Horsch A, Ekelund U, Morseth B. Criterion validity of two physical activity and one sedentary time questionnaire against accelerometry in a large cohort of adults and older adults. BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine 2020, 6(1):e000661.
Rosenbaum S et al.: Assessing physical activity in people with mental illness: 23-country reliability and validity of the simple physical activity questionnaire (SIMPAQ). BMC Psychiatry 2020, 20(1).
Opdal IM, Morseth B, Handegård BH, Lillevoll K, Nilsen W, Nielsen CS, Furberg AS, Rosenbaum S, Rognmo K. Is change in mental distress among adolescents predicted by sedentary behavior or screen time? Results from the longitudinal population study The Tromsø Study: Fit Futures. BMJ Open 2020, 10:e035549.

Previous years

Members

Maja-Lisa LøchenHead of Department

Laila Arnesdatter HopstockHead of Department

Paolo ZanaboniProfessor

André HenriksenLecturer

Marc WeitzDoctoral Research Fellow

Karin Helene DanielsenSenior Lecturer

Tore ChristoffersenAssociate Professor

Sigurd PedersenPostdoctoral Fellow

Anna Hava NordstromProfessor

Sameline GrimsgaardProfessor

Øivind GranerudSenior Lecturer

Thilde Kleppe VårnesLecturer

Trygve Sigvart Deraas

Physical activity and public health research at UiT

Latest news from our research

Ble friluftslivet en korona vinner?

Course in physical activity and health

Course in physical activity and health (videreutdanningskurs)

Research

Physical activity projects

Publications

Previous years

Members

Maja-Lisa Løchen – Head of Department

Laila Arnesdatter Hopstock – Head of Department

Paolo Zanaboni – Professor

André Henriksen – Lecturer

Marc Weitz – Doctoral Research Fellow

Karin Helene Danielsen – Senior Lecturer

Tore Christoffersen – Associate Professor

Sigurd Pedersen – Postdoctoral Fellow

Anna Hava Nordstrom – Professor

Sameline Grimsgaard – Professor

Øivind Granerud – Senior Lecturer

Thilde Kleppe Vårnes – Lecturer