Relationship Between Air Quality and Outdoor Exercise Behavior in China: a Novel Mobile-Based Study - International Journal of Behavioral Medicine

Purpose

Based on data collected from an exercise app, the study aims to provide empirical evidence on the relationship between air quality and patterns of outdoor exercise in China.

Methods

Objective outdoor exercise data spanning 160 days were collected from 153 users of an exercise app, Tulipsport in China. Each exercise mode (running, biking, and walking, respectively) was organized into five air quality categories based on Air Quality Index (AQI): excellent, good, mild pollution, moderate pollution, and serious pollution. Key parameters of each app user were calculated and analyzed: the total number of exercise bouts, the average duration, and the average distance of each exercise mode in each air quality category.

Results

Multivariate analyses of variance indicate that the users were less likely to participate in outdoor running, biking, and walking (F = 24.16, p < .01, Wilk’s Λ = 0.64) as levels of air pollution increased. However, there is no difference in terms of average distance and duration of exercise across different air pollution categories.

Conclusions

People’s participation in outdoor exercise is impeded by air pollution severity, but they stick to their exercise routines once exercise is initiated. Although people should protect themselves from health damages caused by exercising under pollution, the decreases in physical activity associated with air pollution may also pose an indirect risk to public health. The interactive relationship between air quality, exercise, and health warrants more empirical and interdisciplinary explorations.

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Authors and Affiliations

1. College of Education, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

   Liang Hu & Li Zhu

2. Department of Physical and Art Education, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

   Yaping Xu

3. School of Management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310028, China

   Jiaying Lyu

4. Department of Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA

   Kellie Imm

5. Department of Epidemiology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

   Lin Yang

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jiaying Lyu.

Funding

This study was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, the Zhejiang Provincial Social Science Funding-Zhijiang Young Scholar Project (13ZJQN031YB), and the Philosophy and Social Science project of the State Sports General Administration (2138SS15025).

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in the current study are in accordance with the ethical standards of the Zhejiang University ethical committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Strengths and Limitations

• The first mobile-based study to examine Chinese individuals’ outdoor exercise behaviors in relation with air quality

• Focuses on outdoor exercise data exclusively, which is more likely to be influenced by air pollution than indoor exercise

• Allows for a precise correspondence between objective exercise behavior data and air quality data

• The power of some analyses is undermined by substantial portion of missing data