Björg Helgadóttir

• PhD Public Health and Epidemiology
• PostDoc Position at Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences

Previous research has shown positive effects of exercise on depression but studies have mainly focused on the short-term effects; few have examined the long-term effect, especially with regard to differences in intensity. The aim of this study was to examine the long-term effects of prescribed exercise on depression, performed at three intensity le...

Background Exercise can relieve both depressive and anxiety disorders and it is therefore of importance to establish movement patterns of mildly to moderately affected sufferers to estimate the treatment potential. The aim is to describe the physical activity patterns of people affected by mild to moderate depressive and/or anxiety symptoms using o...

Exercise can be used to treat depression but there is a lack of evidence regarding the optimal intensity and mode. Our aim was to compare the effects of different exercise intensities on post-treatment depression severity. People aged 18-67years with mild-to-moderate depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9 score of ≥10) participated in a single-...

Background Exercise is beneficial for depression, but less is known about its impact on post-intervention physical activity and sedentary behavior. The aim of this paper was to determine the extent to which participation in light-, moderate- and vigorous-intensity exercise intervention influenced habitual physical activity and sedentary behavior pa...

Objective: To evaluate the influence of expectations on effectiveness of exercise in reducing psychological distress. Method: Data came from a Swedish longitudinal population-based study consisting of 4631 people aged 20-64 years. Psychological distress was measured with the Major Depressive Inventory. Expectations (positive expectations or indiffe...

Aim Investigate the longitudinal relationship between physical activity, organised physical activity, fitness, screen time and academic performance among Swedish adolescents. Methods Data from 1139 adolescents at age 13, included vigorous physical activity (accelerometry), fitness (submaximal ergometer test), screen time and organised physical act...

It remains unknown whether dietary nitrate and breakfast may enhance working memory (WM) performance by augmenting physiological mechanisms and subjective psychological well-being. We performed a 3-arm randomised within-subject crossover study, with pretest-posttest comparisons, to test whether nitrate consumption via breakfast with a beetroot juic...

Purpose Physical activity (PA) breaks during school lessons have been suggested as a promising strategy to improve working memory performance in children and adolescents. There is a lack of studies investigating the underlying physiological mechanisms of PA on cognition, especially among adolescents. This study aimed to investigate the effects of d...

Introduction: The family is assumed to be fundamental in youth socialization processes and development, connected to social and cultural practices such as healthy lifestyles and physical activity. However, gender patterns in physical activity among adolescents and the structural drivers of gender inequality (e.g., parentage and siblingship) are poo...

Background Adolescence is a transition period in which positive experiences of physical activity have the potential to last into later adulthood. These experiences are influenced by socioeconomic determinants, leading to health inequalities. This study aims to explore adolescents’ experiences and participation in a multi-component school-based inte...

Background Inorganic nitrate has been shown to acutely improve working memory in adults, potentially by altering cerebral and peripheral vasculature. However, this remains unknown in adolescents. Furthermore, breakfast is important for overall health and psychological well-being. Therefore, this study will investigate the acute effects of nitrate a...

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has had major impact on the daily lives of adolescents. This study examined whether mental health outcomes had changed over the pandemic, and if such changes were related to changes in physical activity (PA), sedentary time, sleep, screen time, and participation in organized sports. Materials and methods In this lo...

Background The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic had a huge impact on daily life, even in countries such as Sweden where the restrictions were relatively mild. This paper assesses the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions on physical activity (PA) patterns, screen time, and sleep among Swedish adolescents. The exposures explored...

Aim: In adults, prolonged periods of sitting have been linked to acute negative effects on vascular structure and function. The aim of this study was to evaluate the acute effects of physical activity (PA) breaks during prolonged sitting on arterial stiffness, cortisol, and psychological factors in adolescents. Methods: Adolescents underwent dif...

Introduction: In order to address the effectiveness and sustainability of school-based interventions, there is a need to consider the factors affecting implementation success. The rapidly growing field of implementation-focused research is struggling to determine how to assess and measure implementation-relevant constructs. Earlier research has id...

Aim: Physical activity patterns in adolescents have been associated with general health. Stress, screen-time and sleep are other factors associated with physical activity that influence health in adolescents. Physical activity accounts for several health benefits; however, the impact of organised sports participation to achieve the same health ben...

Background Poor mental health among youth is a public health concern. As half of the mental disorders occur before or during adolescence it is important to investigate how modifiable lifestyle factors are associated with mental health in this population. The association between physical activity patterns and mental health has been studied before bu...

Background The covid-19 pandemic has had a large impact on the daily lives of adolescents, even in Sweden where the restrictions were relatively mild. The aim of this study was to examine if there had been a change in mental health outcomes and if these changes were related to changes in physical activity patterns before and during the pandemic. M...

Objectives To investigate the associations between physical activity pattern, sports participation, screen time and mental health in Swedish adolescents. Design, setting and participants A total of 1139 Swedish adolescents (mean age 13.4) from 34 schools participated in the cross-sectional study ‘Physical Activity for Healthy Brain Functions in Sc...

Most adolescents do not consume a high-quality diet, while self-reported mental health problems within this group are increasing. This study aimed to investigate the association between diet quality and health-related quality of life, and to explore the differences in diet quality and health-related quality of life between gender and parental educa...

Background Physical activity breaks are widely being implemented in school settings as a solution to increase academic performance and reduce sitting time. However, the underlying physiological mechanisms suggested to improve cognitive function from physical activity and the frequency, intensity, and duration of the breaks remain unknown. This stud...

This study explored whether breakfast habits were associated with intake of fruits and vegetables, minutes in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), minutes spent sedentary, and screen time among adolescents. Cross-sectional data were collected among 13–14-year-old boys and girls (n = 1139). Breakfast habits and screen time were determined...

Background: To address the effectiveness and sustainability of school-based interventions, there is a need to consider factors affecting implementation success. This rapidly growing field of implementation focused research is struggling with how to assess and measure implementation-relevant constructs. Earlier research identifies the need for stron...

Cardiovascular fitness (CVF) has been associated with cardiovascular risk factors in adolescents. CVF levels are determined by non-modifiable and modifiable factors; one modifiable factor is physical activity (PA). There is a lack of studies investigating the associations between PA patterns and CVF and how gender, parental education, BMI status an...

Knowledge about associations between school-based initiatives and physical activity patterns is limited. The purpose of this paper was to examine associations between factors in the school environment, physical activity and sedentary time during school time. The cross-sectional study included 1139 adolescents aged 13–14 from 34 schools. Physical ac...

Background: Chronic widespread pain (CWP) and common mental disorders (CMDs) are common public health problems, but little is known about the role of CWP and CMDs on future adverse outcomes among work disabled individuals. The aims of the study were to investigate the associations between CWP and CMDs with subsequent disability pension (DP), long-...

Purpose To investigate if sick leave due to mental disorders increases the risk of morbidity measured by inpatient and specialized outpatient care, and mortality among women and men, independent of familial factors. Methods An open cohort study of 4979 twin pairs discordant for sick leave due to mental disorders was conducted in 2005–2013. Twins w...

Objectives To investigate the association between three poor health behaviours (current smoker, high consumption of alcohol and low physical activity levels) and the transition to disability pension (DP) among individuals who have recently been sickness absent. Furthermore, we aimed to explore whether having multiple poor health behaviours increase...

Background High age, being a woman, and having low socioeconomic status are among the important risk factors for transitioning from sickness absence (SA) to disability pension (DP). But, little is known about the effect of poor health behaviors, although there are indications that poor health behaviors increase the risk of both SA and DP. The aims...

Background Sick leave due to mental disorders is common. We investigated if sick leave due to mental disorders increased the risk of reoccurring sick leave, disability pension, unemployment, in- and specialized outpatient care, and mortality, using a co-twin design, taking genetics and shared environment (familial factors) into account. Methods Th...

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to examine the association between long-term sickness absence (LTSA) due to mental disorders and musculoskeletal disorders and all-cause disability pension (DP) among blue- and white-collar workers. A secondary objective was to examine the influence of familial factors on the associations. METHODS: This was a...

Background Exercise improves cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and reduces depressive symptoms in people with depression. It is unclear if changes in CRF are a predictor of the antidepressant effect of exercise in people with depression. Aims To investigate whether an increase in CRF is a predictor of depression severity reduction after 12 weeks of...

Background: Sickness absence (SA) is becoming a major economic problem in many countries. Our aim was to investigate whether type of employment, including temporary employment or part-time employment, is associated with SA while controlling for familial factors (genetic and shared environment). Differences between men and women and across employme...

Background Exercise is an effective treatment for depression but non-adherence is common. The aim of this study was to determine the level of adherence to an exercise intervention, specifically factors associated with adherence in a depressed population. Methods This study reports the secondary analysis from a randomized controlled trial. The 310 p...

Background: Evidence-based treatment of depression continues to grow, but successful treatment and maintenance of treatment response remains limited. Aims: To compare the effectiveness of exercise, internet-based cognitive behavioural therapy (ICBT) and usual care for depression. Method: Multicentre, three-group parallel, randomized controlled...

Exercise can be used to treat depression but there is a lack of evidence regarding the optimal intensity and mode. Our aim was to compare the effects of different exercise intensities on post-treatment depression severity. People aged 18–67 years with mild-to-moderate depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9 score of ≥ 10) participated in a singl...

Objective: Exercise is an efficacious stand-alone therapy for mild-to-moderate depression, but little is known about the influence of physical activity levels on responses to depression treatment. This study aimed to prospectively assess the association between self-reported habitual physical activity levels and depression severity following a 12-...

Research exploring links between exercise and depression now span several decades, yet several clinically relevant research questions remain unanswered. This opinion article briefly describes the status of selected research issues from the exercise depression literature and offer insights into research areas that are currently lacking. We draw part...

we identified clusters of older people with similar health-related behaviours and assessed the association between those clusters and the risk of injurious fall. we linked self-reported and register-based data on the over-65s from the Stockholm public health cohort (N = 20,212). Groups of people with similar health-related behaviours were identifie...

Background The simultaneous use of several medications is an important risk factor for injurious falls in older people. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of the number of medications dispensed to elderly persons on fall injuries and to assess whether this relationship is explained by individual demographics, health habits and healt...

Neðst á síðunni er hægt að nálgast greinina í heild sinni með því að smella á hlekkinn Skoða/Opna(view/open) OBJECTIVE: Westerners increasingly use complimentary and alternative (CAM) methods for curing illness and promoting health. The central ideas of CAM appear to resonate with large segments of the general public. Little is known about CAM use...

Westerners increasingly use complimentary and alternative (CAM) methods for curing illness and promoting health. The central ideas of CAM appear to resonate with large segments of the general public. Little is known about CAM use in Iceland. The purpose of the study was to assess the scope of utilization of CAM providers and the likely explanatory...