Publications by authors named "Henry T Blake"
Using co-design principles based on the Health CASCADE framework, we aimed to describe the collaborative process undertaken to develop a 24-hour time-use intervention, called Small Steps, which promoted gradual and incremental health-behavior change. A secondary aim was to reflect on the challenges and benefits of co-design in this project, offering insights into the "why" and "how" to co-design 24-hour time-use interventions with priority populations. Twelve participants were invited and participated in 6 co-design workshops (June 2023-January 2024).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Muscular strength, particularly measured by handgrip strength (HGS), is an important indicator of health and a predictor of age-related diseases, but no international benchmarks exist for HGS across different ages and sexes.
- The study systematically analyzed data from over 2.4 million adults across 69 countries to establish sex- and age-specific norms for HGS, identifying a peak in strength between ages 30 and 39 before a gradual decline.
- Findings revealed that while absolute and body size-normalized HGS improves slightly in early adulthood, a more significant drop occurs from middle to late adulthood, with males generally experiencing a faster decline than females.
Article Synopsis
- Men's well-being decreases during their middle years, and while physical activity (PA) is beneficial, the specific types of PA that are most effective are not well-defined.
- A study involving South Australian men aged 35 and older examined how different types of PA correlate with self-rated health and overall well-being.
- Results indicated that regular PA improved self-rated health and life satisfaction among middle-aged men, while older men showed a weaker relationship; certain PA substitutions, like dance for cycling, were linked to better self-rated health in older men.
Although sport participation is intrinsically motivating and improves the physical health of middle-aged men, its influence on subjective health measures, such as health-related quality of life, self-rated health, or well-being is unclear. The purpose of this scoping review was to describe the existing literature that has assessed male sport participants and their subjective health. MEDLINE, Embase, Emcare, PsycInfo, SPORTDiscus, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science were searched, and reference lists of included studies were pearled.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Consuming foods high in nitrates and polyphenols may enhance endurance exercise performance, while L-citrulline does not seem to provide similar benefits.
- A meta-analysis including 118 studies showed that nitrate and polyphenol-rich foods yielded trivial but significant improvements in endurance activities, especially for time-trial and time-to-exhaustion tests.
- Specific foods like beetroot and certain fruits showed beneficial effects, but there was no notable performance enhancement from these foods in females, and a lot of variability was found among studies.
Improving User Experience of Virtual Health Assistants: Scoping Review.
J Med Internet Res
December 2021
Background: Virtual assistants can be used to deliver innovative health programs that provide appealing, personalized, and convenient health advice and support at scale and low cost. Design characteristics that influence the look and feel of the virtual assistant, such as visual appearance or language features, may significantly influence users' experience and engagement with the assistant.
Objective: This scoping review aims to provide an overview of the experimental research examining how design characteristics of virtual health assistants affect user experience, summarize research findings of experimental research examining how design characteristics of virtual health assistants affect user experience, and provide recommendations for the design of virtual health assistants if sufficient evidence exists.
Introduction: Physical activity promotes physical, psychological and social health. Despite this, almost half of middle-aged (35-54 years) Australian men are insufficiently active. Exercise adherence is increased with social interaction in a group setting.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHeart-Rate Acceleration Is Linearly Related to Anaerobic Exercise Performance.
Int J Sports Physiol Perform
January 2022
Purpose: To prescribe training loads to improve performance, one must know how an athlete is responding to loading. The maximal rate of heart-rate increase (rHRI) during the transition from rest to exercise is linearly related to changes in endurance exercise performance and can be used to infer how athletes are responding to changes in training load. Relationships between rHRI and anaerobic exercise performance have not been evaluated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF