title: A survey of social support for exercise and its relationship to health behaviours and health status among endurance Nordic skiers.
abstract: Regular exercise is a key component of obesity prevention and 48% of Americans do not meet minimum guidelines for weekly exercise. Social support has been shown to help individuals start and maintain exercise programmes. We evaluated social support among endurance athletes and explored the relationship between social support for exercise, health behaviours and health status.
  
  
  
  Survey.
  
  
  
  The largest Nordic ski race in North America.
  
  
  
  5433 past participants responded to an online questionnaire.
  
  
  
  Social support, health behaviours and health status.
  
  
  
  The mean overall support score was 32.1 (SD=16.5; possible range=-16.0 to 88.0). The most common forms of social support were verbal such as discussing exercise, invitations to exercise and celebrating the enjoyment of exercise. We found that an increase of 10 points in the social support score was associated with a 5 min increase in weekly self-reported exercise (5.02, 95% CI 3.63 to 6.41).
  
  
  
  Physical activity recommendations should incorporate the importance of participation in group activities, especially those connected to strong fitness cultures created by community and competitive events.
authors.affiliation: Division of Preventive, Occupational, and Aerospace Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.
authors.forename: Paul J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine Residency, Health Partners, Saint Louis Park, Minnesota, USA.
authors.forename: Ralph S
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-1351-4065
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Bovard
authors.affiliation: Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery, Rochester, Minnesota, USA Division of Health Care Policy and Research, Division of Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.
authors.forename: Zhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery, Rochester, Minnesota, USA Division of Health Care Policy and Research, Division of Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.
authors.forename: Timothy J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Beebe
authors.affiliation: Division of Preventive, Occupational, and Aerospace Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.
authors.forename: Mohammad Hassan
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Murad
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D056352:Athletes / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009656:North America; D057566:Self Report; D012865:Skiing; D012944:Social Support; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: PREVENTIVE MEDICINE; behavioral health; lifestyle; obesity