This paper conceptualises tourist idleness as a temporary engagement in slow, slothful and entirely unstructured holiday activities. We aim to extend the studies that prioritise the modalities of holidays in nature that encourage simplified, slower, immersive experiences, and which celebrate mindfulness, slowness and stillness as part of a tourist journey. In framing idleness as a relaxing, creative and recuperative holiday practice, we suggest that creating places of otium which encourage ‘doing nothing’ can in many ways enhance tourist wellbeing. To this end, we discuss the significance of spatial, temporal and existential elements of tourist idleness, whilst arguing that this ‘practice’ should be more celebrated in our modern, high-speed societies.
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The necessity for humans inhabiting the 21st century to slow down and take time to carry out daily practices frames the discourse of this research note. We suggest reconceptualising tourist wellbeing through the concept of slow adventure, as a response to the cult of speed and as a vehicle for engaging in deep, immersive and more meaningful experiences during journeys in the outdoors. We suggest that slow adventure has the potential to improve people’s general health and wellbeing through mindful enjoyment and consumption of the outdoor experience and thus bring people back to a state of mental and physical equilibrium. In so doing, we argue that extending the concept to include discussions around the psychological and social aspects of slow adventure is needed.
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Background: The population ageing in most Western countries leads to a larger number of frail older people. These frail people are at an increased risk of negative health outcomes, such as functional decline, falls, institutionalisation and mortality. Many approaches are available for identifying frailty among older people. Researchers most often use Fried and colleagues’ description of the frailty phenotype. The authors describe five physical criteria. Other researchers prefer a combination of measurements in the social, psychological and/or physical domains. The aim of this study is to describe the levels of social, psychological and physical functioning according to Fried’s frailty stages using a large cohort of Dutch community-dwelling older people. Methods: There were 8,684 community-dwelling older people (65+) who participated in this cross-sectional study. Based on the five Fried frailty criteria (weight loss, exhaustion, low physical activity, slowness, weakness), the participants were divided into three stages: non-frail (score 0), pre-frail (score 1–2) and frail (score 3–5). These stages were related to scores in the social (social network type, informal care use, loneliness), psychological (psychological distress, mastery, self-management) and physical (chronic diseases, GARS IADL-disability, OECD disability) domains. Results: 63.2 % of the participants was non-frail, 28.1 % pre-frail and 8.7 % frail. When comparing the three stages of frailty, frail people appeared to be older, were more likely to be female, were more often unmarried or living alone, and had a lower level of education compared to their pre-frail and non-frail counterparts. The difference between the scores in the social, psychological and physical domains were statistically significant between the three frailty stages. The most preferable scores came from the non-frail group, and least preferable scores were from the frail group. For example use of informal care: non-frail 3.9 %, pre-frail 23.8 %, frail 60.6 %, and GARS IADL-disability mean scores: non-frail 9.2, pre-frail 13.0, frail 19.7. Conclusion: When older people were categorised according to the three frailty stages, as described by Fried and colleagues, there were statistically significant differences in the level of social, psychological and physical functioning between the non-frail, pre-frail and frail persons. Non-frail participants had consistently more preferable scores compared to the frail participants. This indicated that the Fried frailty criteria could help healthcare professionals identify and treat frail older people in an efficient way, and provide indications for problems in other domains.
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The aim of the present study was to find early markers for overreaching that are applicable in sport practice. In a group of elite soccer players aged 15–18, the stress–recovery balance and reaction times before and after exercise were assessed. Overreaching was indicated by an elevated submaximal heart rate during a sport-specific field test. Submaximal changes in heart rate were prospectively monitored by means of monthly Interval Shuttle Run Tests during two competitive seasons. Out of 94 players, seven players with an elevated heart rate of at least one month could be included in the study, together with seven controls, matched for age, body composition, training and performance level. The stress–recovery balance was assessed with the Dutch version of the Recovery Stress Questionnaire (RESTQ-Sport). The soccer players with an elevated heart rate reported a disturbed stress–recovery balance (Mann–Whitney test, P<0.05). An ANOVA for repeated measures of reaction times revealed a significant main effect of time (F 1,12=13.87, P<0.01) indicating an improvement of psychomotor speed. No differences between groups were found. We conclude that soccer players with an elevated submaximal heart rate of at least one month share a disturbed stress–recovery balance, but they could not be distinguished from controls based on reaction time after strenuous exercise.
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Background: Over the years, a plethora of frailty assessment tools has been developed. These instruments can be basically grouped into two types of conceptualizations – unidimensional, based on the physical–biological dimension – and multidimensional, based on the connections among the physical, psychological, and social domains. At present, studies on the comparison between uni- and multidimensional frailty measures are limited. Objective: The aims of this paper were: 1) to compare the prevalence of frailty obtained using a uni- and a multidimensional measure; 2) to analyze differences in the functional status among individuals captured as frail or robust by the two measures; and 3) to investigate relations between the two frailty measures and disability.
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Wereldwijd worden mensen steeds ouder en het aandeel ouderen binnen de bevolking neemt toe. Dit leidt ook tot een toename van het aantal ouderen dat kwetsbaar is. Ondanks dat de term kwetsbaarheid, in het Engels ‘frailty’ genoemd, vaak gebruikt wordt, is er nog geen consensus over wat dit precies inhoudt. Onderzoekers en zorgprofessionals gebruiken diverse benaderingen met diverse, bijbehorende meetinstrumenten. Desondanks is men het er wel over eens dat kwetsbaarheid leidt tot negatieve gezondheidsuitkomsten. Onderzoek laat zien dat kwetsbare ouderen een verhoogd risico hebben op bijvoorbeeld overlijden, opname in een ziekenhuis en beperkingen in het uitvoeren van dagelijkse activiteiten (ADL). Om dit te voorkomen en mensen te ondersteunen of een behandeling aan te bieden, is het van belang dat we ouderen die kwetsbaar zijn goed kunnen identificeren. Op die manier worden mensen niet onterecht als kwetsbaar aangemerkt. Als namelijk de verkeerde groep mensen behandeld wordt zal het effect van een eventuele behandeling minimaal zijn en zullen de zorgkosten onnodig stijgen. Daarentegen zullen kwetsbare mensen die de zorg wel nodig hebben, deze wellicht niet ontvangen wanneer ze verkeerd gediagnostiseerd worden. De doelen van dit proefschrift zijn: (1) het verkrijgen van meer inzicht in de functionele profielen die behoren bij verschillende stadia van kwetsbaarheid; (2) het onderzoeken welke beschermende factoren het pad van kwetsbaarheid naar (verdere) negatieve gezondheidsuitkomsten kunnen beïnvloeden; en (3) het vergroten van de kennis van psychometrische eigenschappen van veelgebruikte vragenlijsten die kwetsbaarheid meten.
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In the troubled times in which we currently live, the tourism industry has called into question a need for more responsible social practices and more mindful utilisation of natural environments. The Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing, has not only become a new wellness trend, but also a great potential for deeply immersive tourist experiences. While there is a wealth of studies examining the positive effects of forest bathing focussing principally on its medical benefits, this qualitative study extends these debates through documenting lived experiences of forest bathers. In so doing forest bathing suggests its latent potential to offer a profoundly mindful experience, and aims to situate this practice more prominently within the tourism discourse.
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Based on a literature review, this article discusses how the challenge of diminishing clothing production volumes has been approached within the field of sustainable fashion. We identify six common strategies in literature and discuss the approach of user involvement in the process of design and/or manufacture of garments in detail. A critical analysis of the state of the art in the field points out that these strategies have been constructed, studied and promoted without empirical validation. The article concludes with a recommendation to move forward from conceptual to empirical studies. Analyses of existing initiatives and their results in terms of consumer buying behavior and obsolete inventory are recommended as first steps towards validation.
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