Non-disease specific
Conditions
Interventions
Group 1: Group 1 (30 participants) will function as control group. These participants will not receive any intervention. They will receive a manual for self-trained relaxation exercises at the end of
Sponsors
Uniklinik Köln - Poliklinik für Endokrinologie, Diabetologie und Präventivmedizin
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to 80 Years
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria: - Full capacity to give consent - Ability to understand study procedures and willingness to comply with them and provide written informed consent - Good German language skills - Non-smoker (for the last 1 year not smoked more than 2 cigarettes per month) - Self-reported emotional eating verified by specialised clinician
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria: - Inability to attend the weekly relaxation exercises (e.g. medical or organisational reasons) - Serious or unstable medical illness preventing to attend the testing days - Current alcoholism or consistent substance abuse - Current and history of major psychiatric illness as defined by the DSM-IV criteria including severe eating disorders that would prevent the participant from executing the tasks of the experiment or the relaxation exercises - Medications that affect alertness (e.g., barbiturates, benzodiazepines, chloral hydrate, haloperidol, lithium, phenytoin, etc.) and any psychoactive drugs or anti-obesity agents including anti-diabetic medication that affects food intake behaviour - Any medication affecting emotional eating behaviour (such as GLP-1-analogues or antipsychotic medication) - Pregnancy - Nursing women - Any factors prohibiting MRI measurements
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| The primary outcome is the difference in reward-related brain function between morning and evening measurements, reflecting dopaminergic reward system activity. Participants will complete assessments in the morning and in the evening. Reward-related motivation and learning processes will be assessed using computerized behavioral tasks (one motivation task and one learning task, the latter also performed during MRI scanning). In addition, emotional eating behavior and chronotype will be assessed using the following questionnaires: 1. Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ) 2. Food Cravings Questionnaire – Trait, reduced version (FCQ-T-r) 3. Salzburg Emotional Eating Scale (SEES) 4. Salzburg Stress Eating Scale (SSES) 5. Night Eating Questionnaire (NEQ) 6. Food Timing Screener (FTS) 7. Power of Food Scale (PFS) 8. Fragebogen zum Essverhalten (FEV) 9. Dietary Fat and Free Sugar Questionnaire (DFS) 10. Munich Chronotype Questionnaire (MCTQ) | — |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Secondary outcomes assess changes in circadian reward-related brain function following a 12-week intervention. Participants will be assigned to one of three groups: - Nature-based intervention - Online intervention - Control group Evening measurements will be conducted before and after the intervention period. Reward-related motivation and learning will again be assessed using the same computerized behavioral tasks as for the primary outcome. In addition, psychological, behavioral, and stress-related variables will be measured using the following questionnaires: 1. Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ) 2. Food Cravings Questionnaire – Trait, reduced version (FCQ-T-r) 3. Salzburg Emotional Eating Scale (SEES) 4. Salzburg Stress Eating Scale (SSES) 5. Night Eating Questionnaire (NEQ) 6. Food Timing Screener (FTS) 7. Power of Food Scale (PFS) 8. Fragebogen zum Essverhalten (FEV) 9. Dietary Fat and Free Sugar Questionnaire (DFS) 10. Stress Coping Inventory (SCI) 11. Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) 12. WHO-5 Well-Being Index (WHO-5) 13. Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) 14. Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) 15. International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) 16. Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-D) 17. Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11) | — |
Countries
Germany
Contacts
Public ContactRuth Hanssen
Uniklinik Köln
Outcome results
None listed