Factors Protecting against a Decline in Physical Activity during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Fearnbach, S. Nicole; Flanagan, Emily W.; Höchsmann, Christoph; Beyl, Robbie A.; Altazan, Abby D.; Martin, Corby K.; Redman, Leanne M.

doi:10.1249/mss.0000000000002602

Cited by 70 publications

(78 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Our main result of decreases in PA aligns with available data collected in individual countries (e.g., [16,17,19,20]). The same applies to more pronounced reductions in previously active individuals (e.g., [16,17,20]). In contrast, findings are less consistent with regard to sex and age.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

“…In contrast, findings are less consistent with regard to sex and age. Notwithstanding, interestingly, the reported magnitude of PA reductions here (41% to 42%) and guideline compliance declines (18.5%) was larger than reported from other surveys [16][17][18][19][20].…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 67%

“…To date, the degree to which public life restrictions related to COVID-19 affect PA levels is unknown. Early evidence based on investigations with relatively small sample sizes, however, indicate reductions of PA [16][17][18][19][20]. The present study, therefore, aimed to evaluate changes of self-reported PA in countries with SARS-CoV2 outbreaks on a multinational level.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

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A Pandemic within the Pandemic? Physical Activity Levels Substantially Decreased in Countries Affected by COVID-19

Wilke

Mohr

Tenforde

et al. 2021

IJERPH

181

145

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Governments have restricted public life during the COVID-19 pandemic, inter alia closing sports facilities and gyms. As regular exercise is essential for health, this study examined the effect of pandemic-related confinements on physical activity (PA) levels. A multinational survey was performed in 14 countries. Times spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) as well as in vigorous physical activity only (VPA) were assessed using the Nordic Physical Activity Questionnaire (short form). Data were obtained for leisure and occupational PA pre- and during restrictions. Compliance with PA guidelines was calculated based on the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO). In total, n = 13,503 respondents (39 ± 15 years, 59% females) were surveyed. Compared to pre-restrictions, overall self-reported PA declined by 41% (MVPA) and 42.2% (VPA). Reductions were higher for occupational vs. leisure time, young and old vs. middle-aged persons, previously more active vs. less active individuals, but similar between men and women. Compared to pre-pandemic, compliance with WHO guidelines decreased from 80.9% (95% CI: 80.3–81.7) to 62.5% (95% CI: 61.6–63.3). Results suggest PA levels have substantially decreased globally during the COVID-19 pandemic. Key stakeholders should consider strategies to mitigate loss in PA in order to preserve health during the pandemic.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 67%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

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A Pandemic within the Pandemic? Physical Activity Levels Substantially Decreased in Countries Affected by COVID-19

Wilke

Mohr

Tenforde

et al. 2021

IJERPH

181

145

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…The total of 39 included manuscripts yielded a total of 118,022 participants with a range of job types. Twelve studies especially examined office workers [23,46,[50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59], and 11 studies [22,23,42,[44][45][46]52,[60][61][62][63] examined WFH or remote working.…”

Section: Main Characteristics Of the Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in Workers’ Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior during the COVID-19 Pandemic

et al. 2021

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Background: COVID-19 has changed the world and strongly affected the health of the people and the quality of their life. These changes might impact employees’ physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB). This study aimed to summarize the literature focusing on the COVID-19-caused changes in physical activity and sedentary behavior among the adult working population. Methods: Literature searches were conducted in June 2021 using multiple electronic databases. The following keywords and synonyms were used during the searching process: physical activity, sedentary behavior, COVID-19, employee. After the data cleaning process (duplicates, inclusion criteria), the title and the abstract of all manuscripts from the searches were screened independently by two reviewers. Results: Thirty-nine manuscripts were selected as a result of the searching process. Of these, 5 were SB related, 15 were PA related and 19 addressed both PA and SB. There were longitudinal (10), cross-sectional (28) and a case study (1) in the selected manuscripts. The majority of studies were conducted in the USA (6) and Europe (18), and four studies examined the PA and/or SB in multiple countries. The majority (34 studies) of the studies used subjective, self-reported, but mostly before-validated questionnaires. Objective measures were less common and used only 12.8% of the examined studies. Moreover, 76.4% of the studies described an overall decrease in the amount of PA during the COVID-19 pandemic. In three cases, researchers observed an increase in PA among the workers. Five studies reported no significant changes in the amount of PA during the pandemic. As far as SB is concerned, 18 out of 24 of the studies reported an overall increase in the amount of SB between the two periods. Four manuscripts reported no significant change in the amount of SB, and there was only one manuscript in the examined studies that reported an overall decrease in the SB time before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Discussion: There is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic, including lockdown and work from home (WFH) policies, impaired the PA and SB level of the populations. This period has delivered an important message for the adult working population as well. They should be as active as possible and avoid high levels of SB and uninterrupted sitting time. Therefore, organizations, policies and public health bodies should motivate workers, especially office workers, to be more active and interventions must be developed to mitigate the negative effects of the COVID-19 on PA and SB.

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“…For example, recent work studying youth long-distance runners found that COVID-19 social distancing restrictions impacted training habits (Bazett-Jones et al, 2020 ). Furthermore, recent studies have illustrated that physical activity levels during the COVID-19 global pandemic have decreased (Castañeda-Babarro et al, 2020 ; Gallè et al, 2020 ; Eek et al, 2021 ; Fearnbach et al, 2021 ; Puccinelli et al, 2021 ; Wilke et al, 2021 ). Self-reported moderate physical activity levels have been reported to decrease by 41%, while Eek and colleagues depicted that more than 65% of the participants reported changes in their physical activity (Eek et al, 2021 ; Wilke et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in Training, Lifestyle, Psychological and Demographic Factors, and Associations With Running-Related Injuries During COVID-19

Holmes

Monaghan

Strunk

et al. 2021

Front. Sports Act. Living

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The primary purpose of this study was to examine how the type and magnitude of changes in running behavior, as a consequence of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, influence running-related injuries. Secondarily, we aimed to examine how lifestyle and psychosocial well-being measures may influence running behavior change. An online survey was advertised to individuals over the age of 18 that currently run or have previously participated in running for exercise. The survey questions examined injury history and new injuries sustained during COVID-19 restrictions, as well as changes related to training behavior changes, training environment changes, social behaviors, and psychosocial well-being. Changes reflected differences in running behaviors prior to COVID-19 restrictions (1 month prior to COVID-19 restrictions being imposed) and during COVID-19 restrictions (May 5 to June 10, 2020). A total of 1,035 runners were included in the analysis. Current injuries sustained during COVID-19 occurred in 9.5% of the runners. Injured runners made a greater number of total changes (p = 0.031) as well as training-related (p = 0.042) and environment-related (p = 0.017) changes compared with uninjured runners. A significant relationship was found between injury and those that reported less time to exercise to changes in work environment (p = 0017). This study highlights the multi-dimensional nature of running-related injuries and the need to consider the interaction of multiple changes in running behavior, rather than isolating single factors. Greater understanding of the underlying causes of running-related injuries can help reduce the risk of future injury.

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Factors Protecting against a Decline in Physical Activity during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Cited by 70 publications

References 40 publications

A Pandemic within the Pandemic? Physical Activity Levels Substantially Decreased in Countries Affected by COVID-19

A Pandemic within the Pandemic? Physical Activity Levels Substantially Decreased in Countries Affected by COVID-19

Changes in Workers’ Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Changes in Training, Lifestyle, Psychological and Demographic Factors, and Associations With Running-Related Injuries During COVID-19

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