Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on Physical Activity in a Sample of Greek Adults

Abstract

It is well known that physical inactivity increases the risk of global death; however, the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown strategy on physical activity (PA) remains unclear. This study compared PA—i.e., daily occupation, transportation to and from daily occupation, leisure time activities, and regular sporting activities—prior (PRE) and during (POST) the on-going COVID-19 outbreak in the Greece lockdown environment. A Greek version of the web-based Active-Q questionnaire was used to access PA. The questionnaire was filled out twice (once each for the PRE and POST conditions) by 8495 participants (age = 37.2 ± 0.2 years (95% confidence interval (CI), 36.9–37.5); males = 38.3% (95%CI, 36.7–40.0); females = 61.7% (95%CI, 60.4–63.0). The relative frequency of overall sporting activities, which, prior to lockdown, occurred at least once per month, and overall participation in competitive sports was significantly reduced (8.6% (95%CI, 7.9–9.3) and 84.7% (95%CI, 82.9–86.6) respectively). With the exception of overall leisure time activities, which were significantly increased in the POST condition, daily occupational, transportation, and sporting activities significant reduced (p < 0.05). Overall PA was reduced in all genders, age, body mass index (BMI) and PA level subgroups in the POST condition, and an interaction between the males and High PA subgroups was observed. The change in overall PA (from PRE to POST conditions) was −16.3% (95%CI, −17.3 to −15.4), while in daily occupational, transportation, and sporting activities, it was −52.9% (95%CI, −54.8–51.0), −41.1% (95%CI, −42.8–39.5) and −23.9% (95%CI, −25.1–22.8), respectively. Thus, the lockdown period is highly associated with a negative change in overall PA. During lockdown, inactivity increased dramatically, with males and the high PA population affected significantly more. The decline in PA is a great concern due to possible long-term consequences on public health and healthcare system.

Individual, Sociodemographic, and Environmental Factors Related to Physical Activity During the Spring 2020 COVID-19 Lockdown

“…At first glance, these results may seem contradictory with several studies showing that the diminution of physical activity during lockdown mostly affected people who were usually physically active (Barkley et al, 2020;Bourdas and Zacharakis, 2020;Castañeda-Babarro et al, 2020;Maltagliati et al, 2020;Meyer et al, 2020;Martínez-de-Quel et al, 2021). Instead, we believe our results nicely complements this line of research.…”

Changes in physical activity and sedentary behaviours from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown: a systematic review

“…Of the studies that measured PA change in the form of time spent on PA, all but one study 70 reported overall decreases in the amount of PA pre-COVID-19 versus post-COVID-19 lockdown. When stratifying across different forms of PA, two studies 27 28 reported increases in time spent in ‘leisure-time PA’ and one study 85 reported increases in time spent in ‘endurance training’ in elite cyclists, although total PA still decreased in all three studies. All other studies reported time spent in all subtypes of PA—for example, light, moderate, vigorous and walking—(if specified) decreased.…”

Physical Activity and Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet among Spanish Employees in a Health-Promotion Program before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Sanitas-Healthy Cities Challenge

“…However, METS expenditure in both vigorous PA and walking does not seem to have been affected by the pandemic. In this vein, the studies carried out by Tison et al [ 54 ], Galle et al [ 55 ], and Bourdas and Zacharakis [ 56 ] suggest an important decrease in daily mean steps within the days following the pandemic declaration.…”