Objectively-Assessed Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior, Smartphone Use, and Sleep Patterns Pre- and during-COVID-19 Quarantine in Young Adults from Spain

Abstract

This study assessed the effects of COVID-19 home confinement on physical activity, sedentary behavior, smartphone use, and sleep patterns. Data was collected in a sample of 20 young adults (mean age ± SD: 22.6 ± 3.4 years; 55% males) over seven days pre- and during the COVID-19 lockdown. Objective and subjective physical activity (Accelerometer and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), respectively), the number of hours sitting (IPAQ), objectively-measured smartphone use (smartphone screen time applications), and objective and subjective sleep (accelerometer and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, respectively) were assessed. Results revealed significantly greater walking time and mean steps (p < 0.001, d = 1.223 to 1.605), and moderate and vigorous physical activity (p < 0.05, d = 0.568 to 0.616), in the pre- compared with the during-COVID-19 lockdown phase. Additionally, smartphone use (p = 0.009, d = 0.654), sitting time (p = 0.002, d = 1.120), and total sleep (p < 0.004, d = 0.666) were significantly greater in the during- compared with the pre-COVID-19 lockdown phase. Multiple regressions analyses showed associations between physical activity and sedentary behavior and sleep quality. The number of hours sitting per day and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity significantly predicted deep sleep (adj.R2 = 0.46). In conclusion, this study revealed that during the COVID-19 outbreak, behaviors changed, with participants spending less time engaging in physical activity, sitting more, spending more time using the smartphone, and sleeping more hours. These findings may be of importance to make recommendations, including lifestyle modifications during this time.

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on University Students' Physical Activity Levels: An Early Systematic Review

“…Romero-Blanco et al ( 2020 ) showed that Health Sciences university students performed significantly higher minutes/week of total PA (+71.6%) and vigorous PA (+7.4%), both males (+ 83.3%) as females (+ 23.6%). On the other hand, Sañudo et al ( 2020 ) showed an objective reduction in PA with 67.7% fewer steps per day during the lockdown. In the same line, five studies showed a reduction of light/mild PA (walking) between 32.5 and 365.5% compared to the period prior to confinement (Ács et al, 2020 ; Barkley et al, 2020 ; Gallè et al, 2020 ; Gallo et al, 2020 ; Sañudo et al, 2020 ), three studies found a decrease in moderate PA levels (from 14–59.7%) (Barkley et al, 2020 ; Gallè et al, 2020 ; Sañudo et al, 2020 ) and four studies in moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) (from 3.9–56.6%) (Karuc et al, 2020 ; Maher et al, 2020 ; Sañudo et al, 2020 ; Savage et al, 2020 ).…”

“…One thousand one hundred thirty-seven references were identified after search process in four databases, of which 10 (Ács et al, 2020 ; Barkley et al, 2020 ; Gallè et al, 2020 ; Gallo et al, 2020 ; Karuc et al, 2020 ; Maher et al, 2020 ; Romero-Blanco et al, 2020 ; Sañudo et al, 2020 ; Savage et al, 2020 ; Alarcón Meza and Hall-López, 2021 ) met the inclusion criteria. Figure 1 shows the flow chart of the selection process of the studies.…”

“…Six out of ten studies used International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) as tool to assess the level of PA performed by university students, while the Godin physical activity questionnaire, the Active Australia Survey, the School Health Action, Planning, and Evaluation System (SHAPES) questionnaire and Exercise vital sign (EVS) questionnaire were used in the rest of studies. Only one study (Sañudo et al, 2020 ) used an objective tool to assess PA (accelerometer). Regarding the level of the lockdown by country, most of the studies (Alarcón-Meza's study did not indicate the country's measures regarding PA during lockdown), reflected that national lockdown included a restriction for outdoor PA.…”

Evolution of Physical Activity Habits After a Context Change: the Case of COVID-19 Lockdown

“…During the Spring 2020 pandemic, engaging in active behaviours was particularly relevant to counteracting the detrimental effects of lockdown (Lesser & Nienhuis, 2020). Yet, a fast-growing literature reveals that individuals' PA behaviours were altered during this period: while most individuals decreased their engagement in PA, a portion of the population increased it (Cheval et al, 2020;Constandt et al, 2020;Deschasaux-Tanguy et al, 2020;Gallè et al, 2020;Sañudo et al, 2020).…”

“…During this "window of opportunity", individuals are prone to engage in deliberative processes, leading to the renegotiation of previous behaviours (Verplanken & Roy, 2016). This discontinuity hypothesis may thus explain why some studies observed an increase of PA behaviours during lockdown (Cheval et al, 2020;Constandt et al, 2020; but see Deschasaux-Tanguy et al, 2020;Gallè et al, 2020;Sañudo et al, 2020 for contradictory findings).…”