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

Abstract

Physical activity and a healthy diet are key factors for avoiding major noncommunicable diseases. The aim of the present study was to analyze how physical activity (PA) and adherence to the Mediterranean diet among employees participating in the Healthy Cities program have been affected during confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The sample was composed of 297 employees from 40 leading companies based in Spain, who participated in the 5th edition of the Sanitas “Healthy Cities” challenge. The participants (148 women and 149 men), aged between 24 and 63 years old (M = 42.76; SD = 7.79) completed the short form of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) and the PREDIMED (Prevención con Dieta Mediterránea) questionnaire to measure adherence to the Mediterranean diet before and during the pandemic. Pearson χ2 tests revealed that workers were more likely to show sedentary behaviors during the pandemic than before (83.5% vs. 66.7%). Additionally, they were more likely to reach high levels of PA (51.2% vs. 64%), and Wilcoxon tests revealed that energy expenditure measured in Metabolic Equivalent of Task (MET) was higher during the pandemic (4199.03 METs) than before (3735.32 METs), due to an increase in moderate PA. Lastly, a higher adherence to a Mediterranean diet during the pandemic (76.4%) than before (54.5%) was reported. The findings of this investigation suggest a positive effect of working from home for employees involved in a health-promotion program, and highlight the relevance of this kind of action among this population.

Adherence to a Lifestyle Exercise and Nutrition Intervention in University Employees during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…To date, there are no lifestyle interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic in the workplace described in the literature, as there is only one observational study [ 6 ]. We provide a randomized clinical trial with a physical exercise and nutrition intervention and a long-term assessment of adherence to healthy habits.…”

“…To comply with these measures we have reorganized our society and our lifestyle during this pandemic. As a negative impact, the number of hours per day sitting has increased between 23.8–28.6% [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ], and physical activity (PA) levels have decreased by 28.8–38% [ 4 , 6 , 7 ], Dietary habits have also been affected. Even if the adherence to the Mediterranean diet has increased slightly [ 6 , 7 , 8 ], the prevalence of snacking and the consumption of alcoholic and carbonated drinks has also increased [ 4 , 7 ].…”

“…Every hour of sedentary behavior a day affects our health [ 11 , 12 , 13 ], establishing 6–8 h a day of sitting as a cut-off point to consider a risk factor for increased mortality [ 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ]. This threshold has been exceeded by workers during the pandemic, due to the teleworking situation, according to various authors in different countries [ 2 , 3 , 6 ]. In addition, increased sedentary behavior attenuates the physiological adaptations induced by PA [ 13 , 18 , 19 , 20 ], so even people who maintained their exercise routine have been affected by mobility restrictions and the new lifestyle caused by the pandemic [ 18 ].…”

“…No randomized clinical trial has been found reporting a telematic intervention at the workplace that manages to increase PA levels [ 49 , 50 ] and to date, none carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown is described in the literature. Only one observational study has been published, in which they did not perform an intervention [ 6 ].…”

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

“…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.…”