The Influence of COVID-19 Pandemic on Physical Health–Psychological Health, Physical Activity, and Overall Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Emotional Regulation (original) (raw)

Assessing the Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on Physical Activity and Psychological Status in Individuals of Various Age Groups Using Google Forms

https://www.ijhsr.org/IJHSR\_Vol.10\_Issue.10\_Oct2020/IJHSR\_Abstract.019.html, 2020

Introduction: Covid 19 pandemic has been a sudden jolt to mankind. Lockdown following it has caused major changes in everyday life. It has affected physical activity, psychological makeup and has brought everyone to a ‘new normal’ lifestyle. Hence this study was attempted to find out the impact of lock down on physical activity and psychological status during lock down. Aim: To assess the impact of Covid-19 lockdown period on physical activity and psychological status in individuals with various age groups. Materials and methods: Data collection was carried out using Google forms. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse the data. Results: During lockdown, working hours were reduced for 66.66% individuals. Physical activity was increased for around 33.33% individuals whereas was increased in 43.57% individuals and remained same for rest of the individuals. Considering psychological status there was an increase of more than 10-20% in number of individuals who had increase in frequency of emotions who had developed increased level of feeling guilty, sad or irritable. Conclusion: Lockdown had a major impact on psychological status of individuals whereas less severe impact on physical activity of individuals.

Perceiving reduced physical activity during COVID-19 lockdown is related to lower quality of life: a cross-sectional study with young adults

German Journal of Exercise and Sport Research

Physical activity and social participation are positively related to mental health and represent resources that strengthen individuals’ resilience. However, the measures aiming to contain the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic included restrictions regarding these health resources. For many people, stay-at-home orders had a negative effect on mental health and health-related behaviors such as physical activity. Young adults seem to be a particularly vulnerable group. The study aimed to examine the relationship between changes in physical activity and perceived quality of life in young adults during lockdown conditions. We conducted an online survey during the second lockdown in Germany and assessed perceived changes in physical activity, social activities, quality of life (QoL), the perceived burden of changes in social activities, and current QoL in 212 young adults (63.7% women, mean age = 23.46, standard deviation = 3.63). Young adults that maintained or increased their...

Psychological Health and Physical Activity Levels during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has been devastating in all senses, particularly psychologically. Physical activity (PA) is known to aid psychological well-being, and it is worth investigating whether PA has been a coping strategy during this pandemic. The objective of this literature review is to analyze the extent to which engaging in PA during the COVID-19 pandemic impacts psychological health in the adult population. The literature was searched in all databases from the EBSCOhost Research Database—MEDLINE, APA PsycArticles, between others—published between 1 January 2019 and 15 July 2020. From 180 articles found, 15 were eligible. The reviewed articles showed an association between mental health distress—e.g., stress, anxiety, depressive symptoms, social isolation, psychological distress—and PA. This research concludes that the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown measures caused psychological distress. Those studies that analyzed PA showed that, during quarantine, adu...

Effects of Covid-19 Quarantine on Physical Activity and Psycho-Emotional Health

Baltic Journal of Sport and Health Sciences, 2021

Introduction. Quarantine is a complex definition that consists of administrative and sanitary measures designed to prevent the spread of communicable diseases to both humans and animals. Bans and restrictions that have been introduced, have significantly changed people’s lifestyles – individuals have become less physically active and were forced to spend most of their time at home. The aim of the study was to reveal the dominant factors contributing to students’ psycho-emotional health and physical activity during the quarantine period. Methods. This survey was conducted in April 2020 with 304 participating students. The anonymous survey collected demographic data and two standardized questionnaires were used: The International Physical Activity Questionnaire and General Health Questionnaire. Data were processed by SPSS Statistics 23 program. Results. Respondents’ level of physical activity during quarantine was as follows: high level – 42%, medium level – 41%; low level – 17 %. A n...

Maintaining psychological well-being amidst the COVID-19 pandemic: The beneficial effects of health-promoting behaviors and sense of control

Current Psychology

The present research reports the findings of three studies, with objectives to demonstrate the impacts of health-promoting behaviors on psychological well-being as well as the mediating roles of sense of control (SOC) and perceived severity of COVID-19 in these relationships. Study 1 was a cross-sectional survey conducted in 473 middle-aged and older Chinese adults before the COVID-19 pandemic to assess their health-promoting behaviors, personal mastery and perceived constraints, life satisfaction, and depressive symptoms. Study 2 was conducted during the second wave of the COVID-19 outbreak in Hong Kong (between March to April 2020), in which 292 participants from Study 1 were successfully contacted to report their emotional responses to the pandemic. Using a different sample, Study 3 was a longitudinal study that measured 495 participants' health-promoting behaviors, personal mastery and perceived constraints at baseline, and their perceived severity and mental health outcomes during the outbreak of omicron cases in Hong Kong (i.e., the fifth wave of the COVID-19 outbreak) in March 2022. All three studies demonstrate that the beneficial effects of health behaviors can be extended to psychological well-being and reveal possible underlying mechanisms through enhancing one's SOC and lowering perceived severity of the COVID-19 outbreak. These results provide important insights to future health promotion programs for improving psychological resources and psychological well-being of middle-aged and older adults in face of disease-related threats.

Moderation Effect of Physical Activity on the Relationship Between Fear of COVID-19 and General Distress: A Pilot Case Study in Arabic Countries

Frontiers in Psychology, 2020

This study aimed to investigate the effects of the fear of COVID-19, level of physical activity, and gender on negative stress (distress) in an Arab population by means of structural equations based on partial least squares. Materials and Methods: The sample population comprised of 459 participants from four Arab countries (age M = 33.02, SD = 8.46; n = 237 women and n = 222 men). The level of education was basic (<9 years of study; n = 144), secondary/vocational (between 9 and 12; n = 178), and university (n = 137). The "Fear of COVID-19" Scale, the short form of the "International Physical Activity Questionnaire," and the "Perceived Stress Scale" questionnaires were disseminated by emails and social networks via Google Forms. SMARTPLS software version 3.2.9 was used to model the relationships between the variables under study. Results: Results confirmed the links between level of physical activity, fear of COVID-19, and gender, showing a significant mediating effect of the fear of COVID-19 on the relationship between gender and general distress. The level of physical activity was also found to influence the fear of COVID-19, varying depending on gender. In addition, the model highlighted the presence of a moderation effect of the level of physical activity. Conclusion: Based on the model presented in the present study, we can conclude that the COVID-19 pandemic has a profound impact on psychological distress in the target populations. The impact of the level of physical activity on psychological distress is shown to be very important during the pandemic phase.

Differences in the Association between Physical Activity and People’s Resilience and Emotions during Two Consecutive Covid-19 Lockdowns in Israel

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Governments worldwide have imposed harsh restrictions for decreasing the Covid-19 pandemic and maintaining public health. Yet such limitations have impacted people’s physical activity. This study examined relationships between changes in physical activity and resilience, emotions, and depression during two lockdowns in Israel. An online survey was completed twice by 135 participants during two consecutive lockdowns. The results indicate that resilience and positive emotions were higher, and negative emotions and depression were lower during the second lockdown compared to the first one—even though people spent less time performing physical activity in the later lockdown. Moreover, negative emotions significantly decreased among people who reported increased physical activity during the second lockdown [M = 2.2 (SD = 0.9) compared to M = 1.9 (SD = 0.8) on a scale of 1–5] and increased among those who reported a reduction in activity [M = 1.8 (SD = 0.7) compared to M = 2.2 (SD = 0.7)]...

Physical Activity Is Related to Mood States, Anxiety State and Self-Rated Health in COVID-19 Lockdown

Sustainability, 2021

The main goal of this research is to study the relationships between physical activity, mood states and self-rated health in the Spanish lockdown (March 2020–April 2020) due to the state of alarm caused by COVID-19. The participants were 328 people aged between 19 and 59 years (M = 37.06; SD = 10.82). Females comprised 63.70% of the participants, and 36.30% were male. An associative, comparative and predictive design was used in this research. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), the Profile of Mood State (POMS), the state anxiety scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Questionnaire (STAI) and the General Health Questionnaire GHQ−12 were applied in order to measure the study variables. Both correlation and linear regression analyses were performed, showing that physical activity is positively related to health perception and mood. Similarly, data have shown that moderate physical practice predicts better health perceptions and positive mood states than vigorous physic...

Higher Physical Activity Levels May Help Buffer the Negative Psychological Consequences of Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic

Frontiers in Psychology, 2021

This study explored the associations between physical activity (PA) anxiety levels, and the perception of satisfaction of basic psychological needs (BPN), during Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown. Thus, 1,404 participants (977 women, 426 men, and one respondent preferred not to answer) ranging from 18 to 89 years old (36.4 ± 11.7 year-old) completed a questionnaire in the period between 1st and 15th April 2021. The survey included sociodemographic data and the following validated instruments: the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), the Basic Need General Satisfaction Scale and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. The Kruskal-Wallis test was performed to examine variation in anxiety levels and BPN satisfaction according to PA category (low, moderate, and high). Spearman’s Rho correlations coefficients were used to determine the association between anxiety levels and psychological needs. Individuals presenting a higher level of PA revealed lower levels of an...

Psychosocial health and activities during the COVID-19 pandemic

Work-a Journal of Prevention Assessment & Rehabilitation, 2023

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has become a major cause of stress at work. OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of self-management and self-control skills on perceived stress of employees in the COVID-19 period. METHODS: The study's self-administered survey included demographics and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and Self-Control and Self-Management Scale (SCMS). Associations with PSS were determined using a multiple variable linear regression analysis. RESULTS: Scores for stress (28.45 ± 7.82) and self-management (55.73 ± 12.15) were moderate for employees. Of the 181 employees, 41.43% had a mild, 52.48% had moderate, and 6.07% had severe stress levels. Stress was significantly associated with lower self-management level. A negative relation was found between SCMS and PSS (p = 0.000, r =-0.320). Employees with high self-management skills had low stress levels. Employees also reported negative changes to physical activity, income and sleep. Gender, occupation, income category, compliance with COVID-related rules and self-management were associated with levels of stress (p < 0.05). The regression model explained 24.8% of the variance in stress perception (R 2 = 0.248, F = 11.452, p = 0.000). Multiple linear regression analysis showed gender (␤= 5.089, 95% CI: 2.820 to 7.358, p = 0.000) compliance with COVID-related rules (␤= 2.274, CI: 0.066 to 4.483, p = 0.044), a decrease in income (␤= 2.051, CI:-0.64 to 4.166, p = 0.057) and self-management (␤= −0.173, CI:-0.258 to-0.087, p = 0.000) were significantly associated with lower scores in the stress perception. CONCLUSION: Self-control and self-management were associated with a decline in mental health. Health-promotion strategies directed at adopting or maintaining positive self-control and self-management-related behaviors should be utilized to address increases in psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic.