Cell Phone Use, Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior, and Bodyweight During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study (original) (raw)
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International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2021
Decreases in individuals’ physical activity and increases in sedentary behavior and bodyweight have been reported during the COVID-19 pandemic. The present study assessed the ability of physical activity monitoring, which may promote physical activity and discourage sedentary behavior, to mitigate these negative outcomes. An evaluation of university samples (N = 404, 40.5 ± 15.4 years) of self-reported physical activity, sedentary behavior, and bodyweight prior to the closure of campus due to the pandemic in March of 2020 and again at the time of the survey administration (May–June 2020) during pandemic-related restrictions was performed. Participants also reported whether they did (n = 172) or did not (n = 232) regularly use physical activity monitoring technology. While physical activity was unchanged during the pandemic (p ≥ 0.15), participants significantly increased sitting by 67.8 ± 156.6 min/day and gained 0.64 ± 3.5 kg from pre-campus to post-campus closure (p < 0.001). H...
Children
The objective of this study was to evaluate whether exposure to information about physical activity and its barriers can increase the level of physical activity and reduce the time exposed to sedentary behaviors in high school students involved in integrated professional and technological education during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. This quasi experimental study was conducted with integrated education high school students, divided into two groups: Intervention Group (IG; n = 59) and Control Group (CG; n = 54). Physical activity and sedentary behavior were identified and measured using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire pre-and post-intervention for both groups. IG students received educational material thrice a week for four weeks. The focus of the material was the importance of physical activity and need to reduce the time exposed to sedentary behavior. The results revealed that IG students showed an average daily reduction of 47.14 min in time exposed to ...
Research Square (Research Square), 2023
Background: COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a real threat to human society in terms of economy, health, and people's lifestyle. This cross-sectional study aimed to assess the physical activity level of Egyptian and Saudi university students before and during the rst and second years of COVID-19 pandemic by recording daily step counts to understand the impact of COVID-19 on physical activity in Egyptian and Saudi Arabia young adults. Methods: We used the daily step counts recorded by a smartphone application (iPhone Health App) from January 2019 to December 2021 for 1273 university students in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Results: Of university students who participated in the study, 645 were from Egypt, and 628 were from Saudi Arabia. The mean age of Egyptian university students was 20.00 ± 3.39 years, while the mean age of Saudi university students was 21.02 ± 2.99 years. There was a signi cant difference between pre-COVID and post-COVID 1st year (3909.766 ± vs 2913.45) and between post-COVID 1st year and post-COVID 2nd year (2913.45 vs 3726.24). The daily step count was also signi cantly higher among Egyptian university students than male Saudi university students (4146.72 vs 3305.75) in post-COVID-2nd year but not in females. The daily step counts were signi cantly lower in females than males, with only Egyptians in the three-time points (p < 0.01). Conclusion: These ndings outline that both Egyptian and Saudi participants were far from the physical activity guidelines. Our data also showed that COVID-19 pandemic greatly in uenced the daily step counts of university students due to restrictive governmental measures. Physical activity initiatives are needed in both countries to encourage active living and discourage sedentary lifestyles especially in female university students. populations, regardless of their economic and social status [1-6]. Starting from March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) has forced all countries to apply extreme restrictions to contain the spread of the pandemic, including quarantines, lockdowns, closing of public and private establishments, restriction of population mobility and gathering, and social distancing [7-8]. Furthermore, the closure of playgrounds, parks, and recreational and sports facilities reduced the opportunities to engage in both organized and unorganized physical activity in indoor areas, which was utterly forbidden [9]. Moreover, practising physical activity outdoors was possible but also under the social distancing roles. These measures have enormously changed the behaviours of all populations to be more sedentary and physically less active. Globally, before the pandemic, the levels of physical inactivity were already classi ed as a major public health problem, with more than 25% of all adults not meeting the required physical activity levels, which have been approved by WHO for maintaining good health [10]. In the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA), the prevalence of physical inactivity among adults, according to WHO STEPS surveys, de ned as performing less than 600 MET-minute per week, exceeded 40% in all Arab countries except Egypt was (32%) and KSA it reached (68%) [11]. These percentages clearly show the missing movement culture and the high levels of sedentary behavior related to social-cultural habits [12-14]. Indeed, this is one of the most common health challenges in Saudi Arabia, and the government asserts the importance of a healthy lifestyle, particularly physical activity. This has led the Saudi Public Health Authority, with the cooperation of several specialists recommend the amount of physical activity, sleep duration, and sedentary behavior for Saudi Adults [15]. For example, Saudi adults aged 18-64 should perform at least 2 hours and 30 minutes to 5 hours of moderate-intensity physical activity or 2 hours and 30 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity per week [15]. During the pandemic, the available data for physical activity by Fitbit, Inc., indicated that the average step counts of more than 30 million users showed a signi cant decline in step count, which varied across nations, ranging from a 7 to 38% decrease during the week ending March 22, 2020, as compared with the same period from the previous year [16]. Runacres et al. reported that adults increased their sedentary time during the pandemic by 126.9 ± 42.2 min day−1, spending a cumulative 510.5 ± 167.9 min day−1 in sedentary behaviours [17]. Indeed, smartphone technology (mobile health apps) monitoring health-related physical activity status has always been classi ed as a valid and reliable methodology, especially among adults during the pandemic [18]. These apps, as a tool for electronic surveys, can guarantee a signi cant sample for screening studies, primarily when it's used to monitor daily step counts among different countries and populations [16-20]. Several studies were looking for the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the behavior changes, including (diet, physical activity, and sleep patterns) before and during the pandemic, evaluating the effect of the pandemic measures on the lifestyle of participants from different populations on their physical and mental health with considering gender factor [21-24]. Indeed, the comparisons between countries can prove di cult due to differences in populations, government lockdown strategies, and socioeconomic and lifestyle conditions. These investigations could demonstrate some similarities in behavior change [21]. In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, the physical activity levels have been rarely investigated and compared, especially in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. With missing of both regional and country-level data contributes to the continuous surveillance of physical activity participation even during the pandemic, which is essential to track progress towards regional and global physical activity targets. Therefore, this study investigated the physical activity level of Egyptian and Saudi university students before and during the rst and second years of COVID-19 pandemic by recording daily step counts.
COVID-19 pandemic brings a sedentary lifestyle: a cross-sectional and longitudinal study
2020
ABSTRACTObjectivesThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to pose profound challenges on society. Governments around the world have managed to mitigate its spread through strategies including social distancing; however, this may result in the adoption of sedentary lifestyle. This study aimed to investigate: 1) physical activity (PA) levels, sedentary behavior (SB) and sleep among young adults during COVID-19 epidemic, and 2) the change in these behaviors before and during the pandemic.MethodsA total of 631 young adults (38.8% males) participated in the cross-sectional study and completed an online survey that included five components: general information, COVID-19 related issues, PA, SB, and sleep. For longitudinal study, PA, SB, and sleep data collected from 70 participants before and during COVID-19 pandemic were analyzed.ResultsParticipants reported engaging in low PA, high SB and long sleep duration during COVID-19 pandemic. Females had greater concern for COV...
Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 2017
There is evidence of a positive relationship between cellular telephone use and sedentary behavior but not physical activity in college-aged individuals (18-29 years). These relationships have not been tested in individuals older than college age (≥ 30 years old). Testing these relationships in older individuals is warranted as cell phone use is inversely associated with age. Methods: A sample of adults aged 30-63 years (N = 69, 50.5 ± 8.2 years old) wore a physical activity monitor (accelerometer) for seven days and completed validated surveys assessing daily cell phone use, physical activity, and sedentary behavior. Results: Cell phone use (̅ = 125.2 ± 146.8 minutes per day) was inversely associated with age (r =-0.3, p = 0.005). Cell use was not associated with objectively-or subjectively-measured physical activity or sedentary behavior (r ≤ 0.1, p ≥ 0.3). Tertile splits were performed to establish groups of low, moderate, and high cell phone users. There were no significant (F ≤ 2.0, p ≥ 0.12 for all) differences in physical activity or sedentary behavior between groups. Conclusion: Unlike what has been reported in college-aged individuals, cell use was not associated with sedentary behavior in adults older than college age.
2020
BACKGROUND The COVID-19 Pandemic led to the implementation of worldwide restrictive measures to reduce social contact and viral spread. These measures have been reported to have a negative effect on physical activity (PA). Studies of PA during the pandemic have primarily used self -reported data. Only one academic study using tracked data this did not report on demographics. OBJECTIVE The study aimed to explore patterns of tracked activity before, during and immediately after Lockdown in the UK and examine differences in sociodemographic characteristics and prior levels of PA. METHODS Tracked longitudinal weekly minutes of physical activity were captured using the BetterPoints smartphone app between January and June 2020. Data was plotted by week, demographics and activity levels at baseline. Non-parametric tests of difference were used to assess mean and median weekly minutes of activity at significant points, before, during and as lockdown was eased. Changes over time by demograph...
Predisposing Factors for Physical Inactivity in the COVID-19 Pandemic Context
Journal of Interdisciplinary Debates
Introduction: The pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus has been causing major impacts on public health. The main risk factor for the development of comorbidities is a sedentary lifestyle, so, due to the readjustment of habits, the emergence of negative impacts from this process is noticeable, such as the increase in physical inactivity and the acquisition of habits harmful to health. In this way, several recommendations have been released drawing attention to the follow-up of physical activity during the pandemic. Objectives: To identify in the literature, scientific evidence about the predisposing factors for physical inactivity during the Covid-19 pandemic. Methodology: This is an integrative literature review, through a descriptive and exploratory effort, carried out in the scientific databases: MEDLINE, SCIELO, BRISA and LILACS. Results and Discussions: From the realization of the titles and abstracts of the articles, 15 studies were selected and after reading in full, 11 wer...
JMIR public health and surveillance, 2023
Background: Physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB) have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and its restrictive environments, such as social distancing and lockdown measures. However, regional differences in the changes in domain-specific PA and SB in response to the COVID-19 pandemic are not clearly understood. Objective: This study aimed to examine regional differences in domain-specific PA and SB, as well as sleeping time in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan. Methods: A web-based cross-sectional nationwide survey and an accelerometer-based longitudinal observation were conducted. In the web-based survey, we recruited 150 Japanese men and 150 Japanese women for each of the following age groups: 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s (n=1800). A total of 1627 adults provided valid responses to web-based surveillance from June to July 2020. Participants were recruited from urban (Greater Tokyo Area, n=1028), urban-rural (regional core cities, n=459), or rural (regional small and medium cities, n=140) areas. They answered sociodemographic and health-related questions and retrospectively registered the PA data of their average day before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in a web-based PA record system. In the accelerometer-based observation, PA and step count data were obtained using a triaxial accelerometer on people living in urban (n=370) and rural (n=308) areas. Results: Before the COVID-19 pandemic, there were no significant differences between these 3 regions in the time spent sleeping, staying at home, working or studying, and exercising (P>.05). By contrast, people living in urban areas had a longer duration of SB and transportation and a shorter duration of moderate-to-vigorous PA and lying or napping time compared with people living in rural areas (P>.05). During the COVID-19 pandemic, a significant decrease was observed in transportation time in urban (-7.2 min/day, P<.001) and urban-rural (-2.0 min/day, P=.009) areas but not in rural (-0.4 min/day, P=.52) areas. The moderate-to-vigorous PA was decreased in urban (-31.3 min/day, P<.001) and urban-rural (-30.0 min/day, P<.001) areas but not in rural areas (-17.3 min/day, P=.08). A significant increase was observed in time spent sleeping in urban (+22.4 min/day, P<.001) and urban-rural (+24.2 min/day, P<.001) but not in rural areas (+3.9 min/day, P=.74). Lying or napping was increased