Changes in health promoting behavior during COVID-19 physical distancing: Utilizing wearable technology to examine trends in sleep, activity, and cardiovascular indicators of health

  1. Emily R. Capodilupo
  2. Dean J. Miller

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Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic incited unprecedented restrictions on the behavior of society. The aims of this study were to quantify changes to sleep/wake behavior and exercise behavior, as well as changes in physiological markers of health during COVID-19 physical distancing. A retrospective analysis of 5,436 US-based subscribers to the WHOOP platform (mean age = 40.25 ± 11.33; 1,536 females, 3,900 males) was conducted covering the period from January 1st, 2020 through May 15th, 2020. This time period was separated into a 68-day baseline period and a 67-day physical distancing period. To provide context and allow for potential confounders (e.g., change of season), data were also extracted from the corresponding time periods in 2019. As compared to baseline, during physical distancing, all subjects fell asleep earlier (-0.15 hours), woke up later (0.29 hours), obtained more sleep (+0.21 hours) and reduced social jet lag (-0.13 hours). Contrasting sleep behavior was seen in 2019, with subjects falling asleep and waking up at a similar time (-0.01 hours; -0.03 hours), obtaining less sleep (-0.14 hours) and maintaining social jet lag (+0.06 hours) in corresponding periods. Individuals exercised more intensely during physical distancing by increasing the time spent in high heart rate zones. In 2020, resting heart rate decreased (-0.90 beats per minute) and heart rate variability increased (+0.98 milliseconds) during physical distancing when compared to baseline. However, similar changes were seen in 2019 for RHR (-0.51 beats per minute) and HRV (+2.97 milliseconds), suggesting the variation may not be related to the introduction of physical distancing mandates. The findings suggest that individuals improved health related behavior (i.e., increased exercise intensity and longer sleep duration) during physical distancing restrictions. While positive changes were seen to cardiovascular indicators of health, it is unclear whether these changes were a direct consequence of behavior change.

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  1. Version published to 10.1371/journal.pone.0256063
  2. Version published to 10.1101/2020.06.07.20124685v2 on medRxiv
  3. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.06.07.20124685: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board StatementIRB: The study was approved by the Central Queensland University Human Research Ethics Committee.
    RandomizationThis study conducted a retrospective analysis of health-related behavior before and during COVID-19 physical distancing restrictions. 50,000 WHOOP members (mean age = 36.6 ± 10.5; 11,956 females, 38,044 males) meeting the study’s inclusion criteria were randomly selected from the WHOOP subscriber-base.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variableThis study conducted a retrospective analysis of health-related behavior before and during COVID-19 physical distancing restrictions. 50,000 WHOOP members (mean age = 36.6 ± 10.5; 11,956 females, 38,044 males) meeting the study’s inclusion criteria were randomly selected from the WHOOP subscriber-base.

    Table 2: Resources

    No key resources detected.

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: Please consider improving the rainbow (“jet”) colormap(s) used on pages 16, 11, 20 and 14. At least one figure is not accessible to readers with colorblindness and/or is not true to the data, i.e. not perceptually uniform.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  4. Version published to 10.1101/2020.06.07.20124685v1 on medRxiv