Effects of physical activity and exercise on well-being in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic

  1. Juliana Marques de Abreu
  2. Roberta Andrade de Souza
  3. Livia Gomes Viana-Meireles
  4. J. Landeira-Fernandez
  5. Alberto Filgueiras

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Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was discovered in China and characterized by the World Health Organization as a pandemic in March 2020. Many countries worldwide implemented stringent social isolation as a strategy to contain virus transmission. However, the same physical distancing that protects against the spread of COVID-19 may negatively impact mental health and well-being of the population. The present study sought to shed light on this phenomenon by assessing the relationship between physical activity and subjective well-being (SWB) among individuals who were subjected to social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected in Brazil between March 31 and April 2, 2020. All of the volunteers agreed to participate by digitally checking the option of agreement after reading consent terms. The inclusion criteria were participants who had been in social isolation for at least 1 week and agreed to the consent terms. Three instruments were applied. A questionnaire was constructed for this study that assessed the participants’ exercise routines. The Psychosocial Aspects, Well-being, and Exercise in Confinement (PAWEC) scale was created by researchers of this study that assessed the relationship between well-being and physical activity during social isolation. The Brazilian Portuguese-adapted version of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) was also used. A total of 592 participants (371 female, 220 male, 1 transgender), 14–74 years old (M = 32.39 years, SD = 10.5 years), reported being in social isolation for an average of 14.4 days (SD = 3.3 days). Well-being that was related to the practice of physical activity during quarantine was linked to an established routine of physical activity before the social isolation period. Participants who already practiced physical exercises previously and reported continuing the practice during the quarantine period had higher positive affect scores. Participants who engaged in physical activity without direct guidance only during the quarantine period had higher negative affect scores. Participants who already practiced physical activity felt more motivated to continue practicing physical activity during the social isolation period, resulting in positive affect, unlike participants who began exercising only during quarantine. Our results suggest that negative affect can occur among individuals who only just begin exercising during social isolation, indicating that physical activity should be habitual and not only occur during periods of social isolation. Engaging in exercise only during social isolation may contribute to an increase in malaise.

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  1. Version published to 10.1371/journal.pone.0260465
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.06.08.20125575: (What is this?)

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

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board StatementIRB: The project was approved by the Ethical Committee of the last author’s institution under the protocol no.2020.876-459.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variableSample: The sample consisted of a total of 592 participants [371 women (62.7%), 220 men (37.2%) and 1 transgender (0.01%)], with an average age of 32.3 years (SD=10.5).

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    EFA was performed in the FACTOR software program (Baglin, 2014) and effect sizes were calculated in the G*Power version 3.1.9.2 software program.
    G*Power
    suggested: (G*Power, RRID:SCR_013726)

    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: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    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.

  3. Version published to 10.1101/2020.06.08.20125575v2 on medRxiv
  4. Version published to 10.1101/2020.06.08.20125575v1 on medRxiv