Abstract
This study aimed to examine the combined effect of voluntary exercise and screen time during the first wave of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) restrictions on subsequent grip strength among health and sports science students in Japan. The participants performed grip strength tests and had their weight assessed on 21 October 2020. Furthermore, they completed an online survey between 21 October and 28 October 2020, which included participants’ current age, height, voluntary exercise, and screen time during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (April and May 2020). In total, 380 participants provided complete data (mean age ± standard deviation [SD]: 18.8 ± 0.6 years; 233 males). Our results revealed that 87.6% of male students and 84.4% of female students performed voluntary exercise >1 day/week during the first wave of the pandemic. Moreover, 21.5% of male students and 23.1% of female students had >8 h/day of screen time. A trend toward greater grip strength was observed for both male and female students with high voluntary exercise and low screen time. In particular, grip strength (p < 0.05) was significantly greater in male students with high voluntary exercise and low screen time than those with low voluntary exercise and high screen time. In conclusion, this study revealed that during the first wave of COVID-19 restrictions, a combination of high voluntary exercise and low screen time positively affected the subsequent grip strength of health and sports science students.
Highlights
It is well-known that grip strength is an important predictor of people’s physical health
Among the male students, during the first wave of the COVID-19 emergency in Japan, the prevalence of voluntary exercise of >1 day and screen time of >8.0 h was 204 (87.6%) and 50 (21.5%), respectively
We found that during the first wave of COVID-19 restrictions, the combination of high voluntary exercise and low screen time tended to have better grip strength compared with other groups, and among female students, this effect was smaller
Summary
It is well-known that grip strength is an important predictor of people’s physical health. Previous studies show that the grip strength of community-dwelling older adults before and after infection with COVID-19 decreased significantly [1]. A recent study on the predictors of disease severity in hospitalized COVID-19 patients has shown that low grip strength independently increased. Previous studies have shown that in young and middle-aged individuals, grip strength is a powerful predictor of future coronary heart disease, cardiovascular disease, all-cause death, and premature death [3,4,5]. It is important to understand how drastic changes in lifestyle caused by the COVID-19 pandemic affect the grip strength of young people
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