Abstract
Exercise indexes have been affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and its related restrictions among athletes. In the present study, we investigated the exercise frequency and intensity before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, and also current exercise dependency and mood state among non-contact individual, contact individual, and team sports athletes. A total of 1353 athletes from non-contact individual sports athletes (NCISA), contact individual sports athletes (CISA) and team sport athletes (TSA) participated; 45.4% of them were females that completed a series of self-rating questionnaires covering sociodemographic information, former and current exercise patterns, exercise dependency and mood states. NCISA had less exercise frequency than CISA, both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, and NCISA had less exercise frequency than TSA during the COVID-19 pandemic. Regarding exercise intensity, CISA had higher scores than NCISA and TSA before the COVID-19 pandemic, and CISA had more exercise intensity than TSA during the COVID-19 pandemic. Frequency and intensity were reduced from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic in the three groups, except for TSA intensity. In addition, positive and negative mood states were correlated with exercise dependency. CISA were more discouraged and vigorous than NCISA and TSA, respectively. For NCISA, CISA, and TSA, ordinal regressions separately showed that adherence to quarantine and exercise dependency were better predictors of exercise indexes. Finally, exercise dependency subscales were different among sports, but it was not in exercise dependency itself. Although the decrease in exercise indexes was noticeable, there was no consistent pattern of change in exercise behavior in all sports. Additionally, during the COVID-19 pandemic, negative moods were predominant among all athletes. The results discussed are based on exercise nonparticipating, sport type, and affect regulation hypothesis.
Highlights
Psychological and social pressures such as economic problems and illness may always be around us and can lead to some changes in our lifestyle [1,2]
Individual and team sports athletes were approached via social network sites (SNS) to participate in the present online study, and they were asked to fill out a questionnaire package on exercise frequency and intensity before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, mood states, and exercise dependency from 5 March to 30 April 2020
The scientific community has highlighted the real benefits of physical activity (PA) during the pandemic [29,30]; our results showed a reduction in exercise indexes among non-contact individual sports athletes (NCISA) and contact individual sports athletes (CISA) and exercise frequency among team sport athletes (TSA)
Summary
Psychological and social pressures such as economic problems and illness may always be around us and can lead to some changes in our lifestyle [1,2]. Different strategies have been taken to prevent infection, and some suggestions have been made. In this regard, the importance of maintaining exercise in all its dimensions, such as physiological or psychological effects, is recommended, the closure of sports centers and the possibility of air pollution in these spaces may have reduced the amount of physical activity (PA) during lockdown [3], and may, in turn, induce numerous health problems such as stress, depression, and anxiety related to the confinement and prolonged periods of inactivity [4]. The first aim of the present study was to investigate the differences in exercise frequency and intensity of individual and team sports athletes before and during the lockdown
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