Physical Activity as a Predictor of the Level of Stress and Quality of Sleep during COVID-19 Lockdown.

Anna Lipert,Dariusz Timler,Anna Jegier,Michał Marczak,Karolina Kamecka,Kamila Musiał,Paweł Rasmus,Remigiusz Kozłowski

doi:10.3390/ijerph18115811

Abstract

Background: The coronavirus pandemic and the government restrictions significantly disturbed the daily functioning of people, thereby influencing healthy behaviors, such as physical activity—the core indicator of well-being. This study evaluates the associations between physical activity (PA), the level of stress and quality of sleep during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Methods: An online survey was distributed during the governmental lockdown in April 2020 and included measures for assessing physical activity, stress and sleep. The surveyed participants included all adults aged 18 years and over. The final data were collected from the 1959 respondents using: International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form (IPAQ-SF), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Findings: Almost half of the respondents indicated a low level of PA, performing only 60 min of PA daily. Most of the participants reported a moderate or high level of stress (57% and 29%, respectively) and 64% of them reported poor quality of sleep. People with low levels of stress performed on average 85.1 min/day of walking (WPA), 40.9 min/day of moderate PA (MPA) or 52.6 min/day of vigorous PA (VPA). People with good quality of sleep performed 82.9 min/day of WPA, 43.6 min/day MPA and 40.5 min/day VPA. Interpretation: The results from the study indicate that the volume of daily PA may be a predictor of the level of stress and sleep quality in adults during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. To retain a low level of stress and good quality of sleep, a lifestyle that allows to achieve a moderate level of physical activity should be maintained. The optimal daily dose of PA is at least 70 min per day, involving different intensities.

Highlights

The general characteristics of the study participants can be found in Tables 1–3 and
Almost half of the study participants had a low level of physical activity (PA), being physically active for only 24.30 ± 16.74 min/day in comparison to people with moderate, 69.82 ± 23.82 min/day, and high levels of PA, 116.12 ± 27.19 min/day, with p < 0.001 (Table 3 and Figure 1)
Our data suggest that the volume of physical activity can be a predictor of the level of stress and quality of sleep of adults during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown

Summary

Introduction

Since December 2019, the world community has been experiencing a pandemic from a novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, known as COVID-19 [1,2]. The scale of the pandemic has resulted in the worldwide concern over the extent to which human health and well-being have been affected as a result of the changes in people’s everyday life [3], limiting the opportunities to perform physical activity (PA). Physical activity is at the core of health and well-being and the benefits of PA, such as lower levels of stress, anxiety and depressed mood, are well-known. With the enactment of social isolation and physical distancing restrictions and other actions aimed to reduce

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion