The Impact of Combined Exercises in the Workplace on Body Composition and Some Psychological Indices of Female Employees After the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Introduction: After the covid-19 pandemic, the immobility of people and the reduction of their physical activities increased. It seems necessary to maintain the motivation of employees to perform physical activity after this period because an employee's job in normal conditions is characterized by inactivity and inactivity. As a result, it affects the physical and mental health of the person, and following this event mentioned features intensified. The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of combined exercises in the workplace on the fat profile and psychological indicators of female employees after the end of the Covid-19 disease.
 Materials and methods: This study is semi-experimental and applied, which was conducted on female employees of Shahrekord University in 1401. Thirty people were divided into two experimental (15 people) and control (15 people) groups randomly by inviting cooperation. The 12-week sports intervention was carried out three times a week, and each session lasted from 30 minutes to a maximum of one hour. The psychological indicators before and after the exercises, were evaluated by the relevant questionnaires. To measure the biochemical variables, blood samples (5 cc) were taken before and 48 hours after the end of the intervention. A correlation T-test was used for intra-group comparisons. An independent T-test was used for inter-group comparisons at a significance level of 0.05 using SPSS software.
 Results: The findings showed that combined exercises in the work environment significantly improved the quality of life (p=0.001), sleep quality (p=0.001), mental well-being (p=0.001), belonging to work (p=0.001) and resilience (p=0.011) in the experimental group compared to the control. Also, no significant difference was observed in HDL (P=0.184), LDL (P=0.902), cholesterol (P=0.511), and triglyceride (P=0.268).
 Conclusion: Workplace combined exercises can significantly improve the employees' quality of life, sleep, and psychological issues. These results are important for managers and organizations to consider programs to maintain employees' mental and physical health, especially where viral diseases such as Covid-19 impact employee health. But it did not affect blood lipids (HDL, LDL, triglycerides, and cholesterol), which may be due to the low intensity and duration of the exercise and lack of control over the subjects' nutrition.