The Impact of the New Coronavirus Disease on University Students: Anxiety, Health Anxiety, and Physical Activity

Abstract

Aim: Epidemics in the past have shown that anxiety and health concerns were common at pandemic. Physical activity has an important role in mental health and cognitive function. Staying at home for a long period of time is probably lead to reduced regular physical activity, established sedentary behaviors. The aim of this study is to determine the level of physical activity, health-related anxiety, and anxiety levels and the relationship between them in university students during the COVID-19 outbreak.
 Method: The study was carried out with 190 health sciences faculty students. International Physical Activity Questionnaire-short form to determine the level of physical activity, Beck Anxiety Inventory to determine the anxiety level, and Health Anxiety Inventory-Short to determine the health anxiety level were used. All data were collected online.
 Results: In this study, 153 female (mean age: 20.82±1.541 years), 37 male (mean age: 21.22±2.760 years) students participated. Male students were significantly more active (p=0.022). While the level of health anxiety was found to be higher in both female and male students who went to the hospital (respectively, p=0.006, p=0.055), the level of anxiety was only higher in female students (p=0.006). There was a moderate negative correlation between walking activity level and anxiety level in male students (p=0,013;r=-0,406).
 Conclusion: It was found that even an easily accessible activity, such as walking, has a positive effect on anxiety and concluded that it should be encouraged. Indoor or outdoor exercise programs should be encouraged, especially for female students who are more sedentary than males.