The Importance of Physical Activity to Augment Mood during COVID-19 Lockdown.

Curtis Fennell,Borja Sañudo,Thomas Eremus,Moisés Grimaldi Puyana

doi:10.3390/ijerph19031270

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of COVID-19 lockdown on mood and objective physical activity. A sample of 78 college students in Spain completed an assessment of mood using the valid Profile of Mood State (POMS) questionnaire and had their physical activity tracked objectively using a validated wrist-worn accelerometer (Xiaomi Mi Band 2) for one week before being under COVID-19 lockdown (T1) and for one week during COVID-19 lockdown (T2). Paired samples t-tests revealed significantly greater (p = 0.027) POMS Total Mood Disturbance (TMD) Score T2 (mean ± SD) (22.6 ± 28.0) compared to T1 (17.7 ± 22.6) (lower score represents better mood) and significantly lower (p ≤ 0.001) POMS Vigor Score T2 (14.1 ± 5.0) compared to T1 (18.2 ± 4.5) (lower vigor score represents lower mental and physical energy levels). Additionally, Total Objective Steps was significantly less (p ≤ 0.001) lT2 (15,841.9 ± 17,253.2 steps) compared to T1 (64,607.0 ± 50,525.2 steps). Regression analyses demonstrated significant negative relationships of Total Objective Steps and POMS Depression (p = 0.014, Beta = −0.277, t = −2.511), POMS Anger (p = 0.040, Beta = −0.233, t = −2.091), and POMS TMD (p = 0.007, Beta = −0.302, t = −2.754) T2. The regressions also revealed a significant positive relationship (p = 0.012, Beta = 0.283, t = 2.57) of Total Objective Steps and POMS Vigor T2. These data suggest that being in a lockdown due to a pandemic may have negative physical and mental health-related consequences and that engaging in physical activity may reduce these deleterious mental health-related consequences during lockdowns and quarantines.

Highlights

During the recent global pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) advised a worldwide lockdown to minimize the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19)
Participants were excluded if they did not complete the baseline questionnaire, refused to participate in the study, refused to wear the accelerometer for at least 10 h per day, had a health problem that negatively impacted participation in physical activity, or used any medication that could affect mood Due to this criteria, 119 students were assessed at baseline
In agreement with our second hypothesis (H2), this study revealed that the sample decreased mood during the lockdown in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Summary

Introduction

During the recent global pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) advised a worldwide lockdown to minimize the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19). Being in a lockdown environment (e.g., mandate to reduce time outside of home to slow down the spread of the infection) due to a lockdown may alter the activities in which individuals participate each day due to rapid changes in work and social environments, which may have a large impact on behavior and mood [8,9]. Activities that may have changed due to decreased time away from home include decreased time engaging in physical activity and increased sedentary activity time [1] These activities have been independently shown to affect mood state, as sedentary behavior is negatively associated with mood and physical activity is positively associated with mood [14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22]. During the COVID-19 lockdown, previous studies have shown that

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