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. 2020 Dec 15;17(24):9419.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph17249419.

Psychological Health and Physical Activity Levels during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review

Verónica Violant-Holz  1 , M Gloria Gallego-Jiménez  2 , Carina S González-González  3 , Sarah Muñoz-Violant  4 , Manuel José Rodríguez  5 , Oriol Sansano-Nadal  6 , Myriam Guerra-Balic  6
Affiliations

Psychological Health and Physical Activity Levels during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review

Verónica Violant-Holz et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has been devastating in all senses, particularly psychologically. Physical activity (PA) is known to aid psychological well-being, and it is worth investigating whether PA has been a coping strategy during this pandemic. The objective of this literature review is to analyze the extent to which engaging in PA during the COVID-19 pandemic impacts psychological health in the adult population. The literature was searched in all databases from the EBSCOhost Research Database-MEDLINE, APA PsycArticles, between others-published between 1 January 2019 and 15 July 2020. From 180 articles found, 15 were eligible. The reviewed articles showed an association between mental health distress-e.g., stress, anxiety, depressive symptoms, social isolation, psychological distress-and PA. This research concludes that the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown measures caused psychological distress. Those studies that analyzed PA showed that, during quarantine, adults increased their sedentary time and reduced their PA levels, showing controversial psychological outcomes. This review discusses whether PA is an effective strategy to face the COVID-19 pandemic psychological effects contributing to a further putative increase in the prevalence of psychiatric disorders.

Keywords: COVID-19; coronavirus; lockdown; mental health; pandemic; physical activity; psychological distress.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram of study selection process.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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