Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Multicenter Study
. 2021 Apr 6;18(7):3810.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph18073810.

COVID-19 Lockdown and the Behavior Change on Physical Exercise, Pain and Psychological Well-Being: An International Multicentric Study

Anelise Sonza  1 , Danúbia da Cunha de Sá-Caputo  2   3 , Alessandro Sartorio  4 , Sofia Tamini  4 , Adérito Seixas  5 , Borja Sanudo  6 , Jessica Süßenbach  7 , Marcello Montillo Provenza  8 , Vinicius Layter Xavier  8 , Redha Taiar  9 , Mario Bernardo-Filho  2
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

COVID-19 Lockdown and the Behavior Change on Physical Exercise, Pain and Psychological Well-Being: An International Multicentric Study

Anelise Sonza et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the following lockdown on physical exercise (PEx) practice, pain, and psychological well-being.

Methods: A cross-sectional multicentric study was performed using a nonrandom convenience sampling from the general population (≥18 years-old) of 6 countries (Brazil, Italy, France, Portugal, Germany, and Spain) adopting social isolation (SI). The validated self-administered online survey (PEF-COVID19) was used. The tests T-test and Chi-square with Bonferroni correction were used for statistical analysis and a multivariate logistic regression model (p ˂ 0.05).

Results: We included 3194 replies and ~80% of the respondents were in SI. Brazilian sample was highly influenced by the pandemic considering PEx practice and habits, pain, anxiety, and stress (p ˂ 0.05). Among the European countries, Italy presented the major changes. The model to predict the non-practice of PEx during SI showed that the variables countries, smoking, SI, and PEx level were significant predictors (p ˂ 0.001).

Conclusion: The pandemic changed the PEx practice and habits, and the psychological well-being of populations in different manners. Countries, smoking, SI, and PEx level were predictors for the non-practice of PEx. Public health strategies are suggested to avoid sedentary lifestyles and quality of life decrease.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; anxiety; pain; physical exercise; social isolation; stress; survey.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No conflicts of interest have been identified by any of the authors.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Number of individuals (%) in social isolation (A) and reasons why the individual was not isolated (B). Sample constituted by general population aged from 18 years old from Brazil (n = 1845), Italy (n = 680), France (n = 236), Germany (n = 143), Portugal (n = 152), and Spain (n = 138). Legend: BR, Brazil; IT, Italy; FR, France; GE, Germany; PO, Portugal; SP, Spain.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Chekroud S.R., Gueorguieva R., Zheutlin A.B., Paulus M., Krumholz H.M., Krystal J.H., Chekroud A.M. Association between physical exercise and mental health in 1·2 million individuals in the USA between 2011 and 2015: A cross-sectional study. Lancet Psychiatry. 2018;5:739–746. doi: 10.1016/S2215-0366(18)30227-X. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ströhle A., Graetz B., Scheel M., Wittmann A., Feller C., Heinz A., DiMeo F. The acute antipanic and anxiolytic activity of aerobic exercise in patients with panic disorder and healthy control subjects. J. Psychiatr. Res. 2009;43:1013–1017. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2009.02.004. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Helmich I., Latini A., Sigwalt A., Carta M.G., Machado S., Velasques B., Ribeiro P., Budde H. Draft for Clinical Practice and Epidemiology in Mental Health Neurobiological Alterations Induced by Exercise and Their Impact on Depressive Disorders. Clin. Pr. Epidemiol. Ment. Health. 2010;6:115–125. doi: 10.2174/1745017901006010115. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Pareja-Galeano H., Garatachea N., Lucia A. Exercise as a Polypill for Chronic Diseases. Prog. Mol. Biol. Transl. Sci. 2015;135:497–526. - PubMed
    1. Vina J., Sanchis-Gomar F., Martinez-Bello V., Gomez-Cabrera M.C. Exercise acts as a drug; the pharmacological benefits of exercise. Br. J. Pharmacol. 2012;167:1–12. doi: 10.1111/j.1476-5381.2012.01970.x. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources