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
. 2021 Jul 29:12:700742.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.700742. eCollection 2021.

Effects of Physical Activity and Mindfulness on Resilience and Depression During the First Wave of COVID-19 Pandemic

Roberta Antonini Philippe  1 , Laurie Schwab  2 , Michele Biasutti  3
Affiliations

Effects of Physical Activity and Mindfulness on Resilience and Depression During the First Wave of COVID-19 Pandemic

Roberta Antonini Philippe et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic generated a significant number of stressors that the Swiss population had to deal with. In order to cope with and adapt to such adversity, it is essential to have protective factors that allow for resilience. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of mindfulness and physical activity on depression and resilience during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. A quantitative method was adopted asking participants who were engaged in physical activity or mindfulness to fill a battery of measures of depression and resilience and some demographic questions. The results showed that mindfulness practice strengthened the initial level of resilience of practitioners, suggesting that mindfulness meditation is a tool for coping with adversity during a potentially traumatic event. Conversely, physical activity practitioners maintained a stable resilience score over time, suggesting that exposure to adversity did not disrupt their state of biopsychospiritual homeostasis. Moreover, being physically active decreased the depression score over time. Regarding demographic variables, gender differences were observed in the average scores in the resilience scale and in the Depression Inventory.

Keywords: COVID-19; depression; mindfulness; physical activity; resilience.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Flow chart of the study.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Alsaleh M., Lebreuilly R. (2017). Validation de la traduction française d’un questionnaire court de depression de Beck (BDI-FS-Fr). Ann. Médico-Psychol. Revue Psychiatrique 175 608–616. 10.1016/j.amp.2016.06.015 - DOI
    1. American Psychiatric Association (APA) (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edn. Washington, DC: APA.
    1. Antonini Philippe R., Kosirnik C., Vuichoud N., Williamon A., von Roten F. C. (2019). Understanding wellbeing among college music students and amateur musicians in Western Switzerland. Front. Psychol. 10:820. 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00820 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Antonini Philippe R., Schiavio A., Biasutti M. (2020). Adaptation and destabilization of interpersonal relationships in sport and music during the Covid-19 lockdown. Heliyon 4:e05212. 10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e05212 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Barnes S., Brown K. W., Krusemark E., Campbell W. K., Rogge R. D. (2007). The role of mindfulness in romantic relationship satisfaction and responses to relationship stress. J. Marital Family Therapy 33 482–500. 10.1111/j.1752-0606.2007.00033.x - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources