A cross-sectional study of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the physical activity of Jordanian population

Abstract

Background: Since the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic on 11th March 2020, the public health recommendations have applied lockdowns and restrictions to limit the spread of the disease. These measures determined outdoor activities and access to many forms of exercise.

Objective: The primary objective of this study was to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the physical activity (PA) of the Jordanian population.

Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was designed using Google Forms services and distributed on social media platforms during the first two weeks of November 2020 to evaluate the exercise activity changes during the COVID-19 pandemic in the study population. In this research, we included those who perform any form of physical activity (n = 1103). The data collected were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26 (IBM SPSS Corp, SPSS Statistics ver. 26, USA). The categorical variables were summarized as frequencies and proportions and were compared using the Chi-square. For all analyses, P-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: A total of 1103 out of 2,511 (43.9%) respondents who participated in the survey were physically exercising during the COVID-19 pandemic. 41.8% were exercising at an irregular frequency, while 21.5% were exercising daily, 16.8% were exercising three to five times a week, and 19.9% were exercising once or twice a week. Moreover, 282 (25.6%) respondents started doing some form of exercise during the pandemic. Those significantly were less than 18-year-old, male gender, were single, were non-smokers, and had a diploma or bachelor's degree in a health-related major. These changes in the level of exercise have been attributed by 57.8% of respondents to the health aspects where they realized the importance of exercising in strengthening the immune system against diseases, including COVID-19.

Conclusion: The current study showed that lockdown, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, had a positive impact on the healthy lifestyle of the Jordanian population which was attributed to their feeling of the importance of sports practice on the immune system and the availability of time for those activities. However, the younger and individuals were more aware of the importance of these practices which highlights the importance of considering other age groups in future studies of healthy behaviors.

Keywords: COVID‐19; exercise; health; lifestyle; lockdown; physical activity.

Figure 1

Respondents who perform any physical exercise since the start of the pandemic (n = 2511). The frequency of exercise for those who perform physical activity (n = 1103) (Irregularly, once or twice a week, three to five times a week, almost everyday).

Figure 2

Changes in the level of exercise since the beginning of the pandemic (n = 1103). About 25.6% of respondents started doing exercise during the pandemic, 28.6% exercised less, and 19.9% exercised more. While the remaining (25.9%) had no changes in their level of exercise.

Figure 3

Reasons for changing in the level of exercise during the pandemic or even changing in the way they think of exercise among the respondents who noticed any change in their exercise performance (n = 817)