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Changes in Physical Activity Are Associated with Corresponding Changes in Psychological Well-Being: A Pandemic Case Study

Societal crises and personal challenges are often followed by substantial changes in physical activity. Is there a link between such changes and psychological well-being? Seeking to answer this question, we conducted a correlational study on a representative sample in Sweden during the first year of...

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Autores principales: Dahlen, Micael, Thorbjørnsen, Helge, Sjåstad, Hallgeir, von Heideken Wågert, Petra, Hellström, Charlotta, Kerstis, Birgitta, Lindberg, Daniel, Stier, Jonas, Elvén, Maria
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8535412/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34682427
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010680
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author Dahlen, Micael
Thorbjørnsen, Helge
Sjåstad, Hallgeir
von Heideken Wågert, Petra
Hellström, Charlotta
Kerstis, Birgitta
Lindberg, Daniel
Stier, Jonas
Elvén, Maria
author_facet Dahlen, Micael
Thorbjørnsen, Helge
Sjåstad, Hallgeir
von Heideken Wågert, Petra
Hellström, Charlotta
Kerstis, Birgitta
Lindberg, Daniel
Stier, Jonas
Elvén, Maria
author_sort Dahlen, Micael
collection PubMed
description Societal crises and personal challenges are often followed by substantial changes in physical activity. Is there a link between such changes and psychological well-being? Seeking to answer this question, we conducted a correlational study on a representative sample in Sweden during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic (N = 1035). About 49% of the sample had decreased their physical activity compared to their self-reported activity level prior to the pandemic, whereas 32% had increased it. The results showed a positive and robust association between changes in daily activity level and corresponding changes in psychological well-being. Specifically, individuals who had reduced their physical activity over the last year reported lower life satisfaction than before, and individuals who had increased their physical activity reported higher life satisfaction than before. The amount of complete physical inactivity (sitting) showed a similar pattern as the exercise data, meaning that individuals who reported increasing inactivity per day also reported a greater decline in life satisfaction. Additional analyses showed that the association between daily activity level and life satisfaction was somewhat stronger for men than for women, but there was no difference when comparing individual versus organized activities. The current study was based on a cross-sectional design, measuring self-reported change over time. Recent work from other research teams have used longitudinal data and experience-sampling in different settings, finding similar results. We conclude that there is good reason to recommend physical exercise as a coping strategy in difficult times.
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spelling pubmed-85354122021-10-23 Changes in Physical Activity Are Associated with Corresponding Changes in Psychological Well-Being: A Pandemic Case Study Dahlen, Micael Thorbjørnsen, Helge Sjåstad, Hallgeir von Heideken Wågert, Petra Hellström, Charlotta Kerstis, Birgitta Lindberg, Daniel Stier, Jonas Elvén, Maria Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Societal crises and personal challenges are often followed by substantial changes in physical activity. Is there a link between such changes and psychological well-being? Seeking to answer this question, we conducted a correlational study on a representative sample in Sweden during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic (N = 1035). About 49% of the sample had decreased their physical activity compared to their self-reported activity level prior to the pandemic, whereas 32% had increased it. The results showed a positive and robust association between changes in daily activity level and corresponding changes in psychological well-being. Specifically, individuals who had reduced their physical activity over the last year reported lower life satisfaction than before, and individuals who had increased their physical activity reported higher life satisfaction than before. The amount of complete physical inactivity (sitting) showed a similar pattern as the exercise data, meaning that individuals who reported increasing inactivity per day also reported a greater decline in life satisfaction. Additional analyses showed that the association between daily activity level and life satisfaction was somewhat stronger for men than for women, but there was no difference when comparing individual versus organized activities. The current study was based on a cross-sectional design, measuring self-reported change over time. Recent work from other research teams have used longitudinal data and experience-sampling in different settings, finding similar results. We conclude that there is good reason to recommend physical exercise as a coping strategy in difficult times. MDPI 2021-10-12 /pmc/articles/PMC8535412/ /pubmed/34682427 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010680 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Dahlen, Micael
Thorbjørnsen, Helge
Sjåstad, Hallgeir
von Heideken Wågert, Petra
Hellström, Charlotta
Kerstis, Birgitta
Lindberg, Daniel
Stier, Jonas
Elvén, Maria
Changes in Physical Activity Are Associated with Corresponding Changes in Psychological Well-Being: A Pandemic Case Study
title Changes in Physical Activity Are Associated with Corresponding Changes in Psychological Well-Being: A Pandemic Case Study
title_full Changes in Physical Activity Are Associated with Corresponding Changes in Psychological Well-Being: A Pandemic Case Study
title_fullStr Changes in Physical Activity Are Associated with Corresponding Changes in Psychological Well-Being: A Pandemic Case Study
title_full_unstemmed Changes in Physical Activity Are Associated with Corresponding Changes in Psychological Well-Being: A Pandemic Case Study
title_short Changes in Physical Activity Are Associated with Corresponding Changes in Psychological Well-Being: A Pandemic Case Study
title_sort changes in physical activity are associated with corresponding changes in psychological well-being: a pandemic case study
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8535412/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34682427
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010680
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