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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...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2021
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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. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8535412 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
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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