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Changes in health behaviors and conditions during COVID-19 pandemic strict campus lockdown among Chinese university students

OBJECTIVE: To explore how a stringent campus lockdown affects the physical activity (PA), sleep and mental health of Chinese university students living in student dormitories during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Data on PA, sleep and mental health were collected between 24 March and 4 April 2022 f...

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Autores principales: Zhang, Boyi, Lei, Si Man, Le, Shenglong, Gong, Qiang, Cheng, Sulin, Wang, Xiuqiang
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9621116/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36324783
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1022966
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author Zhang, Boyi
Lei, Si Man
Le, Shenglong
Gong, Qiang
Cheng, Sulin
Wang, Xiuqiang
author_facet Zhang, Boyi
Lei, Si Man
Le, Shenglong
Gong, Qiang
Cheng, Sulin
Wang, Xiuqiang
author_sort Zhang, Boyi
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVE: To explore how a stringent campus lockdown affects the physical activity (PA), sleep and mental health of Chinese university students living in student dormitories during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Data on PA, sleep and mental health were collected between 24 March and 4 April 2022 from 2084 university students (mean age = 22.4 years, 61.1% male students) via an online questionnaire distributed by the students’ advisers of each dormitory. The Chinese short version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-C), Athens Insomnia Scale (CAIS) and General Health Questionnaire 12-item (GHQ-12) were applied. The Mann–Whitney test and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to evaluate the PA profile differences between genders, before and during the lockdown period and between students’ living environments. Chi-squared (χ2) or Fisher’s exact test was used to assess changes in health behaviors by gender and students’ living environment compared to before the lockdown. A mediation model was used to examine whether sleep disorder mediated the relationship between PA and mental health in different students’ living environments. RESULTS: Participants reported a significant decrease in weekly total PA levels (63.9%). Mean daily sedentary time increased by 21.4% and daily lying time increased by 10.7% compared to before lockdown. Among the participants, 21.2% had experienced insomnia, and 39.0% reported having high mental distress. Female students reported 10% higher rates of sleep disorders than male students (p < 0.001), and also experienced a higher incidence of mental disorders (p < 0.001). Students living with three roommates had a larger decrease in frequencies and durations of participation in light PA than other students (p < 0.001). PA was negatively associated with sleep and mental health, and sleep disorder was a mediating factor between PA and mental health in the students living with two and three roommates. CONCLUSION: This study showed that strict lockdowns within university dormitories during the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative effect on the health of university students by changing their health behaviors, physical activity and sleep. Our findings indicate a need for strategies to promote an active lifestyle for students in space-limited dormitories in order to maintain health during a prolonged lockdown.
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spelling pubmed-96211162022-11-01 Changes in health behaviors and conditions during COVID-19 pandemic strict campus lockdown among Chinese university students Zhang, Boyi Lei, Si Man Le, Shenglong Gong, Qiang Cheng, Sulin Wang, Xiuqiang Front Psychol Psychology OBJECTIVE: To explore how a stringent campus lockdown affects the physical activity (PA), sleep and mental health of Chinese university students living in student dormitories during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Data on PA, sleep and mental health were collected between 24 March and 4 April 2022 from 2084 university students (mean age = 22.4 years, 61.1% male students) via an online questionnaire distributed by the students’ advisers of each dormitory. The Chinese short version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-C), Athens Insomnia Scale (CAIS) and General Health Questionnaire 12-item (GHQ-12) were applied. The Mann–Whitney test and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to evaluate the PA profile differences between genders, before and during the lockdown period and between students’ living environments. Chi-squared (χ2) or Fisher’s exact test was used to assess changes in health behaviors by gender and students’ living environment compared to before the lockdown. A mediation model was used to examine whether sleep disorder mediated the relationship between PA and mental health in different students’ living environments. RESULTS: Participants reported a significant decrease in weekly total PA levels (63.9%). Mean daily sedentary time increased by 21.4% and daily lying time increased by 10.7% compared to before lockdown. Among the participants, 21.2% had experienced insomnia, and 39.0% reported having high mental distress. Female students reported 10% higher rates of sleep disorders than male students (p < 0.001), and also experienced a higher incidence of mental disorders (p < 0.001). Students living with three roommates had a larger decrease in frequencies and durations of participation in light PA than other students (p < 0.001). PA was negatively associated with sleep and mental health, and sleep disorder was a mediating factor between PA and mental health in the students living with two and three roommates. CONCLUSION: This study showed that strict lockdowns within university dormitories during the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative effect on the health of university students by changing their health behaviors, physical activity and sleep. Our findings indicate a need for strategies to promote an active lifestyle for students in space-limited dormitories in order to maintain health during a prolonged lockdown. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-10-17 /pmc/articles/PMC9621116/ /pubmed/36324783 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1022966 Text en Copyright © 2022 Zhang, Lei, Le, Gong, Cheng and Wang. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Zhang, Boyi
Lei, Si Man
Le, Shenglong
Gong, Qiang
Cheng, Sulin
Wang, Xiuqiang
Changes in health behaviors and conditions during COVID-19 pandemic strict campus lockdown among Chinese university students
title Changes in health behaviors and conditions during COVID-19 pandemic strict campus lockdown among Chinese university students
title_full Changes in health behaviors and conditions during COVID-19 pandemic strict campus lockdown among Chinese university students
title_fullStr Changes in health behaviors and conditions during COVID-19 pandemic strict campus lockdown among Chinese university students
title_full_unstemmed Changes in health behaviors and conditions during COVID-19 pandemic strict campus lockdown among Chinese university students
title_short Changes in health behaviors and conditions during COVID-19 pandemic strict campus lockdown among Chinese university students
title_sort changes in health behaviors and conditions during covid-19 pandemic strict campus lockdown among chinese university students
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9621116/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36324783
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1022966
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