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Protective effects of physical activity on mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has been linked with increased reports of depression, anxiety, and stress. Stay-at-home directives during the pandemic-imposed lifestyle changes, including eating and sedentary behaviors that can further undermine mental health outcomes. Physical activity is a vital component f...

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Autores principales: Koziel Ly, Nikita K., Mohamud, Ladan, Villeneuve, Paul J., Matheson, Kimberly, Anisman, Hymie, Chee, Melissa J.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9803281/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36584182
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279468
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author Koziel Ly, Nikita K.
Mohamud, Ladan
Villeneuve, Paul J.
Matheson, Kimberly
Anisman, Hymie
Chee, Melissa J.
author_facet Koziel Ly, Nikita K.
Mohamud, Ladan
Villeneuve, Paul J.
Matheson, Kimberly
Anisman, Hymie
Chee, Melissa J.
author_sort Koziel Ly, Nikita K.
collection PubMed
description The COVID-19 pandemic has been linked with increased reports of depression, anxiety, and stress. Stay-at-home directives during the pandemic-imposed lifestyle changes, including eating and sedentary behaviors that can further undermine mental health outcomes. Physical activity is a vital component for metabolic health, as well as for mental health by serving as an active coping strategy to manage stress and promote resilience. Global reports of increased sedentary leisure behaviors have been associated with feelings of depression and anxiety, but it unclear whether the relationship between physical activity and depression or anxiety persists over time. In this longitudinal study, we investigated (i) whether physical activity at the onset of the pandemic was related to feelings of depression or anxiety over time and (ii) whether this relationship was mediated by stress appraisals during the pandemic. We surveyed 319 adults living in Canada or the United States to assess physical activity, stress appraisals, and mental health outcomes at two time points over a 6-month period. We found a reduction in leisure-time physical activity that was linked to subsequent feelings of depression. Furthermore, individuals with lower levels of physical activity were more likely to appraise their COVID-19 situation to be uncontrollable at pandemic onset and as the pandemic continued. Stress appraisals of threat and uncontrollability were also positively related to feelings of depression. Modelling these three factors together showed that appraising a situation as uncontrollable mediated the relationship between initial physical activity and subsequent depressive feelings. Although correlational, these data highlight the protective role of leisure-time physical activity against worsened mental health outcomes during periods of prolonged stress.
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spelling pubmed-98032812022-12-31 Protective effects of physical activity on mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic Koziel Ly, Nikita K. Mohamud, Ladan Villeneuve, Paul J. Matheson, Kimberly Anisman, Hymie Chee, Melissa J. PLoS One Research Article The COVID-19 pandemic has been linked with increased reports of depression, anxiety, and stress. Stay-at-home directives during the pandemic-imposed lifestyle changes, including eating and sedentary behaviors that can further undermine mental health outcomes. Physical activity is a vital component for metabolic health, as well as for mental health by serving as an active coping strategy to manage stress and promote resilience. Global reports of increased sedentary leisure behaviors have been associated with feelings of depression and anxiety, but it unclear whether the relationship between physical activity and depression or anxiety persists over time. In this longitudinal study, we investigated (i) whether physical activity at the onset of the pandemic was related to feelings of depression or anxiety over time and (ii) whether this relationship was mediated by stress appraisals during the pandemic. We surveyed 319 adults living in Canada or the United States to assess physical activity, stress appraisals, and mental health outcomes at two time points over a 6-month period. We found a reduction in leisure-time physical activity that was linked to subsequent feelings of depression. Furthermore, individuals with lower levels of physical activity were more likely to appraise their COVID-19 situation to be uncontrollable at pandemic onset and as the pandemic continued. Stress appraisals of threat and uncontrollability were also positively related to feelings of depression. Modelling these three factors together showed that appraising a situation as uncontrollable mediated the relationship between initial physical activity and subsequent depressive feelings. Although correlational, these data highlight the protective role of leisure-time physical activity against worsened mental health outcomes during periods of prolonged stress. Public Library of Science 2022-12-30 /pmc/articles/PMC9803281/ /pubmed/36584182 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279468 Text en © 2022 Koziel Ly et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Koziel Ly, Nikita K.
Mohamud, Ladan
Villeneuve, Paul J.
Matheson, Kimberly
Anisman, Hymie
Chee, Melissa J.
Protective effects of physical activity on mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic
title Protective effects of physical activity on mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic
title_full Protective effects of physical activity on mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic
title_fullStr Protective effects of physical activity on mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic
title_full_unstemmed Protective effects of physical activity on mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic
title_short Protective effects of physical activity on mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic
title_sort protective effects of physical activity on mental health outcomes during the covid-19 pandemic
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9803281/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36584182
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279468
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