Jacob_et_al_2020.docx (4.36 MB)
The Relationship between Physical Activity and Mental Health in a Sample of the UK Public: A Cross-Sectional Study During the Implementation of COVID-19 Social Distancing Measures
journal contribution
posted on 2023-08-30, 17:25 authored by Louis Jacob, Mark A. Tully, Yvonne A. Barnett, Guillermo F. López-Sánchez, Laurie T. Butler, Felipe B. Schuch, Rubén López-Bueno, Daragh T. McDermott, Joseph Firth, Igor Grabovac, Anita Yakkundi, Nicola Armstrong, Timothy Young, Lee SmithAim:
The aim of the present study was to investigate the cross-sectional association between physical activity levels with depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and positive mental well-being in a sample of the UK public social distancing owing to COVID-19.
Method:
This paper presents pre-planned interim analyses of data from a cross-sectional epidemiological study. Levels of physical activity during COVID-I9 social distancing were self-reported. Mental health was measured using the Beck Anxiety and Depression Inventory. Mental wellbeing was measured using The Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale. Participants also reported on sociodemographic and clinical data. The association between physical activity and mental health was studied using regression models.
Results:
902 adults were included in this study (63.8% of women and 50.1% of people aged 35–64 years). After adjusting for covariates, there was a negative association between moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day in hours and poor mental health (OR = 0.88, 95% CI = 0.80–0.97). Similar findings were obtained for moderate-to-severe anxiety symptoms, moderate-to-severe depressive symptoms and poor mental wellbeing.
Conclusions:
In the present sample of UK adults social distancing owing to COVID-19 those who were physically active have better overall mental health. Owing, to the cross-sectional design of the present study the direction of the association cannot be inferred.
History
Refereed
- Yes
Volume
19Page range
100345Publication title
Mental Health and Physical ActivityISSN
1878-0199External DOI
Publisher
ElsevierFile version
- Accepted version
Language
- eng
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Legacy posted date
2020-07-01Legacy creation date
2020-07-01Legacy Faculty/School/Department
COVID-19 Research CollectionUsage metrics
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