But a more sedentary lifestyle can have detrimental effects on our health and minds.
A recent study links decreased exercise during the pandemic to increased depression in college students.
When March 2020 forced people indoors, they saw a near-doubling of depression scoresfrom 32% to 61%.
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“It went down to about 4,600 during the pandemic, so we saw a huge decrease.”
For free at-home exercise videos, you’re free to check outYouTubefor a variety of options.
This timeline put them in a spot to compare lifestyle and mental health before and during the pandemic.
Students tracked their daily activity on Fitbits and answered questionnaires regarding their mental health.
Before the pandemic, about a third of participants were scoring high on the depression scales.
But in March and April, that statistic jumped to two-thirds.
Those who were able to maintain pre-pandemic physical activity were less likely to be depressed.
Still, these factors were not as strongly tied to depression as exercise.
“Our study highlights that disruptions in physical activity and mental health are tightly related,” Saccardo adds.
Do Exercise Interventions Help?
In June, she says, they offered half the participants rewards to increase their walking time.
While the reward was successful in getting people to move, it did not lower their depression scores.
“We acknowledge that our intervention wasn’t very longit was just two weeks,” Saccardo says.
People didn’t always walk on consecutive days either, and againit was just walking 10,000 steps.
“Maybe they were playing sports or going to the gym and exercising in social environments.”
Saccardo says recent disruptions in daily life pose an opportunity to adapt.
“Many people know somebody who’s got an exercise machine they’re not using,” he says.
That’s the cheapest way to do it in the house."
He also notes that his daughters use stationary bikes to compete with and motivate one another.
If you’re free to find open places to walk, do it.
Walking delivers a lot of benefits, Roberts says.
If you only have access to more crowded places, he says just mask up and keep your distance.
In general, whatever physical activity works for you is the right one.
“If you could accumulate that over a week, that’s better for health.”
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