COVID-19 Outbreak and Physical Activity in the Italian Population: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the Underlying Psychosocial Mechanisms

Abstract

Italy is one of the first European epicenters of the COVID-19 pandemic. In attempts to hinder the spread of the novel coronavirus disease, Italian government hardened protective measures, from quarantine to lockdown, impacting millions of lives dramatically. Amongst the enacted restrictions, all non-essential activities were prohibited as well as all outdoor activities banned. However, at the first spur of the outbreak, for about a dozen of days, physical and sports activities were permitted, while maintaining social distancing. In this timeframe, by administering measures coming from self-determination theory and theory of planned behavior and anxiety state, in an integrated approach, we investigated the prevalence of these activities by testing, via a Structural Equation Model, the influence of such psychosocial variables on the intention to preserve physical fitness during the healthcare emergency. Through an adequate fit of the hypothesized model and a multi-group analysis, we compared the most COVID-19 hit Italian region-Lombardy-to the rest of Italy, finding that anxiety was significantly higher in the Lombardy region than the rest of the country. In addition, anxiety negatively influenced the intention to do physical activity. Giving the potential deleterious effects of physical inactivity due to personal restrictions, these data may increase preparedness of public health measures and attractiveness of recommendations, including on the beneficial effects of exercise, under circumstances of social distancing to control an outbreak of a novel infectious disease.

Anxiety and Motivation to Return to Sport During the French COVID-19 Lockdown

“…On the other hand, Lades et al (2020) showed that daily activity (e.g., exercising) during the COVID-19 lockdown increased positive affects and decreased negative affects in 604 individuals from the general population in Ireland. Additionally, in Italy, Chirico et al (2020) showed that higher anxiety scores during the COVID-19 lockdown negatively influenced intentions to adopt physical activity behaviors. This protective role of exercise as demonstrated in the general population may have also applied to athletes who maintained sport practice or physical training during the lockdown.…”

Dietary Habits and Psychological States during COVID-19 Home Isolation in Italian College Students: The Role of Physical Exercise

“…In the last months, several articles have been published regarding the effects of the home confinement and social-isolation period on different domains: psychological states [1,2], physical activity [3], nutrition [4,5] or the integration of these [6][7][8][9]. Mood disturbances, such as anxiety, depression, anger and irritability, have been previously reported in several studies during quarantine periods, as reviewed by Brooks et al [10].…”

Home-Based Resistance Training for Older Subjects during the COVID-19 Outbreak in Italy: Preliminary Results of a Six-Months RCT

“…Between 9 March 2020 and 3 May 2020, the Italian Government adopted strict containment measures to avoid the virus spread and a possible collapse of the Italian health care system [ 17 ]. The Italian population was placed in home confinement for almost 2 months with permission only to leave home for limited and documented purposes (e.g., health reasons or buying food) and several activities were temporarily prevented, including universities and schools, restaurants, gyms and sport centers [ 18 , 19 ]. As a negative consequence of the home confinement, an increased time spent at home and a greater sedentary behavior were observed [ 20 ].…”