The Mental Health Benefits of Physical Activity in Older Adults Survive the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Highlights This survey collected information about depression, anxiety, and physical activity levels of 1,046 older adults living in North America under current social distancing guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic. The primary question addressed by the study was whether total physical activity levels and physical activity intensities performed by older adults during COVID-19-related SDG was related to mental health symptoms. The results of this study showed that greater total physical activity levels were associated with lower scores on the Geriatric Depression Scale. Additionally, a hierarchical regression analysis suggests that light and vigorous-intensity physical activity were significant, independent contributors towards depression symptoms in this population. These findings suggest that higher levels of physical activity levels may help alleviate some of the negative mental health symptoms experienced by older adults, while social distancing guidelines are followed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Can physical activity protect against depression and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic? A rapid systematic review

“…Four studies had a prospective longitudinal design [26,29,39,36], one was a cross-sectional study with a retrospective measure of the exposure factor (henceforth treated as retrospective) [5], and 16 were crosssectional studies [9, 23-25, 27, 29-35, 37, 6, 38, 40, 28, 41]. A total of 7 studies were conducted in Asia [24,25,27,30,33,39,40], 6 in Europe [9,26,31,32,35,36], 3 in South America [28,29,6], 3 in North America [23,34,5], one in Oceania [38] and one study included a multinational sample [37].…”

“…Results are summarized and presented in table 2. Out of 9 studies reporting analyses on the association between the overall volume of PA and depression, 6 studies showed that more PA is signi cantly associated with less depression symptoms [23,25,32,33,35,37], and 3 out of 8 studies investigating the association between the overall volume of PA and anxiety symptoms showed that more PA is signi cantly associated with less anxiety symptoms [25,32,35]. 3 out of 5 studies reported higher frequencies of PA to be signi cantly associated with less depression [27,29,36] and 2 out of 4 studies to be signi cantly associated with less anxiety [27,29].…”

“…3 out of 5 studies reported higher frequencies of PA to be signi cantly associated with less depression [27,29,36] and 2 out of 4 studies to be signi cantly associated with less anxiety [27,29]. One study showed that vigorous but not moderate PA is signi cantly associated with less depression and anxiety symptoms [6] and another study indicated that light and vigorous PA is signi cantly correlated with less depression, but moderate intensity was not [23]. Out of 5 studies assessing an association between regular and guideline-consistent PA less depression and anxiety symptoms, two studies demonstrate that regular PA (compared to not regular) is signi cantly associated with less depression and anxiety symptoms [27,30] and 1 study demonstrated that guideline conforming moderate to vigorous PA is associated with lower odds of depression and anxiety [6].…”

COVID-19, Psychological Well-being and Physical Activity Levels in Older Adults During the Nationwide Lockdown in Spain

“…Perhaps the most important finding of the present study was that it was the VPA intensity which better predicted depressive symptoms, which is consistent with previous research 21 and with a very recent study that has assessed depression, anxiety and PA levels in North America under current social distancing guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic. 25 Callow et al 25 found that LPA and VPA levels were independent contributors towards depression symptoms in older adults. These results are consistent with the findings of this study, except for the nonsignificant association of LPA with depressive symptoms.…”

“…So far, the literature reviewed during the COVID-19 pandemic suggests that PA is linked to individuals’ mental health. 25 , 26 , 27 However, to date, the associations between resilience, affect, depressive symptoms, and PA during the quarantine in the elder population is unknown. Hence, it seems important to understand how the preventive measures against the outbreak of the COVID-19 may affect psychological well-being of older people that are home isolated during the ongoing pandemic.…”