Physical Activity as a Coping Strategy for Mental Health Due to the COVID-19 Virus: A Potential Disconnect Among Canadian Adults?
Physical Activity as a Coping Strategy for Mental Health Due to the COVID-19 Virus: A Potential Disconnect Among Canadian Adults?
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DOI：
10.3389/fcomm.2020.571833
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发表时间：
2020-09-23
影响因子：
2.4
通讯作者：
Spence, John C.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Faulkner, Guy;Rhodes, Ryan E.;Spence, John C.
2020年3月11日，世界卫生组织宣布新冠肺炎为全球大流行。随着病毒的影响继续显现，新冠肺炎大流行及其带来的社会混乱让许多人难以应对日常生活的改变和不确定性。有证据表明，焦虑、抑郁和压力的症状会因此增加。鉴于体力活动和心理健康之间有很好的联系--无论是防止抑郁或焦虑症状的出现，还是将某些疾病的预后降至最低--我们假设，在健康交流中应更多地强调体力活动作为加拿大人的应对策略。随着新冠肺炎的影响仍在继续，再加上对即将到来的第二波疫情的担忧，确定加拿大人是如何管理压力和心理健康的，可以为制定旨在缓解新冠肺炎对成年人整体健康的负面影响的干预措施的发展提供信息。尽管社交和活动现在看起来可能有所不同，但加拿大人应该积极寻找安全的方式来参与健康促进和社交行为-体育活动就是这样的行为之一。在这里，我们探索了一个具有代表性的加拿大成年人样本是如何应对因新冠肺炎而增加的压力和心理健康问题的，并发现在将体育运动作为支持社会联系和压力管理的战略与加拿大人如何应对疫情之间存在潜在的脱节。鉴于体育活动在支持心理健康方面的保护作用，我们的观点是，健康沟通努力应侧重于体育活动对心理健康的好处，特别是在这个不确定的时期。
COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting social disruption has left many to struggle with changes to routines and feelings of uncertainty as the impact of the virus continues to unfold. Evidence suggests an increase in symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stress as a result. Given the well-documented association between physical activity and mental health-be it preventing the onset of depressive or anxious symptoms to minimizing the prognosis of certain conditions-we posit more emphasis be placed in health communications on physical activity as a coping strategy for Canadians. As the ramifications of COVID-19 continue, coupled with the concern of a pending second wave, identifying how Canadians are managing stress and mental health can inform the development of interventions aimed at mitigating the negative impact of COVID-19 on adults' overall wellness. Though social interactions and activities might look different right now, Canadians should be actively looking for safe ways to engage in health promoting and socializing behaviors-physical activity is one such behavior. Herein we explore how a representative sample of Canadian adults are coping with increased stress and mental health issues as a result of COVID-19 and identify a potential disconnect between considering physical activity as a strategy to support social connection and stress management and how Canadians are coping with the pandemic. Given the protective role of physical activity in supporting mental health, our perspective is that health communication efforts should focus on the mental health benefits of physical activity particularly during these uncertain times.