The level of physical activity of women during COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Introduction It is known that regular physical activity (PA) brings many health benefits. However, during the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 19) pandemic the lifestyle, everyday work, social behavior, quality of life, ways and forms of spending free time changed. The aim of the study was to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the level of PA in menopausal women. Material and methods The study material consisted of 126 women before the onset of the pandemic and 114 women during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research was carried out in the area of Silesia. The research tool was a short version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) and the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS). Results A statistically significant correlation was observed in the case of a difference in the moderate level of PA (627.32 MET-min/week before COVID-19 and 138.6 during COVID-19, p = 0.01) and walking (1952.25 MET-min/week before COVID-19 and 422.63 MET-min/week during COVID-19, p = 0.03). The results showed that the time devoted to moderate PA decreased statistically. The mean days decreased from 2.8 to 0.96 (p = 0.02) and the mean duration of moderate PA decreased from 39.92 to 15.61 minutes (p < 0.001). Conclusions The COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected the level of PA in menopausal women. The respondents exercised much less often and the time devoted to PA was also shortened. The subjects most often chose walking as the form of PA.

Keywords

• physical activity
• ipaq
• menopause
• covid-19