What Happened Pre- and during COVID-19 in South Korea? Comparing Physical Activity, Sleep Time, and Body Weight Status

Jeong-Hui Park, Eunhye Yoo, Youngdeok Kim and Jung-Min Lee
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Jeong-Hui Park: Department of Physical Education, Kyung Hee University (Global Campus), 1732 Deokyoungdaero, Giheung-gu, Yongin-si 17014, Korea
Eunhye Yoo: Department of Physical Education, Seoul National University, 1 Gwanakro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 08826, Korea
Youngdeok Kim: Department of Kinesiology and Health Sciences, Virginia Commonwealth University, 907 Floyd Ave, Richmond, VA 23284, USA
Jung-Min Lee: Department of Physical Education, Kyung Hee University (Global Campus), 1732 Deokyoungdaero, Giheung-gu, Yongin-si 17014, Korea

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 11, 1-13

Abstract: The purpose of the current study is to investigate the changes in physical activity (PA), sleep time (ST), and body weight (BW) Pre- and during COVID-19 in South Korea, and specifically, PA data were obtained during COVID-19 at three-time points based on the multilevel social distancing policies. All data were surveyed by questionnaires online and offline, and participants were required to fill in the monthly average of daily step counts were recorded an application on participants’ smartphone devices from Pre-COVID-19 (2019 year) and during COVID-19 (2020 year). Participants were 834 adults (males: 54.4%, female: 45.6%) and all statistical analyses were summarized by SPSS 25.0 program. The monthly average of daily step counts was 6747.09 during Pre-COVID-19, but the PA during COVID-19 was 5812.11 daily step counts per month. Also, there were significant pairwise differences between average PA Pre-COVID-19 and each level of social distancing ( p < 0.001). After COVID-19, the participants who slept less than 7 h decreased by 3.6%, while those who slept more than 9 h increased by that much. As a result of BW, 269 participants responded their BW changed during COVID-19, and 199 of them reported they gained BW during COVID-19 (74.0%). Although self-reported questionnaires may have led to an under-or over-estimation of ST and BW, the present study found that the environment in which the COVID-19 is prevalent had adverse relationships on PA, ST, and BW. Therefore, it is important to identify strategies to motivate individuals for remaining physically active and getting adequate sleep while maintaining social distancing due to the presence of the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; social distancing; physical activity; sleep time; body weight status (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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