The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the mental health, physical activity, and sedentary behavior of citizens worldwide. Using an online survey with 1669 respondents, we sought to understand why and how by querying about perceived barriers and motivators to physical activity that changed because of the pandemic, and how those changes impacted mental health. Consistent with prior reports, our respondents were less physically active (aerobic activity, -11%, p <0.05; strength-based activity, -30%, p<0.01) and more sedentary (+11%, p<0.01) during the pandemic as compared to 6-months before. The pandemic also increased psychological stress (+22%, p <0.01) and brought on moderate symptoms of anxiety and depression. Respondents’ whose mental health deteriorated the most were also the ones who were least active (depression r = -.21, p<0.01; anxiety r = -.12, p<0.01). The majority of respondents were unmotivated to exercise because they were too anxious (+8%, p <0.01), lacked social support (+6%, p =<0.01), or had limited access to equipment (+23%, p <0.01) or space (+41%, p <0.01). The respondents who were able to stay active reported feeling less motivated by physical health outcomes such as weight loss (-7%, p<0.01) or strength (-14%, p<0.01) and instead more motivated by mental health outcomes such as anxiety relief (+14%, p <0.01). Coupled with previous work demonstrating a direct relationship between mental health and physical activity, these results highlight the potential protective effect of physical activity on mental health and point to the need for psychological support to overcome perceived barriers so that people can continue to be physically active during stressful times like the pandemic.

中文翻译：

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心理健康悖论：在COVID-19大流行期间，心理健康既是身体活动的动力，也是障碍

COVID-19大流行影响了全世界公民的心理健康，体育活动和久坐行为。通过对1669名受访者进行的在线调查，我们试图通过查询因流行病而改变的感知障碍和动机来了解运动的原因和动机，以及这些变化如何影响心理健康，从而了解原因和方式。与先前的报告一致，我们的受访者在运动期间的体育锻炼较少（有氧运动，-11％，p <0.05；基于力量的活动，-30％，p <0.01），而久坐（+ 11％，p <0.01）。与6个月前相比大流行。大流行还增加了心理压力（+ 22％，p <0.01），并带来了中度的焦虑和抑郁症状。心理健康恶化最严重的受访者也是最不活跃的受访者（抑郁r = -.21，p <0.01；焦虑r = -.12，p <0.01）。大多数受访者没有动力去运动，因为他们过于焦虑（+ 8％，p <0.01），缺乏社会支持（+ 6％，p = <0.01）或使用设备的机会有限（+ 23％，p <0.01） 0.01）或空格（+ 41％，p <0.01）。能够保持活跃的受访者表示，他们对身体健康结局的动机较少，例如体重减轻（-7％，p <0.01）或体力（-14％，p <0.01），而对精神健康结局的动机更大，例如焦虑缓解（+ 14％，p <0.01）。再加上先前的工作表明心理健康与身体活动之间存在直接关系，