IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i11p6584-d826536.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of Physical Activity on Mental Health during COVID-19 Pandemic in China: A Systematic Review

Author

Listed:
  • Mengfei Li

    (Department of Physical Education, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), No. 29, Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100083, China)

  • Qianhui Wang

    (Department of Physical Education, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), No. 29, Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100083, China)

  • Jing Shen

    (Department of Physical Education, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), No. 29, Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100083, China)

Abstract

The outbreak and spread of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in 2019 was a public health emergency of global concern. As an important health behavior, physical activity (PA) and its impact on mental health have been increasingly explored during the epidemic period. The keywords and references were searched on PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane Library, EBSCO, and CNKI since the inception of an electronic bibliographic database until October 2021. A total of 2979 articles were identified, of which 23 were eligible for inclusion to examine the relationship between PA and mental health during the COVID-19 epidemic. Residents with regular PA, high-intensity PA, and PA duration of 30–60 min or more per day were associated with a lower risk of anxiety, depression, and negative emotions. In contrast, residents with no exercise and physical inactivity were more likely to have anxiety, depression, sleep disturbances, and lower subjective well-being. In addition, the dose–response curve between PA and negative emotions indicated a U-shaped relationship, and there were urban–rural differences in the relationship between emotional status and the levels of PA in adolescents. The findings have significant implications for addressing mental health issues during the current pandemic and future pandemics. Future studies adopting an experimental study design, conducting objective PA measures, and focusing on the vulnerable subpopulations are warranted to further explore the association of PA on mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Suggested Citation

  • Mengfei Li & Qianhui Wang & Jing Shen, 2022. "The Impact of Physical Activity on Mental Health during COVID-19 Pandemic in China: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-17, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:11:p:6584-:d:826536
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/11/6584/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/11/6584/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Meiling Qi & Ping Li & Wendy Moyle & Benjamin Weeks & Cindy Jones, 2020. "Physical Activity, Health-Related Quality of Life, and Stress among the Chinese Adult Population during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-10, September.
    2. Fei Qin & Yiqing Song & George P Nassis & Lina Zhao & Yanan Dong & Cuicui Zhao & Yiwei Feng & Jiexiu Zhao, 2020. "Physical Activity, Screen Time, and Emotional Well-Being during the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Outbreak in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(14), pages 1-16, July.
    3. Yao Zhang & Haoyu Zhang & Xindong Ma & Qian Di, 2020. "Mental Health Problems during the COVID-19 Pandemics and the Mitigation Effects of Exercise: A Longitudinal Study of College Students in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-16, May.
    4. Verónica Violant-Holz & M. Gloria Gallego-Jiménez & Carina S. González-González & Sarah Muñoz-Violant & Manuel José Rodríguez & Oriol Sansano-Nadal & Myriam Guerra-Balic, 2020. "Psychological Health and Physical Activity Levels during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-19, December.
    5. Xinxin Zhang & Wenfei Zhu & Sifan Kang & Longkun Qiu & Zijun Lu & Yuliang Sun, 2020. "Association between Physical Activity and Mood States of Children and Adolescents in Social Isolation during the COVID-19 Epidemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-12, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Anna Mazur & Elżbieta Bartoń, 2022. "The Structure of the Relationship between Physical Activity and Psychosocial Functioning of Women and Men during the COVID-19 Epidemic in Poland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-22, September.
    2. Sandra Silva-Santos & António M. Monteiro & Tiago M. Barbosa & José E. Teixeira & Luís Branquinho & Ricardo Ferraz & Pedro Forte, 2023. "Associations between Coronavirus and Immune Response, Cardiorespiratory Fitness Rehabilitation and Physical Activity: A Brief Report," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-11, March.
    3. Stefano Ciriminna & Nicola Veronese & Claudia Cannizzo & Alessandro D’Aleo & Antonina Ganci & Sofia Elena Montana Lampo & Federica Bifara & Giuseppe Battaglia & Giuseppe Messina & Valerio Giustino & A, 2024. "Effectiveness of Physical Activity Interventions in Sedentary People during COVID-19 Lockdown: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-15, February.
    4. Qingyuan Luo & Peng Zhang & Yijia Liu & Xiujie Ma & George Jennings, 2022. "Intervention of Physical Activity for University Students with Anxiety and Depression during the COVID-19 Pandemic Prevention and Control Period: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-20, November.
    5. Stefan Kaltschik & Christoph Pieh & Rachel Dale & Thomas Probst & Barbara Pammer & Elke Humer, 2022. "Assessment of the Long-Term Mental Health Effects on Austrian Students after COVID-19 Restrictions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-13, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Remigiusz Dróżdż & Marcin Pasek & Magdalena Zając & Mirosława Szark-Eckardt, 2022. "Physical Culture and Sports as an Educational Basis of Students’ Healthy Physical Activities during and Post-Lockdown COVID-19 Restrictions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-11, September.
    2. Yuetao Liu & Zhiyuan Wang & Songhui You, 2021. "The Mediating Effect of Coping Style on Physical Activity and Negative Affect Caused by Public Health Emergencies: Evidence from Chinese College Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-13, November.
    3. Kele Ding & Jingzhen Yang & Ming-Kai Chin & Lindsay Sullivan & J. Larry Durstine & Verónica Violant-Holz & Giyasettin Demirhan & Nara R.C. Oliveira & Biljana Popeska & Garry Kuan & Waheeda Khan & Jian, 2021. "Physical Activity among Adults Residing in 11 Countries during the COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-16, July.
    4. Lea Rossi & Nick Behme & Christoph Breuer, 2021. "Physical Activity of Children and Adolescents during the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-18, October.
    5. Abraham Batalla-Gavalda & Pau Cecilia-Gallego & Fernando Revillas-Ortega & Jose Vicente Beltran-Garrido, 2021. "Variations in the Mood States during the Different Phases of COVID-19’s Lockdown in Young Athletes," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-9, September.
    6. Adam Runacres & Kelly A. Mackintosh & Rachel L. Knight & Liba Sheeran & Rhys Thatcher & James Shelley & Melitta A. McNarry, 2021. "Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Sedentary Time and Behaviour in Children and Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-26, October.
    7. Junliang He & Longkun Qiu, 2022. "Gender and Age Association with Physical Activity and Mood States of Children and Adolescents in Social Isolation during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-10, November.
    8. Raquel Lara & Martha Fernández-Daza & Sara Zabarain-Cogollo & María Angustias Olivencia-Carrión & Manuel Jiménez-Torres & María Demelza Olivencia-Carrión & Adelaida Ogallar-Blanco & Débora Godoy-Izqui, 2021. "Active Coping and Anxiety Symptoms during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Spanish Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-17, August.
    9. Silvia Mariela Méndez-Prado & Ariel Flores Ulloa, 2022. "The Impact Analysis of Psychological Issues and Pandemic-Related Variables on Ecuadorian University Students during COVID-19," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-23, October.
    10. Federica Gentili & Giulia Cafiero & Marco Alfonso Perrone & Massimiliano Bianco & Annamaria Salvati & Ugo Giordano & Stefani Silva Kikina & Paolo Guccione & Andrea De Zorzi & Lorenzo Galletti & Fabriz, 2021. "The Effects of Physical Inactivity and Exercise at Home in Young Patients with Congenital Heart Disease during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-10, September.
    11. Ana Magro & Aida Gutiérrez-García & Marta González-Álvarez & Mario Del Líbano, 2022. "Psychosocial Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Healthcare Professionals in Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-14, November.
    12. Qingyuan Luo & Peng Zhang & Yijia Liu & Xiujie Ma & George Jennings, 2022. "Intervention of Physical Activity for University Students with Anxiety and Depression during the COVID-19 Pandemic Prevention and Control Period: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-20, November.
    13. Mariam Tsaava & Nikoloz Oniani & Marine Eliozishvili & Irine Sakhelashvili & Nino Tkemaladze & Tamar Aladashvili & Tamar Basishvili & Nato Darchia, 2022. "Age-Based Differences in Sleep Quality, Pre-Sleep Arousal, and Psychosocial Factors during the Second Wave Lockdown of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Georgia—A Higher Vulnerability of Younger People," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-13, December.
    14. Shuangshuang Xin & Xiujie Ma, 2023. "Mechanisms of Physical Exercise Effects on Anxiety in Older Adults during the COVID-19 Lockdown: An Analysis of the Mediating Role of Psychological Resilience and the Moderating Role of Media Exposure," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-15, February.
    15. Mateusz Ciski & Krzysztof Rząsa, 2023. "Multiscale Geographically Weighted Regression in the Investigation of Local COVID-19 Anomalies Based on Population Age Structure in Poland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(10), pages 1-23, May.
    16. Marla Andréia Garcia de Avila & Pedro Tadao Hamamoto Filho & Francine Letícia da Silva Jacob & Léia Regina Souza Alcantara & Malin Berghammer & Margaretha Jenholt Nolbris & Patricia Olaya-Contreras & , 2020. "Children’s Anxiety and Factors Related to the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Exploratory Study Using the Children’s Anxiety Questionnaire and the Numerical Rating Scale," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-13, August.
    17. Zander S. Venter & Adam Sadilek & Charlotte Stanton & David N. Barton & Kristin Aunan & Sourangsu Chowdhury & Aaron Schneider & Stefano Maria Iacus, 2021. "Mobility in Blue-Green Spaces Does Not Predict COVID-19 Transmission: A Global Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-12, November.
    18. Joanna Baj-Korpak & Kamil Zaworski & Ewa Szymczuk & Andrei Shpakou, 2022. "Physical Activity and Mental Health of Medical Students from Poland and Belarus-Countries with Different Restrictive Approaches during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-15, October.
    19. Charlotte Roche & Abigail Fisher & Daisy Fancourt & Alexandra Burton, 2022. "Exploring Barriers and Facilitators to Physical Activity during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-16, July.
    20. Andi Muhammad Tri Sakti & Siti Zaiton Mohd Ajis & Arina Anis Azlan & Hyung Joon Kim & Elizabeth Wong & Emma Mohamad, 2022. "Impact of COVID-19 on School Populations and Associated Factors: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-17, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:11:p:6584-:d:826536. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.