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Mental health and the role of physical activity during the COVID-19 pandemic

Ai, X.; Yang, J.; Lin, Z.; Wan, X.

Mental health and the role of physical activity during the COVID-19 pandemic Thumbnail


Authors

X. Ai

J. Yang

X. Wan



Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and its related public health restrictions are having an increasingly serious impact on mental health, and measures need to be taken to curb this trend. The positive relationship between physical exercise and mental health has been well established, but during the COVID-19 pandemic, with various restrictions, the space and facilities for physical exercise are limited. This article explores the relationship between physical exercise and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic based on the latest research findings published in 2019-2021. We offer a novel model that consists of three central arguments. First, physical exercises during COVID-19, especially supervised exercises, are conducive to enhancing happiness and improving mental health. Second, physical exercise reduces people’s anxiety, sadness and depression during the COVID-19 pandemic. Third, the maintenance and improvement of mental health are related to the intensity and frequency of physical exercise. Intensive and frequent physical exercise are conducive to maintaining mental health. Finally, this article proposes important directions for future research.

Citation

Ai, X., Yang, J., Lin, Z., & Wan, X. (2021). Mental health and the role of physical activity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, Article 759987. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.759987

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Sep 17, 2021
Online Publication Date Oct 20, 2021
Publication Date 2021
Deposit Date Sep 21, 2021
Publicly Available Date Sep 22, 2021
Journal Frontiers in Psychology: Environmental Psychology
Print ISSN 1664-1078
Publisher Frontiers Media
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 12
Article Number 759987
DOI https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.759987
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1235556

Files

Accepted Journal Article (645 Kb)
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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
© 2021 Ai, Jingjing, Lin and Wan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.






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