Physical activities performed under professional supervision during the Covid-19 pandemic, whether or not on-line or personally bring more benefits to mental and physical health than sitting down or exercising unsupervised. This is shown by a study that was carried out with 344 volunteers and published in the journal Psychiatry research.
The study, supported by the Foundation for Research Funding of the State of São Paulo (FAPESP), examines the effects of regular physical activity on physical and mental health during this time of fighting Covid-19. To this end, the study looked at three teaching models practiced during the pandemic – face-to-face with professional supervision, on-line unattended and on-line with video call monitoring – and compared such situations with a sedentary lifestyle, i.e. with people who did not do any sports at the time.
The survey was carried out using a questionnaire on-line, in which volunteers were asked to answer whether they were able to play sports during the pandemic and what their mental state was before and during the health crisis and how much physical activity they did before and during the crisis. In the case of mental health, nine items of the MADRS-S (Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale – Self Rated) were rated: sadness, tension, insomnia, change in appetite, difficulty concentrating, slowness, inability to feel, pessimism and thoughts of suicide.
“Of the four groups analyzed (with supervision on-line, with personal, unsupervised, and sedentary supervision), those who did nothing during the pandemic had poorer mental health and physical activity. To our surprise, those doing remote controlled exercise had higher levels of physical activity, especially intense ones [rigorosas]compared to those who did the exercise alone and a slight tendency to those who did it personally, ”said Carla da Silva Batista, researcher at the São Paulo University School of Physical Education and Sport (EEFE-USP). , and one of the authors of the study, along with Acácio Moreira-Neto.
“Between [voluntários] 59% of people who did exercise improved their mental health regardless [exercício] supervised or not. If only it is analyzed who is doing it? [exercício] Supervised there was an improvement of 25%, which corresponds to the group of people who receive personal care, ”Carla said in an interview with Brazil agency. According to the researcher, the mental health of the groups who exercised, whether supervised or practiced alone, was better than that of those who did nothing or were sedentary during the pandemic.
The little difference observed between people doing supervised training on-line and those who do it in person was mainly due to exercise intensity. “If you do it under supervision, you increase the intensity of vigorous physical activity more than if you do it alone. And you have a slight inclination to who does it personally, ”explains Carla. “This remotely monitored group increases the intensity of vigorous physical activity much more, which is associated with better mental health in this group.”
According to the researcher, the difference between the two types of supervised teaching is that during this time of the pandemic, people are afraid of contracting the new coronavirus in classroom teaching. “Those who work remotely signal more security because they are alone with the professional on the screen. And those who did it personally, even at a distance and with a mask, were concerned about safety. ” [de não se infectar com a doença]”He spoke. In addition, using a mask in the classroom can affect the intensity or performance of the exercise being performed a little,” Carla said.
She said that the research will be the subject of further analysis and that one of the topics to be explored is mental health. “We found that there are people who, even with some kind of exercise, have not been able to regain better mental health. That has a lot to do with the current factor, with the lack of expectation that the pandemic in Brazil will normalize. ”According to the researcher, the study should also be expanded to allow more people to hear.