COVID-19: Exercise may be unable to beat stress caused by coronavirus, suggested study

According to a new study published recently in the journal PLOS ONE, stress which is caused by COVID-19 virus is hard to beat using exercise. The study was led by Washington State University researchers. As a part of the study, the researchers examined twins who reported an increase in their physical activity after the start of COVID-19. It was concluded that they reported higher levels of stress and anxiety than those whose activity levels stayed the same.

Exercise unable to beat the stress caused by COVID-19

The researchers analysed data from over 900 pairs of identical and same-sex twins from the Washington State Twin Registry. The researchers found out that those who reported a decrease in physical activity had perceived a higher level of stress and anxiety. However, people who increased their physical activity also felt the same way. Lead author Glen Duncan, a professor in WSU's Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine said, “Certainly, people who don't exercise know that there are associations with mental health outcomes, yet the ones that increased their exercise also reported increased anxiety and stress”. He added, “It's hard to know exactly what's going on, but it could be that they are trying to use exercise as a means to counter that stress and anxiety they're feeling because of COVID”.

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As a part of the study, the participants were asked about changes in their physical activity compared to 1 month previously. It was concluded that 42 per cent reported decreasing levels of physical activity since the beginning of the novel coronavirus. However, 27 per cent reported an increase in their activity. The remaining  31 per cent reported no change. The survey was conducted in the early days of the pandemic from March 26 to April 5, 2020. Duncan said, “It's not necessarily that exercise won't help you personally manage stress. It's just that there is something genetically and environmentally linking the two”. Conducting the study on twins helped the researchers to look at if the changes in physical activity and mental health were by any possible way linked to genetic or shared environmental factors or both.

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It was concluded that there was some association between physical activity and anxiety. Between twins, the sibling with decreased physical activity had higher levels of anxiety than the sibling who reported no change. Also, anxiety levels were higher among older people and women. Duncan with his fellow researchers aims at surveying twins again to see if there are any changes or if the situation remains consistent. He said, “At least in the short term, it seems there is not a lot of impact from either decreasing or increasing physical activity in terms of handling stress and anxiety, but that might be different after two or three months under COVID restrictions”.

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