Influência da atividade física sobre aspectos psicológicos e comportamentais na população geral e em gestantes em tempos de Covid-19

Abstract

Lifestyle-related behaviors such as diet and physical activity affect both physical and mental health. A sedentary lifestyle and unhealthy habits increase the risk of chronic non-communicable diseases such as metabolic syndrome, obesity, and diabetes mellitus, in addition to contributing to the development of psychological disorders such as anxiety and depression. Such disorders may be even more pronounced in pregnant women. The COVID-19 pandemic further aggravated aspects related to mental health, and the investigation of non-pharmacological strategies to control these disorders are crucial. Therefore, the objectives of this dissertation were to evaluate the influence of physical activity on fear of COVID-19 and anxiety, in addition to evaluating the influence of physical activity on anxiety, stress, depression, and sel-esteem in pregnants. Thus, the present dissertation was divided into two studies. In the first study, we prepared an online survey on Google Forms (Alphabet, Mountain View, CA, USA) and sent it via social networks (facebook®, instagram® and whatssapp®) from January 12 to January 31, 2021 (18 days) . we evaluated demographic variables, health perceptions, anxiety, fear of COVID-19, and physical activity characteristics in a sample of 520 Brazilians. Both fear and anxiety scores were higher in females (p<0.0001) and we observed a notable reduction in the frequency and intensity of physical activity, in addition to changes in the exercise practice environment (from the gym or sports centers to physical activity household) (p < 0.05) during the pandemic. We observed that sedentary behavior increased during the pandemic both on weekdays and on weekends (p<0.0001) and the COVID-19 fear scores showed a negative correlation with the level of physical activity (p<0.05). In the second study, with a cross-sectional and observational characteristic, in a sample of healthy pregnant women aged between 18 and 40 years, we investigated the relationship between the level of physical activity and psychological aspects and body composition in a sample of 90 pregnant women. We observed that the frequency of intensity of effort in the type of activity did not differ between the domain’s domestic activities, transport, sports, leisure, and work, when considering the trimester of pregnancy (p>0.05). However, we observed that energy expenditure in leisure and sports activities was negatively correlated with the stress, anxiety, and depression scores (rho>0.28; p<0.010), while greater energy expenditure in domestic activities was related to lower self-esteem scores, and higher levels of depression and anxiety. In conclusion, fear of COVID-19 influenced anxiety and physical activity behaviors during the pandemic in the general population. In pregnant women, we concluded that domain of physical activity is a determining factor for mental health aspects.