Sitting more linked to increased feelings of depression, anxiety

Date:
November 8, 2021
Source:
Iowa State University
Summary:
During the initial COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020, a lot of people
suddenly became more sedentary as they adhered to stay-at-home
orders or opted to self-isolate. Recently published research found
people who continued to spend a higher amount of time sitting
in the weeks following were likely to have higher symptoms of
depression. A closer investigation into this association could
play a role in helping people improve their mental health.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
As people adhered to stay-at-home orders or self-isolated during the
early months of the COVID-19 outbreak, daily commutes turned into shuffles between the bedroom and the living room. Clicking Zoom links erased time
spent walking to meeting rooms, and Netflix spilled into time otherwise dedicated to the gym.


==========================================================================
In short, a lot of people suddenly became more sedentary during the
onset of the pandemic. Recently published research found people who
continued to spend a higher amount of time sitting between April and
June 2020 were likely to have higher symptoms of depression. A closer investigation into this association could play a role in helping people
improve their mental health.

"Sitting is a sneaky behavior," said Jacob Meyer, assistant professor of kinesiology at Iowa State University and lead author of the paper. "It's something we do all the time without thinking about it." As the director
of the Wellbeing and Exercise Laboratory at ISU, Meyer and his team
look at how physical activity and sedentary behaviors are related to
mental health, and how changes to those influence the way people think,
feel and perceive the world.

"In March 2020, we knew COVID was going to affect our behavior and what
we could do in lots of weird, funky ways that we couldn't predict,"
Meyer said.

To get a snapshot of those changes, Meyer and a team of researchers
received survey responses from more than 3,000 study participants from
all 50 states and the District of Colombia. Participants self-reported
how much time they spent doing activities, like sitting, looking at
screens and exercising, and how those behaviors compared to pre-pandemic
times. Using standard clinical scales, they also indicated changes to
their mental wellbeing (e.g., depression, anxiety, feeling stressed,
lonely).



==========================================================================
"We know when people's physical activity and screen time changes, that's related to their mental health in general, but we haven't really seen
large population data like this in response to an abrupt change before,"
Meyer said.

Survey data showed participants who were meeting the U.S. Physical
Activity Guidelines (i.e., 2.5-5 hours of moderate to vigorous physical activity each week) before the pandemic decreased their physical activity
by 32%, on average, shortly after COVID-19-related restrictions went
into effect. The same participants reported feeling more depressed,
anxious and lonely. Meyer and his fellow researchers published their
findings in the International Journal of Environmental Research and
Public Health last year.

Meyer's latest paper in Frontiers in Psychiatry served as a follow up
to see whether the participants' behaviors and mental health changed
over time.

Participants filled out the same survey each week between April and June.

"In the second study, we found that, on average, people saw their mental
health improve over the eight-week period," Meyer said. "People adjusted
to life in the pandemic. But for people whose sitting times stayed high,
their depressive symptoms, on average, didn't recover in the same way as everyone else's." The participants who continued to spend a large portion
of their day sitting experienced blunted mental health improvements.



========================================================================== Meyer emphasized that finding an "association" between sitting and mental health is not the same as saying more sitting causes depression. He said
it's possible people who were more depressed sat more or that people
who sat more became more depressed. Or there could have been some other
factor that the researchers did not identify.

"It's certainly worthy of more investigation," Meyer said, adding that
monthly survey data from June 2020 to June 2021 are intended to become
publicly available soon. "I think being aware of some of the subtle
changes we've made during the pandemic and how they might be beneficial or detrimental is really important as we look to the other side of pandemic
life." Meyer said both starting and stopping a habit is very difficult,
even when someone wants to change their behavior. But he hopes more people
will recognize that even a little bit of movement can improve their mood
and mental health, and try to find ways to build it into their day.

Meyer recommended people take breaks when sitting for long periods
of time.

"If you're no longer walking down the hall for in-person meetings, you
can still incorporate that break from sitting by taking a short walk
before and after your Zoom call," Meyer said.

People working from home can try walking around the block before and after
the workday to mimic their pre-pandemic commute, which Meyer said can
benefit people physically and mentally, and help add structure to the day.

Researchers at Trinity College Dublin, University of Dublin and University
of Limerick contributed to this research.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Iowa_State_University. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Jacob D. Meyer, John O'Connor, Cillian P. McDowell, Jeni E. Lansing,
Cassandra S. Brower, Matthew P. Herring. High Sitting Time Is a
Behavioral Risk Factor for Blunted Improvement in Depression Across
8 Weeks of the COVID-19 Pandemic in April-May 2020. Frontiers in
Psychiatry, 2021; 12 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.741433 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/11/211108114830.htm

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