Read the article:
The article is published ind the book 'Restart. Sport After the Covid-19 Time Out'.
What is the study about?
It is primarily a large questionnaire survey based on primary data concerning Danes' physical movement habits. The analysis is supplemented by information about political and organizational changes during the Covid-19 crisis and analyses of membership numbers in Voluntary Sports Clubs (VSCs) and commercial fitness centers. The statistical analyses utilized are either descriptive or logistic regression.
The study is based on answers from just over 143,000 respondents. The questionnaire was answered by 40% of those who received the invitation.
The study seeks to clarify whether and how changes in everyday life due to Covid-19 impacted the level of physical activity (PA). It investigates which factors may explain why some became less physically active while others became more active. Respondents were asked about their movement habits and PA across four domains: at home, at work or education, during transportation, and in leisure time.
Main conclusions:
- For the vast majority of the adult population, the level of PA was unchanged, only slightly less, or only slightly greater than before Covid-19.
- The probability of being less physically active in leisure time was almost three times as high among citizens who exclusively practiced activities with a high degree of organization and facility dependence (such as fitness, team ball games, gymnastics, dance, and water activities) compared to those who exclusively practiced low-dependence activities.
- People who could plan their work themselves (which often included the ability to work from home) increased their PA in their leisure time to a greater extent than employees without this flexibility.
- People who practiced many different types of activities over the course of a year increased their PA level to a much greater extent than citizens who practiced few activities.
Published:
2022
Authors:
Jens Høyer-Kruse and Bjarne Ibsen.
Contact:
Jens Høyer-Kruse, jhkruse@health.sdu.dk.
Support/Funding:
Nordea-fonden and University of Southern Denmark.