ArticlePreventive medicine2022
The longitudinal associations of physical activity, time spent outdoors in nature and symptoms of depression and anxiety during COVID-19 quarantine and social distancing in the United States.
Article in Preventive medicine, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Domain-specific physical activity and mental health: an updated systematic review and multilevel meta-analysis in a combined sample of 3.3 million people.British journal of sports medicine · 2026Pooled it
- The association between physical activity and mental health during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review.BMC public health · 2022Pooled it
- Associations of park visits, physical activity and health outcomes among churchgoing Latino adults in low-income urban communities.Journal of behavioral medicine · 2026Trial
- Self-Reported Outdoor Activities and Perceived Stress During the First COVID-19 Wave: A Cross-Sectional Study in Poland and Italy.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Article
- Development of a park and green space service classification to support park prescribing in Korea.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- How impact factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic, change the quality of life of the elderly.Population health metrics · 2025Article
- Outdoor recreation's association with mental health and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic.PloS one · 2025Article
- Psychological attributes and eating behaviors in 5- to 12-year-old children during periods of stress.Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) · 2025Observational
- Quantifying the relationship between gardening and health and well-being in the UK: a survey during the covid-19 pandemic.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Interactions with Nature, Good for the Mind and Body: A Narrative Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Review
- Association of worker's mental health with changes in exercise time, going-out time, and screen time (TV time, internet time, and game time) before and after the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study.Neuropsychopharmacology reports · 2024Article
- Exploring the impact of pandemic fear on visitation to park attractions in urban city: A case study in Seoul, South Korea.PloS one · 2024Article
- Trail use and recreational physical activity behavior of trail users and non-users during COVID-19 restrictions in Colorado Springs, Colorado.Journal of healthy eating and active living · 2024Article
- Time Spent Outdoors and Associations with Sleep, Optimism, Happiness and Health before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Austria.Clocks & sleep · 2023Article
- US Adults Practicing Healthy Lifestyles Before and During COVID-19: Comparative Analysis of National Surveys.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2023Article
- Factors Associated with Physical Activity Increases and Decreases Among a Sample of Appalachian Residents During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study.Journal of Appalachian health · 2023Article
- COVID-19 infection and decline in outdoor activities associated with depression in older adults: A multicenter study in Vietnam.PloS one · 2023Article
- Age group differences in psychological distress and leisure-time exercise/socioeconomic status during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional analysis during 2020 to 2021 of a cohort study in Japan.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Leading Predictors of COVID-19-Related Poor Mental Health in Adult Asian Indians: An Application of Extreme Gradient Boosting and Shapley Additive Explanations.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Relationship between Participation in Physical Activity and Subjective Well-Being: Evidence from Korea during the Pandemic.Iranian journal of public health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Stressors associated with COVID-19 pandemic stay-at-home orders are associated with increased depression and anxiety and decreased physical activity. Given that physical activity and time spent outdoors in nature are associated with improved mental health, we examined the longitudinal association of these variables during the pandemic. Over 20,000 adults who participated in the U.S. Kaiser Permanente Research Bank, did not report COVID-19 symptoms, and responded to an online baseline and 3 follow-up surveys over approximately 3 months formed the cohort. Physical activity was assessed from a modified survey, time spent outdoors was assessed from one question, and anxiety and depression scores were assessed from validated instruments. Almost 60% were women, 82.8% were non-Hispanic white, and more than 93% of respondents were over the age of 50. Less in-person contact with friends and visiting crowded places was highly prevalent (>80%) initially and decreased somewhat (>70%). Participants in the lowest physical activity category (no physical activity) had the highest depression and anxiety scores compared to each successive physical activity category (p < 0.001). Spending less time outdoors was associated with higher depression and anxiety scores. This effect was greater for participants in the younger age categories compared with older age categories. The effect of less time spent outdoors on anxiety (p = 0.012) and depression (p < 0.001) scores was smaller for males than females. Results suggest that physical activity and time outdoors is associated with better mental health. People should be encouraged to continue physical activity participation during public health emergencies.
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