Understanding the Impact of the Pandemic on Physical Fitness and Activity
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Audio Transcript Auto-generated
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The following presentation includes my honors independent study capstone.
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This was a study to understand the impact of COVID-19
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lockdown on fitness performance and lifestyle behaviors among NBD students.
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The restrictions imposed during COVID-19 limited students is lives and
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the impact of the pandemic on fitness and sports performance
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is vastly unexplored.
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Through research, I identified changes in fitness levels, activity habits
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and new behaviors that emerged in response to the pandemic.
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I conducted a survey among NBD students to see how
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students created short term adjustments in order to maintain activity
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levels during the pandemic.
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As part of this project, a written summary outlining key
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findings and takeaways was written up as seen below.
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In this presentation, I will not be reading the summary,
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but we'll be taking you through the data and analysis.
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So I started off by identifying how students felt the
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pandemic impacted their physical fitness.
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The total is indicated by the white bar on the
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bar graph.
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This graph also breaks the data down further by gender.
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It's also important to note that the sample size for
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the other category was extremely small.
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So by looking at gender, we can see the overall
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80% of students felt that their physical fitness was not
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greatly impacted by the pandemic, and females wrote slightly more
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likely than males to feel that their physical fitness was
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impacted. This category was also broken down into level of
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activity. So looking at this graph, people with low and
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no levels of physical activity had a greater reduction in
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physical fitness than competitive and wreck athletes.
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Competitive athletes were also far less likely to report that
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the pandemic had a great impact on their physical fitness.
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And finally, the third category, this was broken down into
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was by sport, And from this data, it was concluded
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that just over 1/5 of both track and volleyball athletes
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reported a significant reduction in their physical fitness.
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Soccer players were the least likely to report a reduction
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in physical fitness.
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So after seeing how students felt the pandemic had affected
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their fitness levels, I look more specifically at how cardiovascular
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endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance and flexibility were impacted.
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So, looking at the data below, students reported that reported
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a slight decline in cardiovascular endurance and flexibility and a
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slight increase in muscular strength and muscular endurance.
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The levels of physical seeing how levels of physical fitness
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were impacted was when broken down into the same three
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categories. First, starting with gender.
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So looking at the chart below, it was clear that
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males reported a significant decrease in cardiovascular endurance, any significant
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increase in muscular stream, while females experience a slight increase
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in must for their strength and a slight decrease in
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flexibility. Also note that the category for other it was
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still extremely small In the chart regarding level of activity.
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Competitive athletes reported a significant decrease in cardio endurance Breck
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athletes showed a significant increase in muscular strength while they
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reported a large decrease in flexibility and those in the
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low and no physical activity group demonstrate an increase in
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cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength and muscular endurance and finally broken
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down by sport.
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This chart shows that soccer players reported an increase in
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muscular endurance, muscular strength and flexibility, yet they had a
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decrease in cardiovascular endurance.
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Track athletes and basketball players also had a significant decrease
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in cardiovascular endurance, and basketball players had a significant increase
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in flexibility.
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In addition to physical activity.
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I also looked at how food behaviors changed.
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So the following graph displays data in which students somewhat
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and completely agreed with the above statements presented to them.
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In this graph respondents were more likely to report an
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increase in cooking for themselves during the pandemic as compared
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to their pre pandemic habits.
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And the data also suggests that the consumption of sugary
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products increased during the pandemic respondents reported that their appetite
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decrease as well.
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Looking at food behaviors by gender, males reported a significant
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decrease in eating three meals a day, having a strong
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appetite and eating lots of foods that are rich in
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fats. However, they experienced an increase in cooking for themselves
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during the pandemic, females were more likely to eat breakfast
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cooked for themselves and eat foods that are rich in
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fats during the pandemic.
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This was also broken down into a level of activity.
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And in this we saw that competitive and recreational athletes
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experienced an increase in breakfast consumption and cooking for themselves.
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While they were less likely to eat three meals a
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day and have a strong appetite during the pandemic.
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People in the low to no physical activity group reported
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an increase in fresh fruits and vegetable consumption consumption of
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water and cooking for themselves while they were less likely
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to eat three meals a day, have a strong appetite
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and eat foods rich in fats and in the category
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by sports soccer players cooked for themselves more usually ate
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breakfast and increased consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables during
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the pandemic psycho players were less likely to eat three
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meals a day and ate less foods rich in fats.
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During the pandemic, we saw the track athlete's diet consisted
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of more fresh fruits and vegetables, usually ate breakfast and
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cook for themselves.
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More track athletes showed a decrease in appetite during the
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pandemic as well.
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Volleyball athletes had a decrease in consuming healthy fruits and
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vegetables, drinking water and having a strong appetite during the
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pandemic. They also ate breakfast more during the pandemic.
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Cook for themselves more and eat more foods rich in
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fats during the pandemic, basketball players drink more water and
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consume more foods rich in fats as well.
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Following food behaviors.
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I also looked at sleep behaviors and how those change
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during the pandemic.
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So the following graph shows the percentage of students who
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somewhat agreed and completely agreed with the above statement.
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So approximately 3/4 the students reported that they are sleeping
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longer and later during the pandemic.
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However, more than half report being more tired during the
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pandemic. Additionally, over 1/3 of students report having difficulty falling
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asleep. So what is the likelihood that students will pursue
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pre pandemic fitness levels?
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So according to the data, almost nine out of 10
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people plan on pursuing pre pandemic fitness levels.
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Females are slightly more likely than males to pursue pre
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pandemic fitness levels and responded to a low and no
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activity. Physical activity are significantly less likely to pursue pre
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pandemic fitness levels.
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How well students plan to regain um Their previous athletic
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levels of fitness.
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So first, by breaking this down into gender, the we
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saw that about two thirds of respondents plan on doing
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independent at home fitness workouts, respondents are least likely to
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take instructor driven at home workouts, which was only 21%.
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Mills are more, are much more likely than women to
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return to a gym or fitness center, and both males
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and females are likely to participate in the independent at
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home fitness workouts, but males were slightly more likely to
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do so.
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Females were also three times as likely as men to
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participate in instructor driven at home workouts.
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Looking at this by level of activity, we saw the
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competitive athletes are highly dependent on school team sports training
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and independent at home fitness workout to regain previous athletic
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levels of fitness.
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Rec athletes are most likely to participate in independent at
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home fitness workout, instructor driven at home workouts and return
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to a gym fitness centre to regain previous athletic levels.
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Respondents with low to no physical activity pre pandemic are
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the most likely to participate in independent at home fitness
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workouts to regain their previous levels of fitness.
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And finally, looking at the results by sport, soccer players
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are significantly more likely to enroll in or return to
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a club.
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Sport Outside of school track members are most likely to
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participate in independent at home fitness workers and rely on
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school team sports training while volleyball players plan to rely
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on school student team sports training as well to regain
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their previous levels of fitness.
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So lastly, students reported the school athletic department offerings that
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they wanted upon return to normal conditions.
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So the following graph shows the possible options that the
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school could offer when normal conditions return.
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So in the graph, it was clear that extra optional
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team practice was indicated as the most desired, offering non
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team related after school fitness classes was the second most
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selected option, and, finally, extra required team practice and more
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rigorous physical education classes.
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Class activities were the least popular.