Academic hopes lockdown exercise changes stick
PLEASE keep walking.
That is the message from researchers keen for Dunedin people to maintain the health benefits sparked by a burst of extra walking during the Covid19 lockdown.
‘‘Most people know that being active is good for their physical and mental health,’’ University of
Otago physical education associate professor Elaine Hargreaves said.
‘‘Healthwise, those who do very little physical activity are those who will benefit most from increasing the amount of physical activity they do,’’ Prof Hargreaves said.
‘‘So the fact that those who were low active prior to lockdown were more active during lockdown is fantastic.
‘‘We hope that, by being more physically active . . . those people have recognised the benefits they experienced.
‘‘They may have slept better, had more energy, their mood would have lifted,’’ she said.
Prof Hargreaves, of the university’s School of Physical Education, Sport and Exercise Sciences, is the lead researcher in an interdisciplinary team studying activity patterns during and after the lockdown, including extra walking, sometimes with dogs, in neighbourhoods.
The study was based on data from 759 responses to a national online survey.
Overall, people who were highly active before lockdown — generally exceeding the recommended 150 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity per week — were less active during it.
By contrast, people who were moderately active or not very active before lockdown became more active.
About 38.5% of those surveyed did more physical activity during lockdown, 25.5% did about the same and 36% did less.
About half those who did less exercise said they could not use their usual gym or go surfing because of lockdown restrictions.
Life after the end of lockdown was ‘‘very different’’ and, with less time available, fitting in exercise might be more difficult.
However, remembering the previous benefits would hopefully encourage people to ‘‘prioritise time to continue being active’’, Prof Hargreaves said.