Effects of physical activity and sleep quality on well‐being: A wrist actigraphy study during the pandemic

Abstract

AbstractPrevious studies identified the effects of daytime activity, sleep quality and ambient light exposure on individual well‐being. These factors have been greatly changed as people are required to stay home during the COVID‐19 pandemic; thus, it is necessary to verify whether these factors effect well‐being during the pandemic. We recruited 70 adults (females: 46; age range: 31−60) during a high incidence of COVID‐19 in China (17–27 February 2020). Both subjective measurements based on self‐report scales and objective measurements collected using wrist actigraphy were employed to investigate the effects of night‐time sleep and daytime activity on subjective well‐being. The actigraphy data show that participants’ total sleep time (>8 hr) is sufficient. Self‐reported sleep quality was significantly worse than pre‐pandemic, and self‐reported daytime activity levels significantly decreased during the pandemic. Physical activity was positively related to well‐being, both for self‐reported daytime activity (r = .346, p = .003) and for objective measurements (r = .234, p = .051). Our study found that sleep and daytime activity levels were negatively affected by the pandemic. However, increased daytime physical activity could potentially reduce these negative effects.