Impact of Five Months of Lockdown Due to Covid-19 on Physical Activity & Psychological Wellbeing of Healthcare Students in Nagpur City, Maharashtra.

Abstract

Introduction: COVID-19 or 2019-nCoV, the novel Coronavirus looms over the planet Earth as an imminent threat to mankind. According to expert’s opinion complete lockdown as the only measure to stop the exponential infectivity rates of the virus. Even though some relaxation is offered in the beginning of June month, school & colleges are continuing online sessions for current academic year. Online studies have been started for students & their academic loss is controlled to some extent. Students were forbidden to continue with prolonged home stay. This prolonged home stay may lead towards sedentary lifestyle & thus may affect one’s physical activity. The aim of this study is to investigate impact of five months of lockdown due to Covid-19 on physical activity & psychological wellbeing of healthcare students in Nagpur city, Maharashtra. Methodology: a cross sectional observational study is carried out in healthcare students of Nagpur city, Maharashtra. A self-structured questionnaire was prepared & converted into google form. A google form was shared with participants via WhatsApp group. Responses were collected over a period of one week. Result: Participants were between age group of 18-23 years of age group with female participants were 91% & male participants were 9%. Study results showed that students spent almost 2-4 hours (44.1%) & 4-6 hours (44.1%) for online learning. 17,4% students didn’t involve themselves in any physical activity. 35.9% participants experienced pain in low back region followed by neck region (28.7%). 94.1% participants were worried for ongoing things & their purpose in life. Conclusion: This change in lifestyle during lockdown leads to decreased physical activity & students were more vulnerable for pain in different areas of body. This lockdown also affected their self-perceived psychological wellbeing. Helpful strategies to deal with increased stress & reduced physical activities for healthcare students can be implemented for students which will be useful in case repeated lockdown.