JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Background. Sedentary behaviors and physical activity are likely to be affected by the outbreak of COVID-19, and sedentary lifestyles can increase subjective fatigue. The social isolation imposed by COVID-19 may also have adverse effects on fatigue.

Objective:

Objective. This study has two aims: to examine the changes in sedentary behaviors and physical activity of company employees in response to COVID-19 in Japan and to examine relationships between these sedentary behaviors and physical activity changes with changes in fatigue.

Methods:

Methods. Data from a nationwide prospective online survey conducted in 2019 and 2020 were used. On February 22, 2019, an e-mail with a link to participate in the study was sent to 45,659 workers (aged 20 to 59 years) randomly selected from the database of approximately one million individuals. A total of 2,466 and 1,318 company workers answered the baseline and follow up surveys, respectively. Surveys captured fatigue, sedentary behaviors, and physical activity. We used paired t-tests to compare the behaviors and total fatigue and subscales of fatigue before and after the initial outbreak of COVID-19 (July 2020). We used multivariable linear regression models to estimate associations of changes in sedentary behaviors and physical activities with changes in fatigue.

Results:

Results. There were significant increases in several domain-specific sedentary behaviors among workers after the COVID-19 epidemic. Participants reported significantly lower amounts of several physical activities after the epidemic. The average subjective fatigue score before and after COVID-19 was 31.2 ± 9.4 versus 31.9 ± 9.1 (P=.002), respectively. Increases in public transportation sitting during workdays, other leisure sitting time during workdays, total sitting time during non-workdays, and other leisure sitting time were associated with an increase in the motivation subscale of fatigue (b=0.29, 95% CI 0.00, 0.57, P=.048; b=0.40, 95% CI 0.18, 0.62, P <.001; b=0.05, 95% CI 0.00, 0.10, P=.04; and b=0.26, 95% CI 0.07, 0.45, P=.007, respectively). Increases in work-related sitting time during workdays, total sitting time during workdays, and total work-related sitting time were significantly associated with an increase in the physical activity subscale of fatigue (b=0.06, 95% CI 0.00, 0.12, P=.03; b=0.05, 95% CI 0.01, 0.09, P=.02; and b=0.07, 95% CI 0.00, 0.14, P=.04, respectively). Each motivation and physical activity subscale of fatigue increased by 0.06 for each one-hour increase in total sitting time between baseline and follow up (b=0.06, 95% CI 0.00, 0.11, P=.045 and b=0.06, 95% CI 0.01, 0.10, P=.009, respectively).

Conclusions:

Conclusions. Our longitudinal findings add to the accumulating evidence demonstrating potential adverse consequences of COVID-19 on sedentary behaviors, physical activity, and fatigue among workers in Japan. This study highlights the importance of reducing sedentary behaviors to improve workers’ fatigue. Our findings provide unique insights into how future epidemics may affect active behaviors and fatigue. Clinical Trial: N/A