Introduction

According to accumulated data, COVID-19 related restrictions can lead to considerable inactivity and sedentary lifestyles. The Swedish COVID-19 response consisted of guidelines rather than restrictions, which could possibly have a positive impact on activity levels remaining high. To investigate to which extent self-rated physical activity changed during the Swedish COVID-19 response, two cross-sectional surveys (N = 10,560) were conducted. The data constitutes the most comprehensive material on COVID-19 and physical activity extracted from Sweden. The aim is to contribute with new knowledge about general trends in physical activity during the Corona-pandemic in Sweden.

Methods

The method used is based on a quantitative cross-sectional retrospective approach. This approach makes it possible to clearly illustrate how the respondents’ (N = 10,560) answers differ depending on whether the questions referred to physical activity “before COVID-19” or “during COVID-19”. The data was collected on two different occasions (dataset 1 & dataset 2). Both surveys were digital questionnaires. The first dataset was distributed through social media, and The Swedish Research Council for Sport Science, whereas the second survey was distributed via e-mail. Dataset one was collected between 8 April 2020 to 14 august 2020, while dataset two was gathered from 8 December 2021 to 22 January 2021. The analysis included descriptive statistics, t-tests, correlations, and ANOVA. Cohen’s guidelines were used to establish what should be considered small, medium, and large differences.

Results

Overall, the results convey that there are significant differences for many people in everyday exercise performance during COVID-19. The most striking result is that many respondents report the same amount of everyday exercise, however, less physical training, and more sedentariness. Moreover, the result shows that elderly respondents were more affected than younger people, yet younger people reported more increased time sitting down. In terms of gender, although the Cohen guidelines categorize the difference as small, women had higher scores on sedentariness and reduced physical activity. 

Discussion

Both datasets reveal that patterns of physical activity have changed during COVID-19. However, contrary to what some studies conducted in Sweden have argued, within our datasets, differences across gender and age yielded only small differences. This deviates from studies that report that COVID-19 had a substantial negative impact on certain demographic groups. We conclude that respondents report less physical training regardless of demographic specificities. That elderly report less movement aligns with the outcomes of similar large-scale studies conducted in other countries. Finally, we suggest that one reason for differing results could be the use of different definitions when employing questionnaires to gain information on perceived physical activity.