“Covid-19 pandemic is not just a health issue, it is a profound shock to our societies, exposing the deficiencies of public and private arrangements that currently function only if women play multiple and underpaid roles. The executive director of the United Nations Women summarizes the effects on women as this: Women make up most frontline health care workers (including nursing and personal support workers), have had to contend with the stresses of home schooling and child care, and the lack of emotional support and connection. Women have been profoundly affected by the pandemic both in the workplace and at home. Last year, a study at CAMH found that “women, people who have lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic, those who are worried about their personal finances, people with children at home, and young people are more likely than others to experience symptoms of anxiety and depression at this time.” Some populations are more vulnerable to the physical and mental health effects of COVID. Struggling with concern over one’s own health and health of loved ones, worry over finances and employment and social isolation resulting from safety measures have taken their toll of people’s mental health. And many Canadians have reported their stress levels have doubled since the onset of the pandemic. According to Statistics Canada, more than 1 million Canadians remain under or unemployed. The pandemic has had a negative impact on communities beyond the number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths. And as physiotherapists and exercise professionals, we also want to provide some education around the benefits of physical activity and mindfulness on mental health, as well as some useful and accessible resources. As we mark International Women’s Day, we want to highlight the need for policies and programs that address the inequalities that have led to less favourable outcomes for women. These findings represent a comprehensive body of high-quality evidence that physical activity reduces depression and anxiety in non-clinical populations.Īnxiety depression exercise mental health meta-analysis physical activity.Women have been especially vulnerable to the physical and mental health effects of COVID-19. Neither effect showed significant heterogeneity across meta-analyses. Physical activity reduced depression by a medium effect and anxiety by a small effect (SMD = -0.38 95% CI: -0.66 to -0.11). The subsequent meta-meta-analyses were based on a total of 92 studies with 4310 participants for the effect of physical activity on depression and 306 study effects with 10,755 participants for the effect of physical activity on anxiety. A systematic search identified eight meta-analytic outcomes of randomised trials that investigated the effects of physical activity on depression or anxiety. The objective of this meta-meta-analysis was to systematically aggregate and quantify high-quality meta-analytic findings of the effects of physical activity on depression and anxiety for non-clinical populations. Amidst strong efforts to promote the therapeutic benefits of physical activity for reducing depression and anxiety in clinical populations, little focus has been directed towards the mental health benefits of activity for non-clinical populations.
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