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C&E First Draft - AE1

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14 views4 pages

C&E First Draft - AE1

Uploaded by

tohongnhan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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COVID-19 impact on mental health and physical activity of non-infected athletes:

the causative factors

During the first outbreak, thousands of professional sports events are estimated to be
postponed or even canceled, taking away the enthusiasm for millions of sports fans
worldwide. Despite the obvious impact, there remains another impacted side of the sports
industry that is often neglected: the mental and physical state of athletes. Many studies have
explored and highlighted the clear negative impact of COVID-19 on these aspects; however,
what appears to be unclear is their cause and effect relationship. Therefore, this discussion
puts forward the argument that the changes in environment and lifestyle (isolation, sleep,
light exposure) combined with the occurrence of new disruptive factors (stressors, sport-
related alternations) are the causes leading to the impact.

Researchers have reasons for saying that athletes are not insusceptible to the COVID-
19 vulnerability in terms of mental health and physical activity. According to a systematic
review, the mental state assessment score of athletes during the pandemic decreases, meaning
that they have been experiencing an overall increase in negative emotions (depression,
tension, and anxiety) compared to the pre-lockdown phase (Jurecka et al., 2021).
Prominently, Pillay L. et al (2020) finds that more than 50% of athletes reported confronting
negative feelings during this stage, with the rate of mental disruption is higher for individual
sports athletes and female athletes than team sports athletes and their male counterparts,
respectively (Pillay et al., 2020; Uroh & Adewunmi, 2021). To interpret this, COVID might
not only create mental problems but also exacerbate them in some psychological-sensitive
athletic groups. In assessing the athlete’s level of physical activity, the review also concludes
that there is a decrease in total physical activity and an increase in sedentary behavior for
most subjects (Jurecka et al., 2021, p. 5). To quantify the exact impact, Jagim et al. (2020)
discover that in pre-COVID-19, 79% of athletes reported training 5–6 days per week
compared to only 45.7% in the COVID-19-lockdown, which equates to an average reduction
of 6.5 hours per week for sport-related activities. Therefore, it is certain that the COVID
situation has negatively impacted both the mental and physical aspects of athletes and caused
to raise the discussions about its root.
During the lockdown, athletes have to experience a series of environmental and
behavioral changes which might contribute to their mental health downgrade. Multiple
worries (stressors) such as catching COVID, lack of access to training facilities, social and
financial instability, and career loss emerge and induce a stressful environment for the
athletes (Haan et al., 2020). In relation, chronic stress (or extended stress) is confirmed to
trigger many biological pathways that will elevate the risk of mental issues (Mariotti, 2015).
Furthermore, in identifying the behavioral changes of athletes, Facer-Childs et al. (2021)
found that higher sleep latency (trouble falling asleep) is also strongly associated with poorer
mental health in athletes. The causes of sleep difficulty, they argue, relate to the tendency of
most athletes during the lockdown to reduce “exposure to outdoor light” and increase “time
on screens”, which is shown to decrease sleep ability and increase sleep awakenings (Facer-
Childs et al., 2021, p. 6). Together, these findings seem to suggest that the emergence of new
stressors and the changes in lifestyle behaviors have created or even exacerbated the mental
health problems of athletes.

The loss in athletes’ motivation, stemming from the changes in training goals, training
resources, and communication methods, appears to be the main culprit for their physical
activity reduction. As the implementation of transmission control protocols commences, the
majority of athletes’ plans and routines are forced to be either replaced or canceled in
response, which causes the athletes to alter their training load, usually in a downward trend.
According to a survey, Jagim et al. (2020) report that the goals of most athletes before
COVID are to train “for competition/sport” and “for strength” (p. 4). Therefore, the cessation
of competition activities can halt the progress and essentially impede their initial motivation
to train. Further, the restriction, as they noted, has forced the athletes to train in “unique
environments with varying resources”, with many training solitarily and having limited
access to sports equipment (resistance band, dumbbells, kettlebells, etc.) (p. 4). This shift in
training space, from a collaborative, well-equipped environment to a separate, unequipped
one, is also thought to demotivate the athlete’s training. Although most athletes reported
receiving continued guidance from the coaches virtually, this assistance alone seems not able
to compensate for the significant loss of in-person interaction, which might contribute a
considerable impact on athletes’ motivation.
In conclusion, the deviation in athletes’ normal routine/schedule coupled with the
emergence of disruptive factors has negatively impacted the mental status and level of
physical activity in athletes. With millions of athletes worldwide seeking to navigate the
COVID’s impact, it is critical for accountable sides to develop effective protocols addressing
these root causes to ensure the long-term progression of athletes in particular and the sports
industry in general.
References

Jurecka, A., Skucińska, P., & Gądek, A. (2021). Impact of the SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus
Pandemic on Physical Activity, Mental Health and Quality of Life in Professional
Athletes-A Systematic Review. International journal of environmental research and
public health, 18(17), 9423. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18179423

Pillay, L., Janse van Rensburg, D., Jansen van Rensburg, A., Ramagole, D. A., Holtzhausen,
L., Dijkstra, H. P., & Cronje, T. (2020). Nowhere to hide: The significant impact of
coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) measures on elite and semi-elite South African
athletes. Journal of science and medicine in sport, 23(7), 670–
679. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2020.05.016

Uroh, C. C., & Adewunmi, C. M. (2021). Psychological Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic
on Athletes. Frontiers in sports and active living, 3,
603415. https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2021.603415

Jagim, A. R., Luedke, J., Fitzpatrick, A., Winkelman, G., Erickson, J. L., Askow, A. T., &
Camic, C. L. (2020). The Impact of COVID-19-Related Shutdown Measures on the
Training Habits and Perceptions of Athletes in the United States: A Brief Research
Report. Frontiers in sports and active living, 2,
623068. https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2020.623068

Facer-Childs, E. R., Hoffman, D., Tran, J. N., Drummond, S., & Rajaratnam, S. (2021). Sleep
and mental health in athletes during COVID-19 lockdown. Sleep, 44(5), zsaa261.
https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsaa261

Haan, R., Ali Alblooshi, M. E., Syed, D. H., Dougman, K. K., Al Tunaiji, H., Campos, L. A.,
& Baltatu, O. C. (2021). Health and Well-Being of Athletes During the Coronavirus
Pandemic: A Scoping Review. Frontiers in public health, 9,
641392. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.641392

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