CHANGES IN HEART RATE, SLEEP, AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY BEHAVIOR FROM PRE- TO POST-COVID

ABSTRACT

Background: When the WHO declared COVID-19 a global pandemic on March 11, 2020, stay-at-home orders and business closures were imposed to contain viral spread. Accumulating evidence suggests that these societal disruptions caused abrupt changes in important health behaviors such as physical activity, but most work to date has used self-report measures. Longitudinal studies collecting objective measures of activity and sleep behavior and heart rate before and after the pandemic could shed light on potential health implications of the ongoing pandemic and associated social distancing measures. Objective: To determine whether significant within-person changes in objective heart rate, sleep, and physical activity occurred from pre- to post-COVID pandemic. Methods: Adult smartphone users were recruited from an online registry. 22 participants (M 47 years old, range 20-72;76% female;91% White;55% with at least one chronic medical condition) provided access to their Fitbit data and had at least one week of pre-COVID (March 11, 2019 to March 10, 2020;M = 256 days of data, range 25-366 days) and post-COVID (March 11, 2020 to December 31, 2020;M = 231 days of data, range 107-294 days) Fitbit data. Results: Paired t-tests revealed significant decreases in mean heart rate (77 to 75 bpm;t(18) = 2.91, p < .01), step counts (7946 to 6969 steps/day;t(21) = 2.72, p = .01), and total active time (185 to 165 minutes/day;t(21) = 3.02, p < .001) and significant increases in total sedentary time (766 to 781 minutes/day;t(21) =-2.88, p < .01) from pre- to post-COVID but no significant changes in Fitbit-assessed sleep time, latency, or efficiency. Conclusions: These prospective sensor data captured before and after the pandemic contribute to our understanding of how COVID-19 has affected physical activity and heart rate. Findings suggest that adults became less physically active and more sedentary after the pandemic relative to the year prior to COVID-19 but that sleep behaviors remained relatively stable. Although this is a small nonrepresentative sample, these longitudinal objective behavioral data corroborate larger self-report studies. Future analyses will examine trajectories of activity change over the course of the pandemic and characteristics of participants who maintained or increased activity levels despite social distancing mandates.