The impact of physical activity rate on subjective well-being among North-Western Italian population during COVID-19 nationwide lockdown.

BACKGROUND Several factors influence subjective well-being, and one of them is the rate of physical activity. However, the possibilities to perform physical activity are compromised by the running COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, the present study aimed to explore the relationship between self-reported physical activity levels during COVID-19 and subjective well-being. Furthermore, our secondary aim was to investigate whether personal well-being was different between men and women and between people with different self-reported physical activity levels. METHODS Physical activity rate and subjective well-being were assessed using specific online surveys. Well-being was investigated using the 5-item World Health Organization Well-being Index while physical activity rates using the official Italian short form of IPAQ. Participation was voluntary, and people could fill the questionnaire simply by clicking on a specific link reachable via Social Networks or by email. RESULTS The final sample size was 595 Italian responders. Male and female were equally distributed (50,3% male and 49,7% female). The multiple regression indicated that the model was a significant predictor of subjective well-being (R2 =,070,F (3,59) = 14,68, p< 0.0001). The univariate ANOVA detected a statistically significant difference in subjective well-being perception between gender (p<0,05; ƞ²= ,01) and among physical activity rates ((whole sample: p<0,0001, ƞ²=0,03); Males: F(2,296)=4,364, p<0,01, ƞ²=0,03; Females: F(2,293)=5,256, p<0,001, ƞ²=0,04)). Tuckey's post hoc identified a difference between Low active and moderate active males (p< 0,01) and low active and very active females (p< 0,01). CONCLUSIONS More vigorous activities are necessary for women to reach the goal of feeling good and satisfied with life than men. Therefore, women should be encouraged to spend more time practising physical activity at a more vigorous rate. This outcome might help practitioners set specific home training programs to be advised during periods of social life restrictions as the running COVID-19 pandemic.