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The mental health and well-being benefits of exercise during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study of medical students and newly qualified doctors in the UK
Open accessAbstract
Background: University students have been uniquely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there is currently little data upon the measures that medical students and newly qualified doctors have taken to help their mental well-being and mood during the COVID-19 pandemic. Aim: We aimed to identify the activities respondents found beneficial for their well-being and mental health and recorded a mood score from survey respondents. Methods: A nationwide study was completed to investigate the mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic upon medical students and newly qualified doctors (interim foundation year one). We received 2075 respondents from across the UK. Results: Physical activity was found to be the most common activity used by the survey respondents to help with their mental well-being (80.1%) (medical students, 83.7%; interim foundation doctors, 72.3%). Participants who stated that exercise helped their well-being had a mean score (SD) of 52.3 (20.7) which was significantly higher (P = 0.048) than those who reported that they did not exercise (49.8 (21.1)). Respondents who stated they had used exercise to help with their mental well-being had (on average) a higher mood score than those who did not. This was seen in both the medical student and interim foundation doctor subgroups. Discussion: Exercise can help to benefit the well-being of medical students and interim foundation doctors. It is hoped that higher education providers and employers recognise the importance of promoting physical activity for the well-being of their students and staff, respectively.
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“Moreover, Covid-19 has had a drastic impact on the population’s mental health [40–43], including medical students [44–48].”
From Effectiveness of online mindfulness interventions on medical students’ mental health: a systematic review (2021) · cites this paper as [46]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Coyle, C., Ghazi, H., & Georgiou, I.
- Affiliations
- St George's, University of London (GB)
- Hull York Medical School (GB)
- University of Aberdeen (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Coyle, Conor
- Venue
- Irish Journal of Medical Science (1971 -)
- Published
- 2020-11-04
- Volume
- 190
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 925-926
- ISSN
- 0021-1265 (ISSN-L)
- 1863-4362
- PMC
- PMC7641255
- OpenAlex
- W3095756139
- Cited by
- 43
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 9
- FWCI
- 3.20
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Irish Journal of Medical Science (1971 -) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- St. George's University of London
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Physical Activity and Health
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Healthcare professionals’ stress and burnout
- Keywords
- physical activity, mental health, well-being, COVID-19 pandemic, medical students, newly qualified doctors, mood, university students
- MeSH terms
- COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Cross-Sectional Studies, United Kingdom, Humans, Mental Health, Surveys and Questionnaires, Students, Medical, Exercise, Pandemics
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