Sitting all day long due to WFH? According to a new study, this might put your mental health at risk

If you spend several hours of your day working on a desk, then here’s something for you. A new research has revealed that those who continued to spend a high amount of time sedentary between April and June 2020 were more likely to have symptoms of depression.

Led by researchers from Iowa State University in the United States, the findings of the study were published in the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry. The research was conducted at the time when people adhered to stay-at-home orders during the early months of the COVID-19 outbreak. Daily commutes turned into shuffles between the bedroom and the living room and Zoom links eliminated the time spent walking to meeting rooms. Simply put, a lot of people suddenly became more sedentary during the onset of the pandemic.

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In order to understand the aftermath of the sedentary lifestyle, more than 3,000 participants from all 50 states of the USA responded to a survey. The participants self-reported how much time they spent doing activities, like sitting, looking at screens and exercising, both before and after the onset of COVID.

Survey data showed participants who were meeting the US Physical Activity Guidelines, that is, nearly 3-5 hours of moderate to vigorous physical activity each week before the pandemic decreased their physical activity by 32% after the pandemic. The same participants reported feeling more depressed, anxious and lonely during the lockdowns.

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