Background: This study aimed to examine the effect of Baduanjin exercise on COVID-19-related anxiety, psychological well-being, and the lower back pain of college students during the coronavirus pandemic in China.Setting: The study was carried out in a temporary experimental center of four universities in Wenzhou city in Zhejiang Province, China.Population: 387 participants who were college students were allocated to two groups: the Baduanjin exercise group(BEG, n = 195); and the Control group(CG,n = 192).Methods: In this randomized controlled trial,387 participants who were college students were randomly allocated in a 1:1 ratio to 12-week Baduanjin exercise group (BEG, n = 195)and 12-week Control group(CG,n = 192).CAS(Coronavirus Anxiety Scale), PWBS(Psychological Well-being Scale),NMQ( Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire), was used to assess COVID-19-related anxiety, psychological well-being, and lower back pain at second times ( before and after the intervention). The paired t-test and an independent t-test (with a 95% confidence interval) was used to compare the outcome variables of the two groups.Results: Within-group comparison, there was no significant difference in the control group before and after the intervention. In contrast, the Baduanjin group had a significant improvement before and after the intervention. Between-group comparison, the Baduanjin group had a significant difference from the control group. The intervention effect on the Baduanjin exercise group was remarkably better than that of the control group (p < 0.05). Participants in the Baduanjin group significantly improved the corvid-19-related anxiety score decreased from ( 5.22 ± 0.45 to 5.07 ± 0.27, p < 0.05). The total psychological well-being score increased from (70.11 ± 8.65 to 84.12 ± 7.38,p < 0.05) and the prevalence of low back pain decreased from (22.45 ± 1.67 to 18.35 ± 1.05, p < 0.05) among college students.Conclusion: During the pandemic, the Baduanjin exercise contributes to the reduction of the perceived anxiety related to COVID-19, decreases the prevalence of the lower back pain, and improves the psychological well-being of college students.Trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov, NCT04432038. Registered on June 16, 2020.

We aimed to assess the effects of an 8-week, online high-intensity interval training (HIIT) program on the parameters related to the anaerobic threshold (AT), body weight, and body composition in pregnant women. A total of 69 Caucasian women with an uncomplicated singleton pregnancy (age: 31 ± 4 years; gestational age: 22 ± 5 weeks; mean ± standard deviation) were randomly allocated to either an 8-week HIIT program (HIIT group) or to a comparative 8-week educational program (EDU group). Our most important finding was that even with the 8-week progression of pregnancy and physiological weight gain, the HIIT group maintained the same level of parameters related to AT: volume of oxygen at the AT (VO₂/AT), percentage of maximal oxygen uptake at the AT (%VO_2max/AT), and heart rate at the AT (HR/AT). In contrast, in the EDU group we observed a substantial deterioration of parameters related to the AT. The HIIT intervention substantially reduced the fat mass percentage (median: 30 to 28%; p < 0.01) and improved the total fat-free mass percentage (median: 70% to 72%; p < 0.01). In the EDU group, the body composition did not change significantly. An online, supervised HIIT program may be used to prevent the pregnancy-related risk of excessive weight gain and reduction in exercise capacity without yielding adverse obstetric or neonatal outcomes.

There is strong scientific evidence that prenatal physical activity of moderate-to-high in-tensity is a prerequisite of the proper course of pregnancy, childbirth and fetus development. How-ever, to date little data have been available on high intensity interval training (HIIT) performed during pregnancy. Following the PRISMA guidelines, this systematic review aimed at: first, to characterize HIIT protocols used or planned to be implemented during pregnancy; second, to determine their training effects on participant’s health and obstetric outcomes. We included nine original works and three clinical trials in the analysis. The HIIT protocols substantially differed in terms of the training components (type, intensity, frequency, duration and progression) and the structure of intervals (intensity and time of workout and recovery intervals). Our most important finding is that performing HIIT during pregnancy is safe in terms of obstetric outcomes and well tolerated by pregnant participants, while providing them with the enjoyment of exercise. HIIT interventions either led to an improvement in selected maternal and fetal health parameters or had no impact. No adverse effects were observed. Pregnant women may benefit from HIIT programs in the same way as other populations. Evidence-based recommendations on prenatal HIIT should be developed and promoted worldwide among pregnant women, exercise and health professionals.

Background: Despite the well-documented adverse outcomes associated with obesity during pregnancy, this condition remains a promising modifiable fi able risk factor. Objectives: The aim of this study was to ascertain the most effective treatment modalities for gestational weight gain (GWG) in pregnant women classified fi ed as overweight or obese. Methods: A systematic search was conducted across 4 electronic databases: Embase, EBSCOhost, PubMed, and Web of Science. To assess the quality of evidence, the Confidence fi dence In Network Meta-Analysis (CINeMA) approach, grounded in the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation framework, was employed. A Bayesian network meta-analysis was conducted to synthesize the comparative effectiveness of treatment modalities based on GWG outcomes. Results: The analysis incorporated 60 randomized controlled trials, encompassing 16,615 participants. Modes of intervention administration were classified fi ed as remote (R: eHealth [e] and mHealth [m]), in-person (I), and a combination of both (I+R). + R). The interventions comprised 5 categories: education (E), physical activity (PA), dietary (D), behavior modification fi cation (B), and combinations thereof. The quality of the evidence, as evaluated by CINeMA, ranged from very low to high. Compared to the control group, the I-D intervention (mean difference [MD]:- 1.27; 95% confidence fi dence interval [CI]:- 2.23,- 0.32), I-PADB (MD:- 0.60, 95% CI:- 1.19,- 0.00), and I-B (MD:- 0.34, 95% CI:- 0.57,- 0.10) interventions showed significant fi cant efficacy fi cacy in reducing GWG. Conclusions: Preliminary fi ndings suggest that the I-D intervention is the most efficacious fi cacious in managing GWG among pregnant women who are overweight or obese, followed by I-PADB and I-B+R-B(m) + R-B(m) treatments. These conclusions are drawn from evidence of limited quality and directness, including insufficient fi cient data on PA components used in the interventions. Owing to the absence of robust, direct evidence delineating significant fi cant differences among various GWG management strategies, it is tentatively proposed that the I-D intervention is likely the most effective approach. This study was registered with PROSPERO as CRD42023473627.

The number of overweight (OW) and obese (OB) children, adolescents, and adults has increased globally. Exercise intensity, both actual and perceived, is a significant factor in a variety of health-related investigations and rehabilitation trainings. Despite this, literature on the connection between actual exercise intensity and the rating of perceived exertion (RPE) in overweight and obese populations is lacking. A systematic review, meta-analysis, combined analysis of variance (Brown–Forsythe ANOVA), and Spearman correlation were performed to fill this gap. After preliminary assessments, ten studies were classified as having a low risk of bias and a degree of heterogeneity (I² = 34%; p = 0.05). The RPE scores (F = 0.032; p = 0.859), physiological index (percentage of maximal heart rate (%HR_max) (F = 0.028; p = 0.869), and percentage of maximal oxygen uptake (%VO_2max) (F = 2.434; p = 0.136) demonstrated consistency without being significantly different between the normal weight (NW) and OW/OB groups. The RPE scores varied by age (NW (coefficient values) = 0.677 ***, OW = 0.585 **), as well as by indoor temperature (OW only, coefficient values = 0.422 *), body mass index (NW (coefficient values) = 0.516 **, OW = 0.580 **), and test time (NW only, coefficient values = 0.451 *). We conclude that RPE is appropriate for the following OW and OB people: (1) those who are older than 21.5 (the lowest age in the group of ≥18) years old and younger than 58.6 (the highest age in the group of ≥18) years old, without any other diseases, and (2) those who engage in low-intensity exercise while maintaining a standard indoor temperature. Future studies may address alternative techniques for increasing the reliability of longitudinal comparisons and gender comparisons, as well as investigate other possible confounding factors.

Physical activity (PA) and exercise benefit both the mother and the fetus. Many pregnant women avoid or severely limit PA, leading to complications before and after delivery. This study elucidated the precise effect of each moderator variable on prenatal physical activity (PPA) by examining demographic factors, the PPA-related health belief level (HBL), and the current PPA level. The health belief model (HBM) in conjunction with the international prenatal physical activity questionnaire was used. The HBL in pregnant parous women (PPW) (3.42) was significantly higher than that in nonpregnant nulliparous women (NNW) (3.06). The PPA level in pregnant nulliparous women (PNW) (5.67 metabolic equivalent-hours per week (MET-h/week)) was lower than in the PPW (6.01 MET-h/week). All HBM dimensions (except for perceived barriers) were positively correlated with exercise expenditure in both PNW and PPW. According to the regression tree, participants in PNW aged ≤ 23 years with annual household incomes > CNY 100,001–150,000 had the highest energy expenditure (10.75 MET-h/week), whereas participants in PPW with a perceived benefit score of >4 had the highest energy expenditure (10 MET-h/week). The results demonstrated that the HBL in all groups was acceptable, whereas the PPA level was lower than the recommended PA level. In both PPW and PNW, the HBL was most strongly correlated with exercise expenditure. There is an urgent need to organize public-interest courses to alleviate household expenditure, raise the HBL about PPA in pregnant and NNW, and ensure personal health in the context of COVID-19.