Well-being of university students during the Covid-19 pandemic: An Indonesian case study

Abstract

The spread of COVID-19 worldwide challenged the foundations of many people's lives. This research aimed to investigate the impact of the pandemic and its associated lockdown restrictions on the physical activity behaviours and attitudes of a small group of sports science students in a provincial state university in Indonesia. The study results showed that most of the respondents (93%) believed in the importance of maintaining their physical activity during lockdown. However, the actual activity levels practised failed to match the international guidelines considered necessary for this age group. Only 23% practised daily physical activity, and 40% were active for three days or less. The intensity of the physical activity was only classified as light in over 80% of the cases, and 26% reported that their activity was less than 30 minutes. A further concern about mental health was identified in the finding that over 73% of the participants reported suffering significant boredom during the lockdown conditions imposed. Students reported carrying out exercise and a range of other activities aimed to reduce boredom and avoid more potentially dangerous feelings of stress and depression. Recommendations include maintaining and improving fitness through physical activity and participating in moderate activity between 70 - 80% with a maximum pulse rate of 150 - 300 minutes per week to high intensity between 80 - 90% maximum pulse with a frequency of at least 3 days or more per week, 75-150 minutes per week. All physical activities can be done gradually over time with the principle of progressive exercise. Meanwhile, to reduce boredom, apart from doing physical activity in the form of sports and exercise, other active daily physical activities such as washing vehicles, gardening, cleaning the house and environment, and pursuing hobbies may be considered.