Exercise addiction symptoms and mental health during the forced exercises deprivation in greatest COVID-19 pandemic restrictions in Poland.

Objectives: The paper describes the relationship between the symptoms of exercise addiction, behavioral strategies in situations of limited workout possibilities and mental health state in exercising individuals.

Methods: The study included 391 participants, 286 women (73.1%) and 105 men (26.9%), aged 18 to 68 years. The respondents were surveyed online after 17-19 days of barriers to routine training due to greatest COVID-19 restrictions in Poland. Subjects completed the Exercise Dependence Scale, General Health Questionnaire - 28 (GHQ-28) and questionnaires enabling the collection of demographic and clinical data as well as data related to exercise behaviors.

Results: The variables related to exercise addiction and some related to behavioral changes are predictors of mental health, especially in terms of anxiety, insomnia and somatic symptoms. All the introduced variables accounted for 27.4% to 43.7% of the variation in the mental health status of the subjects, depending on GHQ subscales. Breaking the restriction rules by outdoor training protected against symptoms of psychological disorders, especially in relation to somatic symptoms (Beta = -0.23; p< 0.001). Individual assessment of stress induction in a given situation was a predictor of results in all GHQ subscales, which was the strongest for symptoms of anxiety and insomnia (Beta = 0.37; p< 0.001).

Conclusions: Individuals with features of exercise addiction are at risk of deterioration of their well-being during forced abstinence. In addition, the subjective level of stress induction in a given situation is an important determinant that conditions psychological well-being, especially the aggravation of depressive symptoms. People who ignore restrictions and have low levels of stress, experience lower psychological costs.