International Journal of Sport Studies for Health
Volume:4 Issue: 2, Oct 2021

Physical inactivity levels in the course of the corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak increased significantly. Our aim was to address how the information related to the physical exercise and COVID-19 posted on YouTube reaches the general public during COVID-19 outbreak.

For this, research was carried out crossing the terms covid 19 and physical exercise in the YouTube database. The search was conducted only in the English language and was established/closed on April 26th (2020) to June 26th (2020) in order to observe the dynamics of video production on YouTube.

The main terms and concepts mentioned in the analysis of YouTube videos were COVID-19, pandemic, quarantine, social isolation and distance, physical activity, physical exercise, home-based physical exercise, physical inactivity, sedentary lifestyle, and mental health. The information was posted and supported by renowned health and physical exercise experts and entities. The recommendations for physical exercise in the current scenario focused on programs that require little equipment and space (carried out indoors and at home) and at low cost in an attempt to maintain and improve physical and mental health from different population groups.

Information about COVID-19 and exercise was growing and progressive throughout the pandemic on YouTube. However, care and guidance are needed in using the information provided by YouTube as a source of reference for the practice of physical exercise during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Keywords

The increasing extent of physical inactivity among children, adolescents, and adults is one of the greatest public health concerns. Sport is a type of leisure-time physical activity. With improved knowledge regarding the health advantages of physical activity, the role of sports in society has become increasingly important for the promotion of public health. Recognizing the significance of the effects of sports participation on physical fitness, this study presents a review of the association between sports participation and physical fitness.

A search for literature was conducted on PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar using the terms “sports participation and physical fitness” to find the association between the key terms. A total of 21 studies met the inclusion criteria.

Sports participation was found to be positively associated with physical fitness. Participation in sports was associated with more physical activity, less sedentary behavior, and improved physical fitness. Participation in club sports led to improved physical fitness, especially endurance and strength. Sports participation resulted in improved cardiorespiratory fitness, improved anaerobic performance, and higher levels of muscular strength.

Sports participation is associated with many health benefits, including improved physical fitness. As sports participation is a well-liked physical activity, making it easily accessible and spreading awareness about its benefits can lead to more healthy people and communities.

Successful performance in soccer is associated with multiple factors such as physical, technical and perceptual-cognitive performance. In contrast to physical fatigue, nowadays one of the most popular affecting factors is mental fatigue, especially in soccer.

This systematic review aims to clarify the impact of mental fatigue intervention on psychophysiological responses and cognitive performance in soccer.

A literature review was conducted by using the keywords of “mental fatigue and soccer” and “cognitive fatigue and soccer” in the content of confined space, psychophysiological and cognitive performance in soccer within the databases of Pubmed, Scopus, Web of Science (WOS) and Sport Discuss from the 1st of January 2010 to the 31st of January 2022. Systematic searches of six databases resulted in consist of 7 studies. The study was characterized based on PICO (Population, Intervention, Comparison and Outcome) criteria.

The current results showed that mental fatigue had a negative impact on psychophysiological responses, impaired cognitive performance, and decreased utilization of technical skills.

According to this systematic review, mental fatigue reduces performance via impairing psychophysiological responses, cognitive performance, and technical skills in soccer.

Vision, vestibular sense, proprioception and muscle strength are required to maintain balance. However, gender could also play a crucial role in postural sway.

This study was used to examine (i) the impact of gender, surface type, and vision on postural sway; (ii) the effects of gender and vision on the limb symmetry of postural sway; and (iii) to understand the effects of gender, stance, surface type and vision on the alterations of dynamic postural sway alterations.

This was a cross-sectional study in which young, healthy men (n = 15) and women (n = 12) underwent a balance control assessment using a force plate (SATEL, 40 Hz). Postural stances were evaluated in different conditions: opened eyes (EO) and closed eyes (EC), on different surface foam vs. firm, a dominant leg stance (DL) vs. a non-dominant leg stance (NDL), and a mediolateral stance (ML) vs. an anteroposterior stance (AP). The mediolateral sway (ML sway), anteroposterior sway (AP sway), and sway area were calculated from the centre of pressure displacements.

ML sway, AP sway and sway area increased when eyes were closed (P < 0.000). Foam surface perturbs balance control more than firm surface under EO and EC conditions for both genders, as observed in the AP sway curve (P < 0.000). A functional symmetry exists between the DL and NDL for all sway parameters: the ML sway, AP sway, and sway area (P = 0.720; P = 0.292; P = 0.954). The AP stance is more stable for the ML sway than the ML stance for both genders (P < 0.001). For the AP sway, the ML stance is more stable than the AP sway AP direction stance for both genders (P < 0.001). Women were significantly more stable than men in the ML stance when vision was absent (P < 0.01).

Postural sway was altered more significantly on a foam surface than on a firm surface and symmetry between the DL and NDL was observed. Furthermore, we concluded that women have better dynamic balance control than men.

The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the serious issues which has affected mental health in the world. One of the age groups whose learning processes are highly influenced by the pandemic are adolescents, especially those with low academic performance. Although there have always been problems in the learning process at schools prior to the pandemic, online learning systems have added more challenges to the educational system which results in poor academic performance in this group. Increased stress is among the negative consequence which in turn can affect well-being.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) affects well-being and perceived stress in adolescents with low academic performance during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was a quasi-experimental study with pre-test and post-test design and follow-up with a control group. The subjects were 30 adolescents with low academic who were chosen based on by convenience sampling method and were randomly assigned to the experimental group and the control group. The research tools were the well-being, perceived stress questionnaires, and CBT. The experimental group received CBT intervention for 10 sessions, each for 120 minutes online, and the control group did not receive any intervention. The data were analyzed by the repeated measures analysis method.

Based on the obtained results, there was a significant effect of CBT on well-being and perceived stress in the experimental group. The finding indicated that CBT led to increasing wellbeing and reducing perceived stress in adolescents with low academic performance (P ≤ 0.05). This effect impact was persisted following 3 months in the experimental group as well.

Considering the effectiveness of mentioned therapy methods on adolescents with low academic performance, it is necessary to apply such a way to improve the well-being of adolescents and relieve their stress during the COVID-19 pandemic, which consequently leads to academic and mental improvement. Moreover, CBT is a feasible and acceptable intervention in adolescents with low academic performance.

The Olympic movement (OM) aims to preserve and promote the philosophy of Olympism and development of society through culture and sport, being gender equity in sport one of the main tasks of the OM since the late twentieth century.

Analyze the relationship between the levels of knowledge and perception about the OM on attitudes towards women's participation in sport in students of physical education and sport sciences.

Cross-sectional research with correlational-descriptive scope was developed in which 35 subjects (17.1% female and 82.9% male; 21.1 ± 4.1 years) were part of the study. The Questionnaire on the Vision of Olympism and its Educational Repercussions and the Scale of Attitudes towards Women's Participation in Sport were applied. Comparison analyses were performed between sex, sports practice, and level of sports practice, as well as the relationship between the variables through nonparametric statistics considering a value of P < 0.05 as statistical significance.

The level of knowledge about Olympism was 6.14 (± 2.5). Significant differences were observed in attitudes towards women's participation in sport according to gender, sport practice and level of practice. In addition, it should be noted that gender equity, social support, and access for women in sport are not perceived at high levels. Finally, no significant relationships were found between the factors of both questionnaires.

The students participating in the study present low levels of knowledge about Olympism; furthermore, they show differences in attitudes towards women's participation in sport according to gender and level of sport practice, evidencing the positive impact of sport practice and immersion in academic aspects related to sport for the improvement of the gender equity perspective within sport.

The elevation training mask 2.0 (ETM) has been introduced as a novel tool to allow for respiratory muscle training and altitude exposure during exercise that can improve performance and hematological markers in elite and well-trained athletes.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of wearing ETM while performing exercise training on erythropoietin (EPO), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), peak oxygen consumption (VO2max), lactate, and 1000-m kayaking performance in elite Kayaking girls.

Thirty elite Kayaking girls (14 to 18-year-old) were equally and randomly assigned into mask, no mask, and control groups. The mask and no-mask groups completed 8 weeks of repeated sprint training, while the control group performed their routine kayaking training programs. Pre- and post-training tests included EPO, VEGF, VO2max, lactate, and 1000-m kayaking performance.

We showed that 1000-m time trial significantly decreased for mask (P < 0.001) and control (P = 0.035) groups, and was significantly lower in mask group than control (P = 0.014) and no mask (P = 0.009) groups. EPO did not show any significant changes for all groups. VEGF was increased significantly for mask (P = 0.04) and no mask (P = 0.014) groups. Lactate was decreased significantly for mask group (P = 0.025). VO2max increased significantly for no mask group (P = 0.021).

Performing repeated sprint training while wearing ETM has the potential to enhance performance in Kayak racing.

Volleyball is a sport with technical elements and explosive power.

This study investigates the relationship between sprint speed and isokinetic knee strength applied at different angular velocities in male volleyball players.

This study was conducted on 15 volunteer male volleyball players (age; 17 - 25 years, height; 1.75 + 0.12 m). Isomedx 2002 isokinetic dynamometer is employed to measure the isokinetic strength, and a 20 m sprint test is conducted to measure the speed. In measuring knee flexion and isokinetic extension strength, quadriceps and hamstring concentric/eccocentric are measured separately on both legs at 60°/sec angular velocity for three repetitions, at 180°/sec for six repetitions, and at 300°/sec for nine repetitions. For statistical analysis, the Spearman’s correlation test was performed using SPSS 18.0 (SPSS Inc., USA) software.

The highest torque value in subjects was recorded on both sides at 60°/sec angular velocity, 180 and 300 degrees, respectively, were lower. There was no significant relationship between speed and isokinetic strength at different angular velocities.

Based on our results, the highest peak torque in volleyball players was found to be at 60°/sec angular velocity while no significant correlation was found between isokinetic strength of the knee at different angular velocities and speed of volleyball players.