Examining the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on exercise behavior and perceived academic stress among U.S. college students.

The aim of this study was to capture the impact of COVID-19 on exercise behavior in U.S. college students. Exercise behaviors and perceived academic stress were examined from pre-COVID-19 (January-March 2020) and early-COVID-19 (April-July 2020) to continued-COVID-19 times (August-October 2020). One hundred and thirty-two participants completed the online questionnaires retrospectively. Two-way analyses of variance were used to examine exercise behaviors and academic stress perception over time between genders. Participants spent much time in sedentary behavior and an increase in academic stress was evident in learning during the early-COVID-19 period. The time spent in sedentary behavior was reduced, but the stress involving coursework remained during the continued-COVID period. The impact of the COVID pandemic was observed to be universal across sex groups. Universities should consider how to support physical and mental health during lockdown and extended closure due to a pandemic.