Physical education role during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic Physical education and COVID-19

Abstract

COVID-19 outbreak has been dogged the whole world and besides economic damage; this new virus has been collapsing health units worldwide. Many people have been infected and died every day and so far, there are no vaccines or drugs approved to fight off COVID-19. In this sense, many countries have adopted strategies to avoid virus spread during the quarantine. Social isolation has caused psychological impacts and changes in people’s routine, thus physical exercise emerges as an alternative to decrease cognitive problems developed by people during the quarantine. The use of technology to guide people during physical education classes has become a great strategy for people who cannot leave their homes. Besides, technology can insert people in an immersive environment increasing their interaction, merriment, improving their immune and cardiovascular systems. Physical education teacher must be considered an essential health professional during this pandemic period because they can guide and stimulate individuals to practice physical exercise routinely, in order to keep and improve their health.

Keywords:
exercise; coronavirus; COVID-19; physical education and training

Introduction

The pneumonia outbreak that emerged in the city of Wuhan, China, in December 2019 has spread quickly around the world and generated thousands of infections and deaths¹,². In order to detect the origin of this pathology, researchers collected samples from the fish market in the city of Wuhan and verified a great viral contamination of the animals in this place³. Genetic analysis has shown that the new virus has a genomic sequence of approximately 90% related to severe acute respiratory syndrome derived from bats, and although speculation exists that bats are the original host of the virus, some of the animals from Wuhan fish market may be likely candidates for intermediate transmitters between animals and humans⁴. Posteriorly, it was verified that it belonged to an ancient virus group called Corona from the coronaviridae family. The new virus known by Coronavirus (COVID-19) has caused several symptoms in infected humans, mainly cough, fever, fatigue, migraine, and dyspnea⁵-⁶

It is important to note that the COVID-19 incubation period in humans presents an average of 5.1 days, and among individuals infected, the mean time of 11.5 days after the infection has been frequently considered to these people start showing some symptoms⁷. Unfortunately, there are no vaccines or medications approved to fight off this new virus, however, many clinical trials have been ongoing for treating people infected by the COVID-19⁸. In an attempt to decrease the number of infections and deaths, the World Health Organization (WHO) has suggested that social distance and hygienic procedures should be adopted, especially by individuals who have maintained contact with people who tested positive for COVID-19, through laboratory tests⁹.

Beyond social distance, the quarantine period can generate several functional and cognitive impairments to individuals in confinement, such as stress that can directly interfere with sleep¹⁰. It is known that sleep disturbances can influence and cause different metabolic and cardiovascular problems¹¹. Besides, people who are in quarantine must have support, to be able to get through this period more comfortably, for example, keeping in touch with their family, food, water, and adequate hygiene, internet access, psychological support in case of need and maintaining a distance of at least 1 meter between people who share the same environment in the house¹².

The practice of regular physical exercises which may minimize the emergence of problems that directly affect people’s behavior should be encouraged, during social isolation in the pandemic period¹³. In this sense, the physical education teacher is classified as the professional who can provide guidance and monitoring, so that the practice of physical exercise is done correctly and safely¹⁴,¹⁵. Among the strategies used to practice physical exercise in social isolation, classes, and orientations stand out remotely, i.e., physical education teachers provide monitoring and information on how to practice physical exercises through internet¹⁶. This practice should be part of people's routine, so they can improve cardiorespiratory capacity, reduce the risk of developing chronic diseases, control weight, and improve the quality of life¹⁷. It is emphasized that several studies have been proving that moderate-intensity physical exercise is effective to increase the immune system, through a reduction in inflammation processes and changes in cell concentrations, thus modulating positively the plasticity of the immune system¹⁸. These changes may protect the population against severe impairment generated by COVID-19 infection.

Although technology is part of several people’s lives, it is important to consider the differences among individuals, mainly the elderly. It is known that aging presents an association with cognitive decline, making it difficult to keep up with changes that occur in technologic environment¹⁹. During quarantine, remote physical education classes must respect these differences to provide a better and safer experience for this public.

Conclusion

Physical exercise is a cheap, easy to access, and safe option to be incorporated into the routine of people who are in quarantine. The use of technology by the physical education teachers to monitor exercises deserve to be highlighted during this period to avoid virus spread. Social isolation loosening measures must be another challenge to keep people active without increasing the incidence of subjects contaminated and death rate. Routine testing must be encouraged in gym areas to diagnose and avoid social contact with symptomatic people. In addition, it is important to limit the number of individuals in common gym areas to ensure a minimum distance among physical exercise practitioners.

References

• ¹
  Lu H, Stratton CW, Tang YW. Outbreak of pneumonia of unknown etiology in Wuhan China: the mystery and the miracle. J Med Virol, 2020. Epub ahead of print
• ²
  World Health Organization (WHO). Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Situation Report - 97. Available: https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200510covid-19-sitrep-111.pdf?sfvrsn=1896976f_2. Accessed on 11 May 2020
  » https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200510covid-19-sitrep-111.pdf?sfvrsn=1896976f_2. Accessed on 11 May 2020
• ³
  Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. 585 environmental samples from the South China Seafood Market in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. 2020. http://www.chinacdc.cn/yw_9324/202001/t20200127_211469 HTML. Accessed on April 20, 2020.
  » http://www.chinacdc.cn/yw_9324/202001/t20200127_211469
• ⁴
  Roujian L, Zhao X, Li J, Niu P, Yang B, Wu H, et al. Genomic characterisation and epidemiology of 2019 novel coronavirus: implications for virus origins and receptor binding. Lancet. 2020; https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140- 6736(20)30251-8
  » https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30251-8
• ⁵
  Adhikari SP, Meng S, Wu YJ, et al. Epidemiology, causes, clinical manifestation and diagnosis, prevention and control of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) during the early outbreak period: a scoping review. Infect Dis Poverty. 2020;9(1):29.
• ⁶
  Xu Z, Shi L, Wang Y, Zhang J, Huang L, Zhang C, et al. Pathological findings of COVID-19 associated with acute respiratory distress syndrome. Lancet Respir Med. 2020;8(4):420-422.
• ⁷
  Lauer SA, Grantz KH, Bi Q, Jones FK, Zheng Q, Meredith HR, et al. The Incubation Period of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) From Publicly Reported Confirmed Cases: Estimation and Application. Ann Intern Med. 2020; M20-0504.
• ⁸
  Rosa SGV, Santos WC. Clinical trials on drug repositioning for COVID-19 treatment. Rev Panam Salud Publica. 2020;44.
• ⁹
  World Health Organization (WHO). Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) advice for the public. Available at https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public Accessed on 7 May 2020.
  » https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public
• ¹⁰
  Gouin JP, Wenzel K, Boucetta S, O'byrne J, Salimi A, Dang-Vu T. High-frequency heart rate variability during worry predicts stress-related increases in sleep disturbances. Sleep Med. 2015; 16: 659-64.
• ¹¹
  Cappuccio FP, Miller MA. Sleep and Cardio-Metabolic Disease. Curr Cardiol Rep. 2017;19(11):110.
• ¹²
  World Health Organization (WHO). Considerations for quarantine of individuals in the context of containment for coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Available at https://www.who.int/publications-detail/considerations-for-quarantine-of-individuals-in-the-context-of-containment-for-coronavirus-disease-(COVID-19) Accessed on 27 April 2020.
  » https://www.who.int/publications-detail/considerations-for-quarantine-of-individuals-in-the-context-of-containment-for-coronavirus-disease-(COVID-19)
• ¹³
  Jiménez-Pavón D, Carbonell-Baeza A, Lavie CJ. Physical exercise as a therapy to fight against the mental and physical consequences of COVID-19 quarantine: Special focus in older people. Prog Cardiovasc Dis. 2020;S0033-0620(20)30063-3.
• ¹⁴
  Goossens L, De Ridder R, Cardon G, Witvrouw E, Verrelst R, De Clercq D. Injury prevention in physical education teacher education students: lessons from sports. A systematic review. European Physical Education Review. 2019;25(1):156-173.
• ¹⁵
  Lander N, Eather N, Morgan PJ, Salmon J, Barnett LM. Characteristics of Teacher Training in School-Based Physical Education Interventions to Improve Fundamental Movement Skills and/or Physical Activity: A Systematic Review. Sports Med. 2017;47(1):135-161.
• ¹⁶
  Lisón JF, Palomar G, Mensorio MS, Baños R, Cebolla-Martíet A, et al. Impact of a Web-Based Exercise and Nutritional Education Intervention in Patients Who Are Obese With Hypertension: Randomized Wait-List Controlled Trial. J Med Internet Res. 2020;22(4):e14196.
• ¹⁷
  World Health Organization (WHO). Physical activity. Available at https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/physical-activity Accessed on 28 April 2020.
  » https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/physical-activity
• ¹⁸
  Simpson RJ, Kunz H, Agha N, Graff R. Exercise and the Regulation of Immune Functions. Prog Mol Biol Transl Sci. 2015;135:355-380.
• ¹⁹
  Singh-Manoux A, Kivimaki M, Glymour MM, Alexis Elbaz, Claudine Berr, Klaus P Ebmeier, et al. Timing of onset of cognitive decline: results from Whitehall II prospective cohort study. BMJ. 2012;344:d7622.

• Editor:

  Angelina Zanesco, UNESP/Rio Claro, SP, Brazil

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  24 July 2020
• Date of issue
  2020

History

• Received
  11 May 2020
• Accepted
  20 May 2020