The databases searched included PubMed, Web of Science, SportDiscus, and BISp-Surf. The approach of a scoping review was chosen as the body of evidence on physical activity and COVID-19 is rapidly growing and is rather heterogenous, which is problematic for a precise systematic review. The research questions guiding our study are thus two-fold:Ī scoping literature review was conducted on the changes in physical activity levels of children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. The latter enables us to derive practical implications for effective strategies to raise physical activity levels in future pandemic waves, respectively, in potential future pandemics. Thus, this study aims to (1) identify how far the restrictions have impacted the physical activity levels of children and adolescents and (2) identify which factors determine the physical activity levels. This is especially important as children below the age of 12 are at this point unable to receive a vaccination against the virus and might face further restrictions in later waves of the virus. While there have been several reviews on the effects of the COVID-19-pandemic on physical activity behaviors, there is a lack of systematic evidence on the effects on children and adolescents specifically. A further reduction of physical activity during the pandemic could have harmful effects as PA during youth is an essential determinant for future PA, is an antecedent for mental health, and helps avoid future health challenges such as obesity and cardiovascular diseases. This is especially dramatic as previous studies have shown that most children and adolescents did not reach the physical activity guidelines of 60 min of PA per day recommended by the WHO even before the pandemic. This confinement could have adverse effects on children’s physical and mental health as they did not get to play with their friends, be active in their sports groups, or have regular exercise in school physical education (PE) classes. While young people are less likely to experience severe symptoms after infection, they were still confined through school closures and the close-down of leisure activities. One population group that has been struck especially hard by the restrictive measures is children and adolescents. In contrast, physical activity was widely recommended by national governments during the time to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Restricting leisure opportunities such as sports also created a barrier to physical activity, while at the same time, sedentary time increased during lockdown due to more time spent at home. While these restrictions effectively slowed down the spread of the virus and contained the disease, they came with negative externalities as individuals were forced to stay home, which increased the risk of social isolation. Many national governments have introduced countermeasures to counteract the disease and avoid infections, including social distancing policies, closure of schools, shops and leisure opportunities, contact restrictions, and curfews. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared it a public health emergency of international concern on 30 January 2020. Since December 2019, the SARS-CoV-2 virus, responsible for the COVID-19 disease, has spread across the globe and caused a global pandemic. The results imply that governments need to consider the negative effects that restrictive measures have on children’s physical activity and act to ensure high levels of physical activity. The main determinants of children’s physical activity during the pandemic were age, gender, socioeconomic background, and the outdoor environment. If an increase was detected, it related to unstructured and outdoor activities. The results highlighted a decrease in physical activity during the pandemic, ranging between −10.8 min/day and −91 min/day. The search resulted in 1672 studies, of which 84 studies were included in the analysis. Risk of bias was assessed using the checklist by Downs and Black. Inclusion criteria were empirical and peer-reviewed studies, youth samples, investigation of COVID-19 restrictions, and investigating changes and/or determinants of physical activity before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. A scoping review was conducted in the databases PubMed, Web of Science, SportDiscus, and BISp-Surf. The aim of the present study is to review the evidence on the effects of COVID-19 restrictions on children’s physical activity and their determinants. While these restrictions helped contain the virus, it had adverse effects on individuals’ mental and physical health-especially children. To counteract the COVIC-19 pandemic, many governments have introduced social distancing measures.
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