{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,12]],"date-time":"2025-10-12T04:39:08Z","timestamp":1760243948898,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"21","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,5]],"date-time":"2022-11-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1667606400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The aim of this study was to explore how the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which contact communication was severely restricted, changed psychological health indicators, such as subjective assessment of health and depression, impulsivity, stress and emotional intelligence (EI) and how that depended on age, gender, physical activity (PA), sports specificity and body mass index (BMI).We surveyed 6369 before and 2392 people during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants were aged 18\u201374 years. Participants completed the Danish Physical Activity Questionnaire (DPAQ), the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), the Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test (SSREIT), Barratt Impulsiveness Scale Version 11 (BIS-11), subjective depression and health self-assessments. One-way and two-way analyses of variance (ANOVA) were performed to assess the effect of independent variables on the dependent variables of MVPA (METs). Statistical analysis showed that restrictions during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic did not alter moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), except for a significant decrease in MVPA in women aged 18\u201325 years, or body mass index in women and men of different ages. An increase in depression and impulsivity was observed, especially an increase in unplanned or spontaneous activity. The restrictions during the first wave increased stress in women of all ages and, rather unexpectedly, improved health self-assessment in men.The study showed that the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic affected people\u2019s subjective assessment of health, depression, stress and impulsivity in two ways: it \u201cweakened the weak ones\u201d and \u201cstrengthened the strong ones\u201d.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph192114523","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,8]],"date-time":"2022-11-08T11:56:36Z","timestamp":1667908596000},"page":"14523","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["The First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic Strengthened the \u201cStrong\u201d and Weakened the \u201cWeak\u201d Ones"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"19","author":[{"given":"Albertas","family":"Skurvydas","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rehabilitation, Physical and Sports Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Health Scences, Vilnius University, 21\/27 M.K. \u010ciurlionio St., 03101 Vilnius, Lithuania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1084-9978","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ausra","family":"Lisinskiene","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Education Academy, Vytautas Magnus University, K. Donelai\u010dio Str. 58, 44248 Kaunas, Lithuania"},{"name":"Institute of Education Studies, Education Academy, Vytautas Magnus University, K. Donelai\u010dio Str. 58, 44248 Kaunas, Lithuania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Daiva","family":"Majauskiene","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rehabilitation, Physical and Sports Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Health Scences, Vilnius University, 21\/27 M.K. \u010ciurlionio St., 03101 Vilnius, Lithuania"},{"name":"Education Academy, Vytautas Magnus University, K. Donelai\u010dio Str. 58, 44248 Kaunas, Lithuania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1034-1074","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dovile","family":"Valanciene","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Education Academy, Vytautas Magnus University, K. Donelai\u010dio Str. 58, 44248 Kaunas, Lithuania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8488-9278","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ruta","family":"Dadeliene","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rehabilitation, Physical and Sports Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Health Scences, Vilnius University, 21\/27 M.K. \u010ciurlionio St., 03101 Vilnius, Lithuania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6562-053X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Natalja","family":"Istomina","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, 21\/27 M.K. \u010ciurlionio St., 03101 Vilnius, Lithuania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ieva Egle","family":"Jamontaite","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rehabilitation, Physical and Sports Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Health Scences, Vilnius University, 21\/27 M.K. \u010ciurlionio St., 03101 Vilnius, Lithuania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9564-2756","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Asta","family":"Sarkauskiene","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Sports Recreation and Tourism, Klaip\u0117da University, HerkausMantost. 84, 92294 Klaip\u0117da, Lithuania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"607","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev-physiol-020518-114339","article-title":"The physiology of optimizing health with a focus on exercise as medicine","volume":"81","author":"Pedersen","year":"2019","journal-title":"Annu. 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