Physical activity in Indonesian society and its relation with internet usage during COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Physical activity is defined as any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles. Several factors can influence a person's physical activity levels, one of them is work from home (WFH) policy caused by Covid-19. This policy could reduce a person’s physical activity. To maintain health during the Covid-19 pandemic, most people access the internet to find health-related information. However, there is no information about the physical activity level and the relationship between physical activity and health-related internet usage during the Covid-19 pandemic in Indonesian society. This study asked 83 participants from 32 cities in Indonesia to fill the questionnaire related to their activity using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) and the purpose of internet usage. Most of the respondents had moderate activity levels. Females were more active than males during the Covid-19 pandemic. A higher intensity of working from home negatively correlated with a physical activity score, however, it was not statistically significant. People who used the internet to search for a healthy diet and healthy life information were more physically active than those who did not. Thus, we assumed that people who used the internet to search for a healthy diet and healthy life information have high awareness about their health.

Keywords: Physical activity, IPAQ, MET, Internet usage, Indonesia