Faculty Publications
Document Type
Article
Publication Version
Published Version
Keywords
COVID-19, mediating effect, physical activity, sleep, stress, teacher
Journal/Book/Conference Title
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Volume
19
Issue
23
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic prompted chaotic changes in the daily lives of K-12 teachers, resulting in increased stress and other mental health problems. Limited evidence regarding the relationship between physical activity, sleep, and perceived stress among teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic exists. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the association between physical activity, sleep quality, and perceived psychological stress among teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic. An online survey measuring physical activity, sleep quality, and perceived psychological stress was distributed across 47 US states between September and October of 2020. Data provided by 635 teachers (mean age: 42 ± 18 years, 74.6% female) were included in the present analysis. Results suggested a negative association between physical activity and perceived psychological stress. Mediation analyses indicated that teachers engaging in high levels of physical activity were more likely to have good quality sleep and, in turn, were less likely to report high levels of perceived stress. Physical activity and sleep-related interventions could help curtail the rising levels of psychological distress amongst K-12 teachers during stressful times such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Teachers, especially those that self-report as female and/or young, report high levels of stress. These high levels of stress are a serious challenge for school districts in terms of attracting and retaining qualified teachers in K-12 classrooms.
Department
Department of Kinesiology
Original Publication Date
12-1-2022
Object Description
1 PDF file
DOI of published version
10.3390/ijerph192315465
Repository
UNI ScholarWorks, Rod Library, University of Northern Iowa
Date Digital
2022
Copyright
©2022 The Authors. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Fontana, Fabio; Bourbeau, Kelsey; Moriarty, Terence; and da Silva, Michael Pereira, "The Relationship Between Physical Activity, Sleep Quality, And Stress: A Study Of Teachers During The Covid-19 Pandemic" (2022). Faculty Publications. 5275.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/facpub/5275
Comments
First published in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(23) e15465 (2022) published by MDPI. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192315465