Association between physical and mental health variables among software professionals working at home: a secondary analysis

Abstract

The association of physical activity (PA) or sedentary behaviour (SB) with mental health in remotely working software professionals remains unclear. We administered a secondary analysis of physical health variables (PA and SB time during work and non-work days) and mental health variables (stress, anxiety, depression) from a primary study. Ninety-five per cent of the participants (n = 76) did not meet the global PA recommendations. Our study found daily PA time to be negatively associated with stress (β = −1.57; p = 0.02), anxiety (β = −1.01; p = 0.04) and depression (β = −0.68; p = 0.47). Furthermore, the average daily sitting time during the work day was found to be positively associated with stress (β = 0.28; p = 0.00), anxiety (β = 0.01; p = 0.04) and depression (β = −0.68; p = 0.03). Organizational policies should advocate the implementation of PA or SB strategies for improving mental health in remote workers.

Trial registration

Clinical Trials Registry India identifier CTRI/2021/03/032146.

Keywords:

• sedentary work
• physical health
• mental health
• Facebook
• COVID-19
• physical activity
• mental health
• sitting time
• work from home

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Dr Fiddy Davis, head of Department of Exercise and Sports Sciences, Manipal College of Health Professions, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Karnataka, India for his support towards research. The authors would like to thank Ms Lavanya Paramasivam for her intellectual inputs while framing the protocol for the research. The protocol is approved by Kasturba Hospitals Institutional Ethics Committee (IEC 827/2020). The research proposal is prospectively registered in Clinical Trial Registry of India (CTRI/2021/03/032146).

Informed consent was obtained from all remote workers for participation in the study. Appropriate consent was obtained for publication. The data regarding physical and mental health variables is available from the corresponding author (B.C.) on request.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.