Relationship Between Resting Heart Rate and Physical Activity Mode in College Students after Covid-19

Resting heart rate (RHR) is a simple and effective clinical index for predicting heart function. Good physical activity (PA) habits are associated with an optimal RHR. PURPOSE: To explore the relationship between the RHR and physical activity mode among the first batch of college students who have been at home for at least half a year before returning to normal college life after COVID-19 in Shanghai, China. METHODS: 176 healthy college students (mean ± SD, age = 22.69 ± 3.14 yr, 39.2% female, BMI = 21.93 ± 2.95 kg/m2) volunteered to participate in this study. RHR was estimated by self-measurement of pulse beats in 30s in the classroom in the second teaching week. Students should keep quiet and simulate at least 2 times before measurement. An online PA questionnaire was used to collect frequency, type, and weekly PA time according to "Compendium of Physical Activities" (Ainsworth B E, et al., 2011). The optimal RHR cut-off value is ≤70 bpm for men and ≤ 80 bpm for women (David Nanchen, 2018) when analyzing the relationship between RHR and PA. In order to compare the mean values of the subscales (males and females), ANOVA with repeated measures was applied. The assumed significance level was set at p < 0.05. RESULTS: The average RHR was 73.60 ± 8.61 bpm and the main PA mode were "inactive rest" and "low-intensity activity" such as walking, talking with others, sitting, and learning, etc. (more than 70%). Generally, weekly PA frequency (2.84 ± 1.78 times) and time (92.31 ± 76.15 min) were not meeting minimum recommended PA guidelines for adults. The male students performed better in weekly PA frequency (3.31 ± 1.9 times) and time (113.72 ± 79.08 min) than female (1.84 ± 1.34 times and 61.96 ± 57.61 min) (p < 0.01 and p < 0.01). In addition, weekly PA time (132.44 ± 93.23 min) was significantly higher in male students with RHR ≤ 70 bpm when compared to that with RHR > 70 bpm (96.53 ± 59.32 min) (p = 0.03). However, it didn’t appear in the corresponding female subgroups. CONCLUSIONS: After COVID-19, the PA mode of college students was mainly low-intensity activity with a relatively low level of weekly frequency and PA time, the phenomenon of which was more pronounced among female students. For male students, the optimal RHR (≤70 bpm) after COVID-19 might be associated with the high weekly total PA time.