Exergaming Among Young Adults in Canada: Longitudinal Study.

BACKGROUND: Exergaming may be an important option to support an active lifestyle, especially during pandemics.

OBJECTIVE: Our objectives were: (i) to explore whether exergaming status from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic (stopped, started, sustained exergaming, never-exergamed) related to changes in walking, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), or meeting MVPA guidelines; and (ii) among past-year exergamers, to describe change in minutes/week exergaming from before to during the pandemic.

METHODS: 681 participants (M(SD) age=33.6(0.5), 41% male) from the 22-year NDIT study provided data on walking, MVPA, and exergaming before (2017-20) and during the COVID-19 pandemic (2021). Physical activity (PA) change scores were described by exergaming status.

RESULTS: 62.4% of participants never exergamed, 8.2% started exergaming during the pandemic, 19.7% stopped, and 9.7% sustained exergaming. Declines were observed in all three PA indicators in all four groups. Among the more salient findings: (i) participants who started exergaming during COVID-19 reported the highest MVPA levels before and during the pandemic and declined the least (mean -35 minutes/week) (ii) sustained exergamers reported the lowest MVPA levels during the pandemic (median 66 minutes/week), and they declined the most in MVPA (mean change of -92 minutes/week) and in meeting MVPA guidelines (-23.6%). During the pandemic, starters reported 85 minutes of exergaming/week and sustained exergamers increased exergaming by a median 60 minutes/week.

CONCLUSIONS: Although starting and sustaining exergaming did not appear to help exergamers maintain pre-pandemic PA levels, exergaming can contribute a substantial proportion of total PA in young adults and may still represent a useful option to promote PA during pandemics.

CLINICALTRIAL: Not applicable.