Second Years College Students of Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta University Perspective’s

About The Importance of Physical Activities During Covid-19 Pandemic

Result

1. The students understanding about the definition of physical activity is good, all of the

respondents agree if ‘physical activity is important to improve the immune system and

maintain health’.

2. The students understanding about the covid-19 is only about knowing that ‘this virus

coming from Wuhan, China which attacks the respiratory tract and spreads through

droplets.’ They also know that this covid-19 disease can cause death, but 2 out of 5

respondents still doubt the existence of this virus because that is invisible and the

pandemic hasn’t subsided. But, one out of the five respondents from medical faculty

understands very well about the impact this virus has.

3. The routines of the students in doing physical activity are quited varied, three out of five

students answered that they never scheduled routinely, one of them answered routinely

three times a week. While the last student answered that he more often scheduled outdoor

activities such as mountain climbing every three months with futsal once a week.

4. Since it was announced that the covid-19 virus had entered Indonesia, the five

respondents also felt the impact of the online class policy. The five of them were sent

home and also experienced online lectures where previously they had only experienced

offline class for approximately seven months.

5. Since the social distancing and working from home policies was established, the five

students felt a significant change in their physical activity routine, all five answered that

online class from morning to evening made them sit more than before pandemic. Physical
 activities such as sports can’t be carried out freely as usual, because there are raids in

public places, they are also afraid of contracting the covid-19 virus. This lack of physical

activity also had an impact on the health of the five respondents, such as ranging from

easily tired, increasing weight, unstable emotions and being more easily stressed.

From the data above, it can be seen that the students was aware about the importance of

physical activity even though there were some students not keen on sports. The students also

shared the same opinion as seen from the interview excerpt below.

A second-year female from Medical and Health Science faculty commented :

“As you know, I’m a medical student. Everyday our lecture always remaindering us to do

social distancing, wearing a mask and also wash hands with soap according to 6 steps from

WHO. We know from social media, television about the high death rate due to covid-19, also the

lack of public awareness to always comply with health protocols. Honestly I feel guilty and

regretful, because as a medical student I can’t do more, I can only remind and give an example to

my circle. After pandemic coming to our country we are facing massive change in all aspects,

such as economics, educations, politics, social society, health and even in religion. Honestly, I’m

not a people who love doing sports, I just doing exercise when I have spare time or when I want

to. And now I realize that health is actually easy and cheap, while illness is actually expensive. In

offline class I’m busy with my practicum schedule, while online I’m busy spending time in front

of my laptop. But, the different thing between online and offline class is before the pandemic I

usually goes to campus on foot and also sometimes doing afternoon walk around the campus. My

room in the dorm is also located on the third floor, so indirectly I’ve been doing exercise. But, in

online class, I spend more time only in my room so that the learning is more conducive. And
now I feel the impact of this sedentary life because I get tired more easily and I gain weight.

Psychologically, I also feel easily stressed and angry.”

A second-year female from Language Education faculty commented :

“If you ask me about the covid-19, I don’t know much about it. I only know if this virus

coming from china and attacks the respiratory tract. I heard that this virus spreads through the

air, that’s why we are asked to wear masks, wash our hands often and keep our distance from the

other people. I’m not a sports lover, but I know that is important to me. Actually I never

scheduled a special time to exercise, because my daily activities just made me tired. I also have

no vehicle, so I go anywhere on foot, and I find it quite tiring. But, I think this pandemic made

my immune system lowered because I was easily tired, feels weak when doing an activity.

Honestly compared to when offline I feel better because in online learning I just sit down in front

of my laptop all day.”

A second-year male from Engineering faculty commented :

“I’m a sport lover and doing exercise actually being my habit. I usually doing exercise

regularly especially before the pandemic. Because I feel comfortable and fit after doing exercise.

I think three times a week is enough for me. I ever read from internet that doing exercise can

make my immune stronger, so I keep doing exercise even with other modifications and

adjusments because I still maintain my health protocol. At the beginning of the pandemic, I only

do exercise at home, doing gymnastics, lift weights, or just warm up and stretching that I took

from youtube. But, if you ask me about covid-19, honestly I don’t have much knowledge, I only

know that this virus spreads through the air and attack the respiratory tract. This virus can cause
death, but because this virus is invisible and my village is green zone, so now I have the courage

to travel and doing outdoor exercise.”

A second-year female from Economic and Bussiness faculty commented :

“I think doing physical activity like sports is something amazing to me, since I was

child I really didn’t like sports. So I don’t have a scheduled to doing exercise, although I know

physical activity like sport is good for our health. I like to walk, and several times climbed the

mountain. But after Indonesia attacked by pandemic, I has never been climbed up again. Now

I’m feel weaker and easily feel tired. My concentration study is not about health, so I don’t know

much about this virus, but I have doubt because this virus is invisible but the pandemic is not

over.”

A second-year male from Law faculty commented :

“I am one of those people who likes natural activities rather than sports such as football,

badminton or basketball. I preferring cycling to challenging places, or rafting, mountain climbing

and diving. I know that physical activity is important to keep our healthy mind and body. And

this pandemic made my nature activity delayed, so I changed some outdoor activities to indoor

activities. I usually scheduled my outdoor activity once every two or three months beside the

academic activity. Knowledge about this pandemic, I think I don’t know much. But I know this

pandemic will not over if we didn’t make a strict policies about lockdowns and vaccines.

Because it will be the same when we are vaccinated but we are free to go everywhere. We wear

masks but travel and crowd. Moreover, the public figures who become role models can easily

organize trips and even parties. There are people who increasingly distrustful with

healthworkers.”
Discussion

This study shows that second-years college students from different faculty in

Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta University know about the importance of physical activity. Physical

activity is proven to improve the immune system, meanwhile the strong immune system can

easily fight foreign antigens such as the SARS-CoV-2. Doing good physical exercise can

significantly change the immune system. Studies show that the modulation of the

immuneresponse associated with physical exercise depends on the frequency, intensity, period

and kind of exercise applied (Laddu et al, 2021). Lack of physical activity in daily life can

impact on endurance closely related to immune system. Reduced physical activitysuch as non-

exercise performed in a duration of 150-300 minutes in three days a week can increase 20-30%

risk of disease and death (Apituley et al, 2021). Physical exercise interventions during a

pandemic have been proven to have a positive impact and reduce symptoms of stress, depression,

anxiety, frustration, boredom and other mental health disorders. Physical exercise is a key factor

in helping individuals to be more resilient to the pandemic period both mentally and physically

(Amatriain-Fernández et al., 2020). Increased capability in physical exercise can have a direct

effect on the activity of the immune system in the body. Studies have proven that physical

exercise significantly improves immune system function (Mohamed & Alawna, 2020).

Moderate-intensity physical exercise can stimulate cellular immunity, but when done at

high intensity without rest it can cause a decrease in cellular immunity (da Silveira et al., 2021).

Studies conducted by (Jesus, Vanhee, Deramaudt, & Bonay, 2021) explain that excessive

physical exercise can increase the risk of diseases associated with immune dysfunction. Studies

that have been conducted on athletes during the post-race period have shown increased

susceptibility associated with immunoglobulin A output, decreased natural killer cell activity and
decreased T and B cell function (Jesus, Vanhee, Deramaudt, & Bonay, 2021). According to

Nieman (2020), also explains that physical exercise that makes you tired both when infected with

viruses such as influenza or COVID-19 can trigger the severity of the disease, because it can

cause modifications in the immune system. The production of anti-inflammatory cytokines that

function to reduce tissue damage when produced continuously in strenuous activity can cause

immunosuppression, so that it can worsen the infection that occurs (Nieman, 2020). Therefore,

the recommended physical exercise is moderate intensity physical exercise with a regular

frequency.

Moderate physical exercise can help the human immune system function against sistem

pathogens. due to changes in white blood cells in the circulatory system

and tissues, protection against infection induced by intracellular microorganisms is also

enhanced (da Silveira et al., 2021). Regular physical exercise can increase the immune response

to pathogens, protect the body from bacterial and viral infections (Scheffer & Latini, 2020). This

means that physical exercise is one way to prevent infectious diseases such as COVID-19 and

non-communicable diseases such as obesity. Another study also found that regular physical

exercise with moderate intensity can reduce respiratory tract infections (da Silveira et al., 2021).

In addition, regular moderate-intensity physical exercise can increase cellular and humoral

immunity, thereby significantly limiting the danger of infection (Furtado et al., 2021). However,

most of the respondents do not carry out activities regularly because they are afraid of the risk of

being exposed to the covid-19 virus if sports are done outdoors. Some students also said that the

education system has changed a lot, even online classes can take hours in front of their

computers. also have multiple tasks, so it is too difficult to find exclusive time for exercise and

physical activity.