Why some people find it easier to stick to new habits
they formed during lockdown

November 24, 2020

Periods of lockdown represent a massive disruption to people's daily routines, but they also offer an opportunity to establish new habits.

Our research focus is on what motivates people to change their behaviour, particularly when it comes to physical activity routines.

We compared the leveis of physical activity of New Zealanders before and during the country's major lockdown between March and May. We found 38.5% of our sample were doing more physical activity than they did prior to lockdown. But 36% did less and 25.5% were doing about the sarne.

More interesting was that people whose physical activity was either below or at the World Health Organization's (WHO) recommended guideline of 150 minutes of moderate activity per week increased their activity, while those who were highly active pre-lockdown did less.

Understanding motivation

Approved lockdown activities specifically allowed physical activity as long as people stayed in their local neighbourhood.

Our study shows 23% of participants decided to increase their physical activity to improve their physical and mental health. Both the New Zealand government and the WHO emphasised the link between exercise and health and our results back it up - being physically active during lockdown was associated with greater self-reported psychological well-being.

Motivation is not an all-or-nothing phenomenon. There are different types of motivation and each has a different influence on how likely a person is to change their behaviour and to maintain a new habit.

Someone who enjoys being active and sees the value of it experiences what is called autonomous motivation. This provides a strong impetus for people to continue being active in the long term.

In contrast, someone who is active beca use they feel they have to be (for example, their GP told them they need to improve a health condition) or to avoid feeling guilty about not getting enough exercise is experiencing controlled motivation.

Our results show that, during lockdown, people's leveis of physical activity were associated with autonomous motivation, reflecting research from other countries.

Previous research has shown autonomous motivation leads to sustained physical activity behaviour. People who recognise and value the physical and mental health benefits of being active are likely to have continued being active once lockdown restrictions were lifted.

Two other popular reasons for being active during lockdown were beca use people had more time (25%) or simply because it was a good excuse to get outside (19%).

This might partly explain why some people stopped their physical activity after lockdown.

Once lockdown finished, the extra spare time many people reported was likely reduced again. Similarly, once restrictions were lifted, the use of physical activity as an excuse to get outside wasn't necessary.

(Adapted from https://theconversation.com)