Discussion
The ”psychological eye of the hurricane” of the COVID-19 epidemic
The study found that, in general, during the epidemic, residents showed
increased levels of boredom and mood disturbance. There was no
significant difference in boredom and mood state by epidemic severity
level. However, according to the descriptive statistics, the boredom and
mood disturbance levels reported by residents in the less severe areas
were generally higher than those reported by residents in severe areas.
This may reflect a slight ”psychological eye of the hurricane” effect.
Under this phenomenon, the closer a person is to the risk center, the
calmer the person will feel and the lower the level of risk perception
will be (Xu, Zheng, Rao, Kuang,
Yang, Ding, Li, & Li, 2020).
This phenomenon was first observed during the Wenchuan earthquake (Li,
Rao, Ren, Bai, Zheng, & Li, et al, 2009). The survey results show that
the estimation of the severity of the disaster is higher among
non-disaster-area residents than among disaster-area residents,
suggesting that the former is more worried about the disaster than the
latter and supporting the existence of a ”psychological eye of the
hurricane”. At present, from a comprehensive perspective, the possible
mechanisms explaining and predicting this phenomenon proposed by the
academic community can be summarized into four categories: benefit
judgment, psychological immunity, cognitive dissonance, and
experience-description (Xu, Zheng, Rao, Kuang, Yang, Ding, Li, & Li,
2020).
Direct effect of physical activity on mood state
This study found that physical activity has a significant negative
predictive effect on TMD and negative mood and a significant positive
predictive effect on positive mood. In other words, with the increase in
physical activity, the mood state of residents is correspondingly
improved. This effect is achieved through the reduction of negative
emotions and activation of positive emotional experiences (Strasser, &
Fuchs, 2015). In addition, physical activity intensity, physical
activity time, and physical activity frequency all affect the emotional
experience of residents (Qiu, & Zhang, 2019). However, during the
COVID-19 epidemic, residents’ outdoor activities were severely
restricted, thus hindering and limiting many physical activities.
However, to maintain a good emotional experience and mood state,
residents should maintain a moderate amount of physical activity, and
even simple activities like stair climbing can have a positive impact on
the mood state (Andreas, Adam, Emily, & Liana, 2019). Jiang Changhao et
al. (2014) explored the cognitive mechanism of the influence of physical
activity on mood state, and pointed out that physical activity can
promote the release of certain neurotransmitters, thus improving mood
state.
The mediating effect of boredom between physical activity and mood state
This study found that physical activity can not only directly predict
mood state, but can also indirectly predict mood state through boredom,
that is, boredom plays a mediating role between physical activity and
mood state.
Physical activity can significantly affect boredom, which is consistent
with a previous study (Viira, & Raudsepp, 2000; Ekkekakis, Parfitt, &
Petruzzello, 2011). The research of Pekrun et al. (2010) shows that
boredom has specific emotional components; therefore, it can be
considered a specific negative emotion similar to anger and depression.
Physical activity can effectively alter the emotional state of
individuals. When individuals engage in sports activities, they reduce
the empty leisure time in their lives and enrich their emotional
experience. Therefore, moderate physical activity can reduce the boredom
of individuals.
In addition, previous studies have shown that boredom is associated with
several negative emotions (Ejaz, Schur, & Noelker, 1997; Van Hooft, &
Van Hooff, 2018). Isacescu et al. (2017) found that boredom was
associated with various forms of cognitive and emotional dissonance.
Huang Shihua et al. (2011) summarized previous psychological studies on
boredom and pointed out that boredom can significantly predict negative
emotions such as despair, loneliness and anxiety. The correlation
between positive mood and boredom is not significant, which indicates
that physical activity does not predict positive mood through the
mediating effect of boredom. Individuals should do as much as possible
to engage in moderate physical activity within their capacity during
home confinement to reduce feelings of boredom and further reduce
negative mood.