Finns move more, sleep longer during coronavirus epidemic

Finns are moving more and sleeping longer than a year ago during the coronavirus epidemic, and the popularity of outdoor sports has also clearly increased since mid-March this year, reported news agency Xinhua quoting national broadcaster Yle on Saturday.

Yle quoted the user data collected by Polar, a Finnish sports instrument producer, from their wrist devices. March 2019 and March 2020 were selected as benchmarks.

The increase in exercise is well illustrated by the fact that the average daily steps have been increased by 400 steps compared to March last year. Now the number of average steps per day is 9,400.

The data also shows the popularity of outdoor sports has clearly increased since mid-March this year. This is largely explained by the fact that indoor sports, such as gym visits, guided exercise, and swimming, decreased significantly this year compared to March 2019.

"People's way of time-using has changed. Many people now save on commuting time while working remotely," explained Raija Laukkanen, director of science at Polar, to Yle.

Laukkanen added that encouragement of outdoor activities and the warm weather in March have contributed to increased physical exercise.

According to Yle's report earlier, more than a million Finns have moved to remote work during the time of the coronavirus crisis. In addition to doing more physical exercise, the amount and quality of sleep of Finns have also improved during the epidemic.

The average length of sleep for Polar's wristwatch users has increased by 10 minutes per day from 7 hours 25 minutes in March 2019 to 7 hours 35 minutes in March 2020.

Laukkanen explained that the increase in sleep time is probably explained by the savings in commuting time from teleworking.

Sleep quality is measured by the movement and heart rate sensors of watches. "The heart rate has dropped slightly. Heart rate variability has improved and the respiratory rate has decreased somewhat. It can be concluded from this that sleep is now more restorative and restful," said Laukkanen.

Tommi Vasankari, director of the UKK Institute (UKK Institute for Health Promotion Research) and doctor of Medicine and Docent of Exercise Physiology, found the results surprising. "400 steps and 10 minutes more sleep per day are an excellent change," said Vasankari.

As of Saturday afternoon, Finland has confirmed 4,475 cases of COVID-19. The death toll has risen to 186, according to the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare.