Mental health and exercise during the COVID-19 pandemic: A Twitter sentiment analysis.

This article focuses on analyzing individuals' exercise habits and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic through sentiment and correlational analyses of Twitter posts. The study found that in the first year of the pandemic, tweets about mental health and exercise were predominantly COVID-19–focused, but over time, exercise-related tweets became more focused on physical activity itself, while mental health tweets concentrated more on psychological well-being. The analysis revealed associations between exercise and mental health terms, suggesting that many individuals viewed exercise as a coping mechanism for mental health challenges exacerbated by the pandemic. The authors highlight the potential benefits of promoting regular exercise to address ongoing mental health concerns in the post-pandemic period and call for further research on exercise's effects on mental health after COVID-19.