The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics: An opportunity to promote physical activity and winter sports in Chinese youth

Investigating the causal impact of different types of physical activity on psychiatric disorders across life stages: A Mendelian randomization study

BACKGROUND

Psychiatric disorders, including attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression, anxiety disorders, and dementia, manifest differently across life stages, impacting cognitive, emotional, and behavioral health. Understanding the causal relationships between various types of physical activity and these disorders is crucial for developing targeted interventions.

METHODS

The summary level data from GWAS was utilized to conduct a two-sample Mendelian Randomization (MR) analysis. We assessed the potential causal relationships between different types of physical activity including light do it yourself (DIY) activities, heavy DIY activities, strenuous sports, and aerobic exercises/other exercises and the prevalence of psychiatric disorders (ADHD, depression, anxiety disorders, and dementia) across different life stages.

RESULTS

The MR analysis showed no causal relationship between light DIY activities and any of the psychiatric disorders studied. Heavy DIY activities showed a significant negative association with anxiety disorders but no links with ADHD, depression, or dementia. Strenuous sports did not demonstrate any causal relationship with the psychiatric disorders examined. Aerobic exercises were notably correlated with a reduced risk of depression, although no significant associations were found with ADHD, anxiety disorders, or dementia.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings indicate that heavy DIY activities might contribute to reducing anxiety disorders, while aerobic exercises potentially lower the risk of depression. These results emphasize the potential benefits of promoting specific types of physical activity to improve mental health outcomes across different life stages. Future research could further investigate the mechanisms underlying these relationships and consider diverse populations and objective measures of physical activity.

Risk Management of Sports Venues and Olympic Sports Cooperation Spirit under Complex Environment

The understanding of sports event risk and Olympic sports cooperation spirit, as well as the systematic analysis and research of sports event risk management, are still in their early stages in China's sports theory circle. Institutions for developing sports talent also disregard programmes designed to increase the risk awareness and Olympic spirit of sports workers. This essay provides an overview of the concepts of sports event risk and Olympic sports cooperation spirit based on reality. This paper examines the interaction of risk management of large-scale sporting events and Olympic sports cooperation spirit from the perspective of event organization managers, using the pertinent theory of risk management and the random forest algorithm in machine learning. The experimental results show that, according to the analysis of injury occurrence according to different positions, it is discovered that forward athletes suffer the most injuries, with an average of 54 forwards in injury situations, followed by guards with an average of 43 guards in injury situations, and finally centres with an average of 38 guards in injury situations. Combining risk management for major sporting events with the cooperative Olympic sports spirit has significant practical implications.

Evaluation of pre-Games effects of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on Japanese population-level physical activity: a time-series analysis

Background

The Olympic Games represent an opportunity to create a ‘physical activity legacy’ that promotes physical activity at the population level in the host nations and cities. However, previous studies showed little increase in population-level physical activity following the Olympics. The upsurge of public interest in sports and physical activity participation before the Olympics may diminish rapidly following the Games. We examined the pre-Games effects of the Olympics on Japanese population-level physical activity after the announcement of Tokyo’s successful bid for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games in September 2013.

Methods

We used publicly available data from serial cross-sectional surveys conducted with nationally or regionally representative samples in Japan seven years before and after the announcement (from 2006–2020). The outcomes were 1) daily step counts and 2) exercise habit prevalence (≥ 30 min/day, ≥ 2 days/week, and over a year) from the National Health and Nutrition Surveys Japan (NHNS-J; 14 time points; aggregated data); and 3) sports participation (at least once a week) from the National Sports-Life Survey conducted every two years (NSLS; eight time points; individual-level data of 18,867 adults) and from the Public Opinion Survey on Sports Participation of Tokyo Residents (POSSP; eight time points; aggregated data). Age- and gender-adjusted regression models were used to estimate changes in the outcomes before and after the announcement.

Results

There were no significant pre-Games effects of the Olympics on national-level physical activity participation among Japanese adults. Sports participation (56.4% and 57.5%, respectively; P = 0.518), daily steps (6,535 and 6,686 steps/day; P = 0.353), and exercise habit (30.7% and 29.1%, P = 0.309) did not change significantly before and after the announcement. Although an increase in sports participation among Tokyo residents was not found in the NSLS (61.5% and 59.3%, P = 0.227), it was observed in the POSSP (49.1% and 57.7%, P = 0.019). Nonetheless, this increase might not be related to the pre-Games effects since the trend diminished following the announcement.

Conclusions

Population-level physical activity did not show significant changes until 2020. Realising the physical activity legacy of an Olympics may require strategic promotion and cross-agency partnership implementation in the pre- and post-event period.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12966-022-01332-x.