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Health authorities recommend digital tools for home-based sport and exercise routines to stay active and healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study investigates the prevalence, duration, most popular activities, and social selectivity of home-based digital sport and its contribution to overall levels of sporting activity during the pandemic. It is based on cross-sectional survey data (n = 1508), representing the population >14 years living in Germany. Data collection took place in October 2020, using computer-assisted web interviewing. Results show that overall, 23% of respondents used digital media for sports activities at least one time during the COVID-19 pandemic. Numbers increased during the lockdown and decreased afterwards. People engaged in a variety of fitness workouts, most frequently practiced with the help of publicly accessible fitness videos from video-sharing platforms. Digital sports practitioners are younger, better educated, and financially better off. Females are overrepresented. Individuals engaged in digital sports achieved 30 min/week more sports activity during the pandemic compared to individuals solely involved in offline sports. Hence, home-based digital sports activities were a popular means to stay active, particularly in the period of the lockdown. Strong social disparities indicate that the possible health benefits of digital sports only reach out to particular population groups.

Physical activity is a health relevant factor, particularly in affluent societies where overweight and obesity are increasingly prevalent, even among children. Understanding the development of physical activity patterns in childhood is thus an important issue for health promotion. Following socialization theory, this study describes and explains differences in objectively measured moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in a socially and ethnically mixed sample of 6- to 11-year-old children in Germany. MVPA levels were objectively measured with accelerometers over the course of six consecutive days (Wednesday to Monday). Parents’ attitudes and practices as well as the family’s socio-economic status (SES) were assessed from the parents via questionnaires. Results indicate that MVPA levels of children vary with gender, but not with age and ethnicity. Moreover, parental SES, parental support for the child’s sports activities, parents’ own sport activities and the parents’ belief in sports’ capacities to foster personality development, character building and social integration significantly predict the MVPA level of children. It is concluded that interventions to promote MVPA among children need to take family interactions and lifestyles into account and should address families in socio-economically underprivileged areas.

River channels tend to a dynamic equilibrium driven by the dynamics of water and sediment discharge. The resulting fluctuating pattern of channel form is affected by the slope, the substrate erodibility, and the vegetation in the river corridor and in the catchment. Geomorphology is basic to river biodiversity and ecosystem functioning since the channel pattern provides habitat for the biota and physical framework for ecosystem processes. Human activities increasingly change the natural drivers of channel morphology on a global scale (e.g. urbanization increases hydrological extremes, and clearing of forests for agriculture increases sediment yield). In addition, human actions common along world rivers impact channel dynamics directly, e.g. river regulation simplifies and fossilizes channel form. River conservation and restoration must incorporate mechanisms of channel formation and ecological consequences of channel form and dynamics. This article (1) summarizes the role of channel form on biodiversity and functioning of river ecosystems, (2) describes spatial complexity, connectivity and dynamism as three key hydromorphological attributes, (3) identifies prevalent human activities that impact these key components and (4) analyzes gaps in current knowledge and identifies future research topics.

Observational and experimental studies show that leisure time sporting activity (LTSA) is associated with higher well-being. However, scholars often seem to assume that 1) LTSA fosters “general” life satisfaction, thereby ignoring effects on domain satisfaction; 2) the effect of LTSA on well-being is linear and independent of a person’s general activity level; 3) the amount of LTSA is more important than the repertoire of LTSA, i.e. the number of different activities; 4) all kinds of LTSA are equal in their effects, irrespective of spatial and organisational context conditions. Using data from the German SALLSA-Study (“Sport, Active Lifestyle and Life Satisfaction”), a large-scale CAWI-Survey ( N  = 1008) representing the population ≥ 14 years, the paper takes a closer look on these assumptions. Findings demonstrate that LTSA is associated with general life satisfaction and domain-specific satisfaction (concerning relationships, appearance, leisure, work and health), but that the relationship is most pronounced for leisure satisfaction. Associations of sport with life satisfaction, leisure satisfaction and subjective health are non-linear, approaching an injection point from which on additional LTSA is no longer beneficial. Moreover, findings lend support to the notion that diversity in LTSA matters, as individuals with higher variation in sports activities are more satisfied. Finally, results with regard to spatial and organizational context suggest that outdoor sports and club-organized sports have additional benefits.

BackgroundPrevious studies about health in prisons conclude that incarceration has detrimental consequences for physical and mental health. It is associated with weight gain, decreased fitness, increased cardiovascular risks, and increased risks for mental illnesses, like depression and anxiety. This article examines the relationships between sports activity and health developments among prisoners. We analyze data from the Hessian Prison Sports Study, conducted in 12 prisons of the federal state of Hesse, Germany.ResultsBased on quantitative survey data of 568 prisoners in regular custody, our empirical findings show that inmates perceive substantial health declines since incarceration. They report substantial decreases in general health (d=-0.52) and life satisfaction (d=-0.84) as well as an increased number of health problems (d = 0.71). However, sport has a potential to buffer this decline of health. Prisoners engaged in sports report a less negative development of their health compared to inactive prisoners. The greater the amount of time spent with sports activities, the better are the health trajectories found.ConclusionFindings add to the public health and prison sport literature by demonstrating health benefits of sporting activities in a vulnerable population group that almost inevitably is exposed to manifold strains and burdens.

A fundamental issue in microbial and general ecology is the question to what extent environmental conditions dictate the structure of communities and the linkages with functional properties of ecosystems (that is, ecosystem function). We approached this question by taking advantage of environmental gradients established in soil and sediments of small stream corridors in a recently created, early successional catchment. Specifically, we determined spatial and temporal patterns of bacterial community structure and their linkages with potential microbial enzyme activities along the hydrological flow paths of the catchment. Soil and sediments were sampled in a total of 15 sites on four occasions spread throughout a year. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) was used to characterize bacterial communities, and substrate analogs linked to fluorescent molecules served to track 10 different enzymes as specific measures of ecosystem function. Potential enzyme activities varied little among sites, despite contrasting environmental conditions, especially in terms of water availability. Temporal changes, in contrast, were pronounced and remarkably variable among the enzymes tested. This suggests much greater importance of temporal dynamics than spatial heterogeneity in affecting specific ecosystem functions. Most strikingly, bacterial community structure revealed neither temporal nor spatial patterns. The resulting disconnect between bacterial community structure and potential enzyme activities indicates high functional redundancy within microbial communities even in the physically and biologically simplified stream corridors of early successional landscapes.

The presented dataset EU-MOHP v013.1.1 provides multiscale information on the hydrologic position (MOHP) of a geographic point within its respective river network and catchment as gridded maps. More precisely, it comprises the three measures “divide to stream distance” (DSD) as sum of the distances to the nearest stream and catchment divide, “lateral position” (LP) as a relative measure of the position between the nearest stream and divide and “stream distance” (SD) as the distance to the nearest stream. These three measures are calculated for nine hydrologic orders to reflect different spatial scales from local to continental. Its spatial extent covers major parts of the European Economic Area (EEA39) which also largely coincides with physiographical Europe. Although there are multiple potential use cases, this dataset serves predominantly as valuable static environmental descriptor or predictor variable for hydrogeological and hydrological modelling such as mapping or forecasting tasks using machine learning. The generation of this dataset uses free open source software only and therefore can be transferred to other regions or input datasets.Measurement(s)divide to stream distance • lateral position • stream distanceTechnology Type(s)remote sensingSample Characteristic - Environmentdrainage basin • groundwatershed • catchmentSample Characteristic - LocationEurope

Background Latest studies indicated that the general mental health level is low during the pandemic. Probably, this deterioration of the mental health situation is partly due to declines in physical activity. The aim of this study was to investigate differences in and the association between affective wellbeing and levels of different domains of physical activity at three time points before and during the pandemic. Method We used a nationwide online panel with a trend data design encompassing a total sample of N  = 3517, representing the German population (> 14 years). Four different activity domains (sport and exercise, light outdoor activity, housework/gardening, active travel) and affective wellbeing (positive and negative affect) were assessed at three time points before and during the Covid-19 pandemic (October 2019, March 2020, October 2020). Results Multivariate analyses of variance ( MANOVA) indicate differences regarding affective wellbeing over the three time points with the lowest values at the second time point. Levels of activity in the four domains differed significantly over time with the strongest decrease for sport and exercise from the first to the second time point. Partial correlations indicated that the relationships between sport and exercise and positive affect were most consistent over time. Conclusions Overall, our findings suggest that physical activity plays a particularly important role in the pandemic period as a protective factor against poor mental health. Especially sports and exercise seem to be supportive and should be encouraged, e.g. by providing additional support in finding adequate outdoor, home-based or digital substitutes.

This paper explores the relationship between society-related fears and personal mental health. Respondents of an online survey representing the German population (18 + years) answered how much they are worried about eight societal developments (armed conflicts, social inequality, rise of right-wing extremism, crime and terror, immigration, climate change, artificial intelligence, pandemics). The analysis demonstrate that the sum score of society-related fears is significantly associated with higher levels of anxiety and depression. Particularly concerns about poverty, digitalization and pandemics are associated with higher anxiety and depression scores. Further explorations show that specific fears are intermingled with political ideologies, i.e. people fear different societal developments according to their ideological standpoints. Politically left-leaning individuals regard climate change and rising right-wing extremism as more threatening, while politically right-leaning individuals’ fears relate more strongly to migrants, terror and crime. The fears with the largest negative effect on mental health are poverty and armed conflicts for individuals who identify as left and digitalization for individuals who identify as right. Overall, findings lend support to the general notion that the world’s current ‘polycrisis’ is highly relevant and generally detrimental for mental health and human wellbeing.