Temporal patterns of everyday movement while working from home: a longitudinal study of step counts in Sweden during COVID-19.

backgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic accelerated a large-scale shift toward remote work, raising important public health questions about how changes in daily routines affect physical activity. While many studies have reported short-term declines in activity during the pandemic, fewer have examined long-term patterns using objective data, particularly in contexts with relatively soft public health restrictions such as Sweden.

methodsWe conducted a longitudinal descriptive study using step count data from 1,529 Swedish participants collected via a custom-built smartphone app between March 2019 and March 2021. The app accessed one year of historical step data before and after Sweden’s March 2020 recommendation to work from home. Participants ranged in age from 18 to 75 years, and 55% were women. We combined demographic variation with detailed temporal analyses across months, weekdays, and hours to examine sustained and routine-specific changes in physical activity.

resultsParticipants took 16.2% fewer daily steps during the remote work period compared to the previous year, with the sharpest decline on weekdays (− 23.9%) and during morning hours. Weekend activity showed a modest increase (+ 2.9%), indicating partial compensation. The overall change was most dramatic in younger men (− 24.1%) and smallest in women aged 55 years and older. Temporal analyses revealed that the morning peak in step activity largely disappeared, consistent with the loss of commuting routines, while lunch and afternoon peaks remained visible. These changes persisted across several months and could not be explained by seasonal variation.

conclusionsOur results suggest that even in a country with less strict COVID-19 regulations, such as Sweden, everyday physical activity was affected. The data indicate that governmental policies advising, but not enforcing, work from home were followed. Remote work conditions may be associated with a substantial reduction in everyday physical activity, particularly during typical commuting hours. As hybrid and remote work remain prevalent in post-pandemic life, these behavioral patterns warrant attention in public health planning. The use of passively collected smartphone data provides a scalable approach to understanding the health consequences of long-term shifts in work routines.