Eating Habits and Lifestyle Changes Among Turkish Population During Covid-19 Pandemic Period

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on eating habits, and lifestyles including sleeping and smoking habits, and physical activity of the Turkish population aged >15 years using a web-survey. The survey was conducted from the 5th of August to the 4th of October 2020 by using an online platform and disseminated through institutional and private social networks (Facebook and WhatsApp) and institutional mailing lists. The questionnaire consisted of demographic information, anthropometric data, changes in dietary habits, and changes in lifestyle habits. The total number of participants was 1020 in the study and 71.1% of them are female, and 80% of the participants were in the 20-59 age range. More than half of the participants (67.42%) declared that their eating habits and lifestyles changed during the Covid-19 pandemic. Most of the participants (63%) declared that there is no special food that can improve their immunity against the Covid-19. Contrary to them, most of those who added certain foods to their diets or increased the consumption of certain foods to improve the immunity (39.8%), declared that they got that information from social media such as Twitter, Facebook, and WhatsApp. In particular smoking habits did not change and sleep hours increased during the Covid-19 period. Concerning physical activity, no significant difference was found between the percentage of people before and during the Covid-19 period.