Impact of COVID-19 Home Confinement on Eating Behavior, Mental Health, and Physical Activity of the Indian Population

Abstract

The emergence of the COVID -19 pandemic had a severe impact on people from all walks of life. The rapid spread of the disease in almost all parts of the country resulted in people having to stay at home, becoming socially distant, and cities being closed, creating enormous health, economic, environmental, and social challenges for the entire population. The aim of this study was to examine how these preventive measures affected the mental, physical, and nutritional health of the Indian population. A cross-sectional web-based study was conducted on the Indian population to assess the impact of COVID -19 on mental health, and changes in daily lifestyle such as diet, physical activity, and sleep patterns using a validated questionnaire. Data were collected between August 15, 2020, and October 15, 2020, using the Google Form platform. A total of 772 participants (394 men and 378 women) completed the study. The median age of the participants in the study was 32 years and the majority of the participants belonged to the age group of 21–30 years. Out of 772 participants, 286 participants (37%) had no change in their dietary intake. And 384 participants (49.70%) increased their dietary intake. There was a significant association seen between dietary intake and change in BMI (p <0.001). There was a significant change observed in the sleeping pattern when compared pre and during the covid phase (p <0.001). We conclude that there were few positive and negative impacts of covid-19 on the dietary pattern, mental health, and physical activity. These observations have potential implications that could help to identify the possible factors for change in the dietary, mental and physical behavior and impede through proper counseling. Keywords: ­ Eating patterns, Nutritional health, Physical activity, Stress, Sleep patterns, Coronavirus, Pandemic, Lockdown