Department of Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics, College of Health Sciences, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, UAE.
Nuffield Department of Women's & Reproductive Health, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 2JD, UK.
Nutrients. 2020 Oct 29;12(11):3314. doi: 10.3390/nu12113314.
The coronavirus disease is still spreading in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with subsequent lockdowns and social distancing measures being enforced by the government. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of the lockdown on eating habits and lifestyle behaviors among residents of the UAE. A cross-sectional study among adults in the UAE was conducted using an online questionnaire between April and May 2020. A total of 1012 subjects participated in the study. During the pandemic, 31% reported weight gain and 72.2% had less than eight cups of water per day. Furthermore, the dietary habits of the participants were distanced from the Mediterranean diet principles and closer to "unhealthy" dietary patterns. Moreover, 38.5% did not engage in physical activity and 36.2% spent over five hours per day on screens for entertainment. A significantly higher percentage of participants reported physical exhaustion, emotional exhaustion, irritability, and tension "all the time" during the pandemic compared to before the pandemic ( < 0.001). Sleep disturbances were prevalent among 60.8% of the participants during the pandemic. Although lockdowns are an important safety measure to protect public health, results indicate that they might cause a variety of lifestyle changes, physical inactivity, and psychological problems among adults in the UAE.
冠状病毒病仍在阿联酋（UAE）传播，政府随后实施了封锁和社交距离措施。本研究的目的是评估封锁对阿联酋居民饮食习惯和生活方式行为的影响。2020 年 4 月至 5 月期间，在阿联酋成年人中进行了一项横断面研究，使用在线问卷进行。共有 1012 名受试者参与了这项研究。在大流行期间，31%的人报告体重增加，72.2%的人每天摄入的水不足 8 杯。此外，参与者的饮食习惯与地中海饮食原则相去甚远，更接近“不健康”的饮食模式。此外，38.5%的人不参加体育活动，36.2%的人每天花超过五小时在屏幕上娱乐。与大流行前相比，在大流行期间，报告身体疲惫、情绪疲惫、易怒和紧张“一直”的参与者比例显著更高（<0.001）。在大流行期间，60.8%的参与者存在睡眠障碍。尽管封锁是保护公众健康的重要安全措施，但结果表明，它们可能会导致阿联酋成年人生活方式的各种变化、缺乏身体活动和心理问题。
