The Impact of the COVID-19 Outbreak on Lifestyle-Related Behavior Among the General Population.

INTRODUCTION

Coronavirus has affected more than 200 countries around the world. Due to lockdowns, people have limited outdoor activities and started adopting new and healthy lifestyle behaviors.

METHOD

A cross-sectional study was conducted to explore the impact of COVID-19 on lifestyle-related behavior. Data were collected from different regions of North India using Google Forms (Google, Inc., Mountain View, CA, USA) with the help of a standardized questionnaire. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used for analysis. The p-value was set at <0.05.

RESULTS

A total of 468 responses were recorded (mean age: 28.51 years). A significant improvement was found in the intake of fruits and vegetables as well as pulses, eggs, or meat during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participation in household chores and screen time in watching mobile or television were significantly increased. The majority (44.4%) of participants had stable weight, and 37.8% gained weight during the COVID-19 pandemic. The anxiety they felt in a day also increased, which was predominantly due to fear of COVID-19. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a significant association was found between physical activity scores and gender, residence, nature of work, and hours of work of study subjects.

CONCLUSION

There is an improvement in healthy eating behavior, quality of sleep, and participation in household chores during the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, domains of lifestyle can be explored to bring a positive style of living for the achievement of healthy lifestyle behavior by the general population.