ORCID Identifiers
Document Type
Article
Source of Publication
Nutrients
Publication Date
11-1-2020
Abstract
© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. 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 (p < 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.
DOI Link
ISSN
Publisher
MDPI AG
Volume
12
Issue
11
First Page
1
Last Page
20
Disciplines
Life Sciences
Keywords
COVID-19, Eating habits, Lifestyle behaviors, United Arab Emirates
Scopus ID
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Ismail, Leila Cheikh; Osaili, Tareq M.; Mohamad, Maysm N.; Marzouqi, Amina Al; Jarrar, Amjad H.; Jamous, Dima O.Abu; Magriplis, Emmanuella; Ali, Habiba I.; Al Sabbah, Haleama; Hasan, Hayder; Almarzooqi, Latifa M.R.; Stojanovska, Lily; Hashim, Mona; Obaid, Reyad R.Shaker; Saleh, Sheima T.; and Dhaheri, Ayesha S.Al, "Eating habits and lifestyle during covid-19 lockdown in the united arab emirates: A cross-sectional study" (2020). All Works. 1363.
https://zuscholars.zu.ac.ae/works/1363
Indexed in Scopus
yes
Open Access
yes
Open Access Type
Gold: This publication is openly available in an open access journal/series