Impact of Covid-19 on Lifestyle Related Behaviour-A Cross-Sectional Study on Population Residing at Urban Field Practice Area, Mysore, Karnataka

Abstract

The Coronavirus disease has spread widely and infected several people. Given the severity of the illness, a nationwide lockdown was imposed to stop the spread of Covid-19. All these constraints may have had an impact on eating habits, sleep status, physical activity, and stress, resulting in a worsening lifestyle among the people. The study aims to assess the impact of Covid-19 on lifestyle-related behaviour and the factors influencing changes in lifestyle behaviour among the population. A cross-sectional survey of the 380 participants using simple random sampling was conducted in the urban field practice area, Mysuru, Karnataka, using a validated questionnaire. The data were entered into MS Excel, followed by analysis using SPSS version 26. The results for the Covid-19 before and after lifestyle scores were analyzed, and values were subtracted to provide the mean difference scores for each item. Using the paired t-test or Wilcoxon test, the differences in continuous variables between the two groups were evaluated. The criterion for statistical significance was fixed at p < 0.05. In this study, general eating behaviour (44.7% vs. 65.7% significantly improved, physical activity (32.3% vs. 3.4%) declined, stress (29.2% vs. 47.8%) and screen time (27.8% vs. 60.2%) increased. Behaviours such as smoking (7.3% vs. 3.1%) and alcohol consumption (37.6% vs. 16.3%) decreased, whereas approximately half of the study participants gained weight (43.6 %). This study will serve as a solid basis for creating recommendations for suitable lifestyle modifications at this time. Keywords: Covid-19 pandemic, Eating habits, Lifestyle behaviour, Physical Activity, Stress.