Time estimation and passage of time judgment predict eating behaviors during COVID-19 lockdown

Abstract

Poor eating habits often lead to health concerns. While mental health conditions such as stress and anxiety have been linked as predictors for eating behaviors, cognitive factors may also contribute to eating practices during the early stages of the mandatory COVID-19 lockdown. In the current study, participants responded to a survey that asked them to judge the passing of time (PoTJ) and to produce short intervals (via a time production task) as an index of the internal clock speed. Additionally, they responded to questions about snacking frequency and the tendency to overeat during lockdown. We observed that those who judged time to pass slowly also reported a greater tendency to snack and overeat during the pandemic. Additional analysis also revealed that the effect of PoTJ on snacking is moderated by the internal clock speed such that those who felt time was passing by slowly, and in combination with a faster internal clock (as indexed by shorter duration production), had a greater tendency to snack. The results suggest that different aspects of temporal cognition play potential roles in influencing different types of eating behaviors. Our findings therefore have implications for eating disorders, along with the potential of time-based intervention or behavioral modification approaches.

Mindfulness, Subjective Cognitive Functioning, Sleep Timing and Time Expansion during COVID-19 Lockdown: A Longitudinal Study in Italy

“…In addition, these findings highlight the importance of sleep timing and sleep regularity for sleep hygiene and sleep health, for sleep medicine, and psychology [ 35 ]. In regard to the subjective passage of time, two associated patterns were found: as the feeling of time pressure decreased, the feeling of time expansion/boredom increased during the COVID-19 outbreak [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ]. These result patterns could indicate that the home confinement modified the daily schedule for all participants with the consequence of a subjective elapsing of time.…”

“…Bearing in mind the strict relationship between the sleep timing (i.e., delayed bedtime) and sleep health, it is possible to advance the idea that the feeling of slowing down of time affected the sleep timing and sleep quality due to an increased boredom [ 19 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 31 , 66 , 67 ]. At the same time, a poor sleep quality “reinforced” the feeling of being bored and “determined” a delayed sleep–wake cycle in the subsequent day [ 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 68 ]. Considering that boredom has been associated with several problematic behaviors, such as bedtime procrastination and phubbing [ 31 ], the present findings could indicate that mindfulness practice could decrease boredom [ 32 ], regulate the sleep–wake schedule [ 68 ] and sleep quality [ 32 , 65 ].…”

“…In addition, a change in the experience with time has been reported during the home confinement. Generally, the studies have reported a slowing down of time during the home confinement [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 ]. In other words, people experienced a slowdown in their passage of time, and this time distortion seemed to be related to social isolation, negative emotions, boredom, and distress.…”

“…In other words, people experienced a slowdown in their passage of time, and this time distortion seemed to be related to social isolation, negative emotions, boredom, and distress. Specifically, several studies indicated that the boredom experienced during home confinement was strictly associated with the distortion (i.e., slowdown) in the passage of time [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 ]. Related to boredom, in a recent study with Chinese college students, the authors found that, during the COVID-19 outbreak, the boredom proneness was negatively associated with self-control and positively associated with bedtime procrastination [ 31 ].…”

“…Considering that sleep timing and regularity were affected by the lockdown [ 31 , 32 ], it is possible to posit that people who are bored (i.e., people who experience a negative mood associated with a lack of a satisfying activity) have difficulty to follow a specific daily schedule, due to a slowdown in the passage of time and a lack of a life rhythm, should impact on sleep quality. At the same time, people with a poor night’s sleep report less energy to do something in the following day and are more bored, experiencing a slowing down of time passage [ 18 , 19 , 23 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 ]. In line with these predictions, Cellini et al [ 18 ] reported an association between an increase in the experience of time dilatation and worse sleep quality, as well as Martinelli et al [ 26 ] showed that sleep difficulties were one of the main predictors of the feeling of a slowing down of time.…”