Healthy lifestyle behaviors are major predictors of mental wellbeing during COVID-19 pandemic confinement: A study on adult Arabs in higher educational institutions

Kilani, Hashem A.; Bataineh, Mo’ath F.; Al-Nawayseh, Ali; Atiyat, Khaled; Obeid, Omar; Abu-Hilal, Maher M.; Mansi, Taiysir; Al-Kilani, Maher; Al-Kitani, Mahfoodha; El-Saleh, Majed; Jaber, Ruba M.; Sweidan, Ahmad; Himsi, Mawaheb; Yousef, Iyad; Alzeer, Faten; Nasrallah, Monther; Al Dhaheri, Ayesha S.; Al-Za’abi, Abdulsalam; Allala, Osama; Al-Kilani, Laila; Alhasan, Asma M.; Ghieda, Mohamed; Najah, Yasir; Alsheekhly, Saad; Alhaifi, Ahmad; Shukri, Raghda; Al Adwani, Jamal; Waly, Mostafa; Kilani, Laila; Kilani, Leen H.; al Shareef, Ahmad S.; Kilani, Areej

BACKGROUND: In the past infectious diseases affected the quality of lifestyle during home confinement. The study conducted examines the influence of home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak on lifestyle, mental wellbeing, nutritional status, and sleeping pattern. METHOD: An online multicategorical questionnaire was distributed to collect demographic information combined with the following tools: Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ), International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), WHO-5 wellbeing score, and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). A snowball non-discriminate sampling procedure was conducted to collect data from people attending or working at higher institutions from March 1, 2020 to April 24, 2020. A total of 1723 completed responses (917 males, 37.4 ±13.4 years old and 806 females 32.2 ± 11.5 years old) were collected. RESULTS: The female participants had significantly lower mental health scores than males (53.9% vs. 46.1%). The mental wellbeing scores were higher among participants with medium and high physical activity (PA) levels (p < 0.00). Additionally, the mental wellbeing scores were significantly improved by dietary quality and it’s sleeping score (p < 0.001). However, PA was by far the major determinant of the mental health scores. CONCLUSION: Factors such as PA, diet, and sleeping patterns were associated with mental wellbeing during the COVID-19 confinement among Arab participants.