Impact of COVID-19 on eating habits, physical activity and sleep in Brazilian healthcare professionals.

Mota, Isabella Araújo; Oliveira Sobrinho, Gilberto Diniz de; Morais, Iuara Paiva Silva; Dantas, Thamires Ferreira

BACKGROUND During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, Brazilian healthcare professionals could have been experiencing impacts on their routine, behavior and mental health. OBJECTIVE To investigate changes in the daily life and sleeping habits of healthcare professionals in Brazil. METHODS We conducted an observational and cross-sectional study from May to July 2020. A Google Forms questionnaire was made available to Brazilian healthcare professionals on the WhatsApp mobile application and through the website of the Brazilian Hospital Services Company. RESULTS The sample (n=710) was mostly composed of women (80.8%), aged between 30 and 40 years old (46.6%), predominantly physicians (41.8%) and residing mostly in the state of Paraíba (66.9%), Brazil. Approximately two-thirds of the total sample had some sleep-related complaints, 25.8% due to difficulty initiating sleep, 29.6% due to difficulty staying asleep and 32.5% due to early morning waking. From the population studied, 28.7% (n=204) reported the use of insomnia medication, and 60.3% (n=123) of these were self-medicating. Some participants reported a change in diet (n=557; 78.5%), especially related to the increase in carbohydrate intake (n=174; 24.5%), and 27% (n=192) of the individuals reported an increase of the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Of the total, 561 (81.8%) reported a change in the practice of physical activity. CONCLUSION In this study, Brazilian healthcare professionals showed aspects of quality of life that were more affected during the COVID-19 pandemic than the prevalence seen in surveys of international studies for the general population.