key: cord-0691174-ko4wxamb authors: ROY, S.; TIWARI, S.; KANCHAN, S.; BAJPAI, P. title: IMPACT OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC LED LOCKDOWN ON THE LIFESTYLE OF ADOLESCENTS AND YOUNG ADULTS date: 2020-08-25 journal: nan DOI: 10.1101/2020.08.22.20180000 sha: da36c592489b5e6d5f7a21dafdbe6212bdfc1af7 doc_id: 691174 cord_uid: ko4wxamb OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to study affect of COVID 19 pandemic on lifestyle of young adults and adolescent. METHOD: Online survey, was conducted in about 1000 respondents in the age group of 13-25 years. RESULTS: Questionnaire based survey showed mean sleeping duration changing from 6.85hours to 8.17hours, average screen time becoming 5.12hours from 3.5hours, 51.9% subjects experiencing increased stress levels, 76.4% subjects experiencing increased food intake and 38.6% subjects had decreased levels of physical activity as per self-monitoring. CONCLUSION: These changes might have long lasting effect on their physical, mental and social health and need counteractive measures to help young people lead a healthy lifestyle during the epidemic and beyond. before the study. The questionnaire, was based on the Fantastic Lifestyle Questionnaire [3] , which was served as an online link. The snowball sampling was used to circulate it widely across India. The online link opened with the question of Informed Consent. The questionnaire included questions on sociodemographic parameters followed by questions related to sleep, screen time, stress level, food intake and physical activity levels. Based on the responses, they were statistically analysed using descriptive analysis tests, to find the impact of this lockdown on the lifestyle of adolescents and young adults. INCLUSION CRITERIA: Indian subjects literate enough to understand questionnaire and in the age group 13years to 25years included in the study. EXCLUSION CRITERIA: Subjects suffering from any chronic disease like diabetes. Hypertension, Asthma, mental illness and other systemic diseases, were not included in this study. A total of 1065 subjects were enrolled and they gave their consent to participate in the survey. The mean  SD of age was reported as 19.918  3.5388 years. 19% subjects were from rural background, whereas 81% were from urban background. 3.098% subjects were present in junior classes, i.e. below class Xth, 8.92% were Xth pass, 13.521% were XIIth pass, 65.44% were undergraduates, 7.136% were postgraduates and 1.784% had other educational qualifications. is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in (which was not certified by peer review) preprint The copyright holder for this this version posted August 25, 2020. The average screen time is increased during lockdown, with average screen time being 5.12985 hours, which is very high when seen in Indian scenarios. Pre lockdown data of Screen time in India is an average of 3.5hours. [4] . CC-BY-ND 4.0 International license It is made available under a perpetuity. is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in (which was not certified by peer review) preprint The copyright holder for this this version posted August 25, 2020. 48.1% subjects responded by saying that there had been a decrease in their stress level (with 13% saying there had been a drastic decrease and 35.1% answering mild decrease). But a majority of 51.9% said that they had experienced an increase in their stress levels during this time (with 40.2% having a mild increase and 11.7% having drastic increase). is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in (which was not certified by peer review) preprint The copyright holder for this this version posted August 25, 2020. . https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.08.22.20180000 doi: medRxiv preprint 23.6% subjects recorded a decrease in the quantity of their food intake, whereas a vast majority of 76.4% subjects voted in the contrary. is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in (which was not certified by peer review) preprint The copyright holder for this this version posted August 25, 2020. We also asked our subjects whether they have tried anything creative or have learnt anything new during this time, to which 79.3% replied in the affirmative. Results of the present study show a clear increment in the sleeping duration in majority of the subjects. This might be simply due to the fact that there is increased availability of leisure time. Although the quality of this extra duration of sleep remains to be seen. The increase in screen time as observed in the study, which might be due to the rapid surge in online classes by educational institutes, in an effort to cope up with the back-log of classes due to this lockdown. Moreover, increased free time for the youth has led to the increased time that they are spending over social is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in (which was not certified by peer review) preprint The copyright holder for this this version posted August 25, 2020. . https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.08.22.20180000 doi: medRxiv preprint media apps and also increased rate of binge watching. The lockdown has also increased smartphone usage with weekly/daily time spent per user on smartphone increasing 13%/12% after 3 weeks of COVID-19 outbreak. Daily time spent per user on video streaming platforms (VOD) increased in parallel to smartphone usage. New apps and websites also clocked growth via smartphone. [5] The increase in stress level, which happened with the majority can be associated to many cause like: first and foremost threat of infection from the dreadful virus and the overload of negative news from various kinds of media sources which has created a negative ambience all around; also there is the threat of losing their near and dear ones. Secondly, unemployment and loss of family income owing to the lockdown can also be a major cause of worry and stress. Also, for the educated youth, the big question mark over their future prospects and opportunities and lack of infrastructural advantages can also be a major stressor. Most reviewed studies reported negative psychological effects including posttraumatic stress symptoms, confusion, and anger. Stressors included infection fears, frustration, boredom, inadequate supplies, inadequate information, financial loss, and stigma. Some researchers have suggested longlasting effects. [6] Our results were similar to those found by Robert Stanton, Quyen G. To, SamanKhalesi et al. [7] A deeper analysis, also leads to revelation of the fact that during this time due to the homeostatic and neuroendocrine disbalance, due to disbalance in circadian rhythms and stress, there might be increased release of the hormone Ghrelin. [8] And Ghrelin induces hunger greatly. [9] The matter of concern is the fact that the coupled increase in food intake and decrease in physical activity levels can have debilitating effects on the overall health of a being-starting from weight gain and obesity and finally leading to severe complications like Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and other serious conditions. [10] Recognizing the adverse collateral effects of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown is critical in avoiding depreciation of weight control efforts among youths afflicted with excess adiposity. Depending on duration, these untoward lockdown effects may have a lasting impact on a child's or adolescent's adult adiposity level. [11] Increased screen-time coupled with increasing stress levels and decreasing physical activity levels, can have their due repercussions on their ophthalmic health like narrowed retinal micro vascular structure [12] as well as leading to an array of other psychological , cognitive and physical disorders like obesity, sleep problems, depression and anxiety, to name a few. [13] The study could be made more elaborative with a larger sample size and a longer follow up for residual side effects of lock down. is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in (which was not certified by peer review) preprint The copyright holder for this this version posted August 25, 2020. . https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.08.22.20180000 doi: medRxiv preprint 9 | P a g e The above study showed changes in the various lifestyle indices in younger population owing to the COVID 19 pandemic led lockdown. The increased screen time and habits like binge watching could be countered by an encouragement of co-curricular activities in the adolescent and young adults .Indoor physical activity and outdoor activity with due precautions should be encouraged by parents and educational institutes as a part of their online education .The course of the pandemic is uncertain , and may last long . Young generation should maintain a fixed sleep wake schedule ,healthy eating habits and some degree of exercise regime while following the safety norms to prevent the spread of contagion , only then can the youth emerge victorious and expand their horizons even under the restrictions imposed by the corona virus. Epidemiology of the human circadian clock. Sleep medicine reviews S Panda Daily Eating Patterns and Their Impact on Health and Disease Published Brazilian version of a lifestyle questionnaire: translation and validation for young adults India Time Spent with Media The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: rapid review of the evidence. The Lancet Depression, Anxiety and Stress during COVID-19: Associations with Changes in Physical Activity, Sleep, Tobacco and Alcohol Use in Australian Adults A role of ghrelin in neuroendocrine and behavioral responses to stress in mice Ghrelin, the peripheral hunger hormone. Annals of medicine Healthy lifestyles in Europe: prevention of obesity and type II diabetes by diet and physical activity. Public health nutrition Effects of COVID-19 lockdown on lifestyle behaviors in children with obesity living in Influence of physical activity and screen time on the retinal microvasculature in young children. Arteriosclerosis, thrombosis, and vascular biology Clinical and psychological effects of excessive screen time on children In the conduction of this study, we were helped in a number of stages by few people we would like to mention. In the data collection process, we were helped a lot, by three undergraduate students, namely: Ms Nikita Singh, Mr Siddhant Aggarwal and Ms Devanshi Katiyar.