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

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.