The unlock consequences: changes in daily behaviors and mental health in Indian population during the second wave of COVID-19

OBJECTIVES: The COVID-19 outbreak has led to unprecedented changes throughout the world. It has imposed lockdown, social distancing to avoid the spread of this disease. India in the middle of March 2021 reported the beginning of the second wave of corona leading to massive death. We hypothesized to investigate the effect of sleep and eating behavior also got affected during unlock imposed due to the second wave. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The data collection was done by using an online google form by making them available to participants through various social media apps via smartphone. Total participants (n=115) mean age was 25.86±9.52 (Mean±SD). The results were analyzed by using RM One-Way ANOVA, Pearson correlation test by using SPSS 26. RESULTS: We found that the sleep behavior including time to sleep which was delayed by 46min, time to wake up was 58min, and sleep duration was increased by 6min during the unlock days when compared with weekdays before unlock. The eating behavior during unlock including the time of breakfast, lunch, and dinner was delayed by 1-hour 3min, 23min, and 19min, respectively. The social jetlag was reduced by 6min and eating jetlag was increased by approximately 8.4min. We found a strong positive correlation between eating jetlag and social jetlag during unlock (r=0.262, p<0.005). CONCLUSION: Our findings can help in modifying irregular sleep and unhealthy eating behaviors into a good and healthy lifestyle which will, in turn, lead to a depression-free lifestyle during unlock/lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.