THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 LOCKDOWN ON THE LIFESTYLE AND DIETARY PATTERNS AMONG ROMANIAN POPULATION
MAGDALENA MITITELU 1#, TIBERIUS IUSTINIAN STANCIU 2#, DENISA IOANA UDEANU 1*, DANIELA ELENA POPA 1, DOINA DRĂGĂNESCU 1, CĂLIN COBELSCHI 3, NICOLETA DIANA GRIGORE 1, ANCA LUCIA POP 1#, MANUELA GHICA 1
1.“Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania
2.“Ovidius” University of Constanța, Constanța, Romania
3.Faculty of Medicine, Transilvania University, Brașov, Romania
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Eating habits and changing lifestyle can impair people's health. Therefore, preserving a proper nutrition is essential, especially when the immune system is engaged in defending the organism of viral infections like the one with SARS-CoV-2. The present paper aims to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and state of emergency on the Romanian population lifestyle and diet changings. Consequently, the several imposed restrictions, the lockdown period and emergency states enforced a behaviour challenge for each individual. The study was conducted by means of a public survey during 8th - 26th July 2020 and included 805 adults from both rural (180) and urban areas (625). The questionnaire was disseminated online and comprised 42 questions structured in the following sections: general data (age, gender, occupation, rural/urban residence), anthropometric data (height, weight), eating habits and lifestyle changes. The processing of the collected data led to the following conclusions: the quarantine period imposed by the state of emergency in the COVID-19 pandemic changed the lifestyle of the respondents in terms of smoking habits, quantity and quality of sleep and physical activity. The normal eating behaviour of the respondents were in agreement with the general recommendations regarding the protein consumption, hydration, an enriched antioxidants diet characterized by an increased consumption of fish, fruits and vegetables and a diminished consumption of sweets, with the aim of strengthen the immune system.