How Has the Pandemic Changed the Health Habits of People Around the World and in Your Country? Will This Have Lasting Effects on the Population’s Overall Health?

When covid was spreading rapidly each country made their own decisions and each country reacted differently. These reactions changed the way the virus spreads within the country and the effects it has on its residence. Many country's ways of reacting have been harsh on many citizens' mental and physical health despite this being a decision put in place for the health of the population in the first place.

I think that countries that we're able to react quickly and lockdown for a shorter period will have the best results and the less overall effect on the population of that country.

Throughout this project, I will mainly focus on quarantine and the many ways it was implemented. First, most gyms and physical activity centers have been shut down at some point. Except for the minority who have access to their own gyms or physical centers etc. most people have decreased their physical activity by a huge margin. Without safe access to any facilities, it is increasingly hard to get a good workout, especially that lots of people are motivated by others at the gym, and being at home some might lose all their motivation. In June, an app measuring footsteps saw an average decrease of 5.5% in a countries first 10 days of quarantine and a whopping 27% by the end of that month

-B. Nussbaumer-Streit, V.,
E. Lowther, M., SK. Brooks, R., KL. Piercy, R., R. Guthold, G., KA. Bowden Davies, S., . . . Nieman, D. (1970, January 01). Physical activity During COVID-19 INDUCED lockdown: Recommendations. Retrieved March 17, 2021, from https://occup-med.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12995-020-00278-9

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-Reynolds, G. (2020, October 07). How the pandemic is changing our exercise habits. Retrieved March 17, 2021, from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/07/well/move/pandemic-exercise-habits-study.html

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Due to my project being a research paper
my procedure was relatively straightforward. I started out by gathering some information and thus being able to from my own opinion and hypothesis on the topic in hand. I then continued to dig deeper collecting statistics and making graphs to analyze my data. The last step was to translate all this data to a detailed report.

In comparison to the pre-COVID-19,
when just 15% of the population recorded ordering food from outside once a week, the findings found that 74.7 percent of the population never ordered food from outside once a week. Similarly, a survey in Kuwait found that the number of citizens who ate their primary meals in a restaurant decreased from 14.7 percent prior to COVID-19 to 2.2 percent during COVID-19. Furthermore, an Indian analysis showed that the vast majority of participants (97 percent) did not receive any food from outside during the coronavirus quarantines. Such countries who have implemented similar restrictions, explain the lower infection numbers in said countries. Alternatively, our findings indicate that the percentage of respondents who purchased food three or more days a week rose marginally from 35.9% before the pandemic to 38.9% during the restriction era. Over the COVID-19 timeframe, the percentage of people who bought groceries online rose from 3% to 28.6 percent. This report confirms our conclusions, as the number of people who shop for food digitally rose from 3.9 percent before COVID-19 to 9.2 percent after COVID-19. And during the peak of the COVID-19 disease outbreak, another Canadian report discovered a spike in the online food market. According to yet another survey, 75.8% of participants purchase groceries at a store, 26% at a convenience store, 14.8 percent at farms or local markets, and 9.0 percent order food online. However, our findings show that prior to the pandemic, the majority of respondents (93%) used to purchase groceries from the store, but this decreased to 66.7 percent during the coronavirus timeframe.

During the COVID-19 lockdowns,
Riyadh residents' eating patterns shifted dramatically. While certain healthy behaviors such as eating home made meals improved, the food's consistency and quantity were harmed. Under the COVID-19 pandemic, nutritional quality and quantity declined. As a result, during pandemics, particularly in lockdown circumstances, public health officials must increase their emphasis on nutrition knowledge by recommending healthier food options and safe substitutes. A comprehensive food frequency questionnaire can be included in future studies to further explain the shift in nutrition preferences during pandemics. Food consumption memory prejudice and data misreporting are two of the study's weaknesses. Provided that only respondents with internet connections were included in the sample, inclusion bias may exist as it is an online survey. Furthermore, the survey was sent out within Ramadan, a holy month that could have impacted eating patterns attributable to fasting. Physical activity data is missing from the questionnaire, which would have greatly enhanced the report's importance.

This project is a very important one in
the times we live in. As we get used to living in complete or partial isolation there are many factors you need to consider in order to maintain your mental and physical health. I think I learned not only ways to stay healthy but also the thinking process of the people in my country and what they think is suitable for them. This is extremely important as we can now predict people’s actions and better prepare for the future.