Mental Health and Diet Changes During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Tunisia: A Lockdown Story

Objectives: The World Health Organization declared SARS-COV2 corona virus outbreak as global pandemic in March 2020. As consequence, several restrictive measures were imposed by number of countries, including Tunisia. Lockdown was the main and the most uncomfortable restriction. The present study aimed to evaluate the physical and mental impact of the lockdown on active Tunisians adults.
Methods: Our study was carried out within company workers both in factory and in office. Periodic medical checkout was performed to the employee before and after the lockdown complemented with a survey to evaluate lifestyle changes. Results: Our main finding demonstrates a consequent weight gain of our population, especially in the age range of 25-35 years old workers. This phenomenon was a consequence of an increase of food consumption, sedentarity and reduction of physical activities. In more, the lockdown affected psychologically the population with the increase of smoking, sleeping perturbations and anxiety.
Conclusion: Our data confirm the physical and mental health concern of the lockdown adopted in Tunisia after Covid-19 waves. The main consequences were weight gain and psychological worries of a population of employees. These observations encourage us to alarm authorities about the unsuspected negative effects of the lockdown on active adults.