Relationships between nutrition and physical activity, and the symptoms of insomnia, depression and anxiety among adolescents in South China during Covid-19 Pandemic

The aim of this 2020 study was to investigate the association between the variables, nutrition, physical activity (PA), lifestyle behaviors (isolated and combined) with symptoms of insomnia, depression and anxiety among adolescents. A survey was conducted in May 2020 on 1,756 middle school students. Students with low family income, living rurally, with excessive fear, who are female, have a sibling, and those who have been left behind were more likely to have a poorer lifestyle or be in a worse mental state. After controlling for confounding factors, more respondents with both poor nutrition and inactive PA appeared to report insomnia (OR=2.16) and depressive (OR=2.57) symptoms than those with only one behavior or neither of them, indicating the correlation between both poor nutrition and inactive PA with higher prevalence of insomnia, depression and anxiety symptoms. It is therefore crucial that adolescents pursue a healthy lifestyle. [NPID: depression, anxiety, mental health, physical activity, insomnia, fear, rural, rural area, low income, female, siblings, women]

Year: 2020

Reference: Chi, X., Liang, K., Chen, S., Huang, Q., Huang, L., Yu, Q., … Zou, L. (2020). Relationships between nutrition and physical activity, and the symptoms of insomnia, depression and anxiety among adolescents in South China during COVID-19 pandemic.