Health Behaviors and Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from the English Longitudinal Study of Aging.

ABSTRACT: Stay-at-home and lockdown measures during the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on health-related behaviors which in turn posed a risk to mental health, particularly among older people. In this study, we investigated how changes to health behaviors (physical activity, sleeping, eating, and drinking) impacted mental health (depression, quality of life, and life satisfaction) during and beyond the initial phase of the COVID-19 lockdown. Using data from Wave 9 (2018/19) and two COVID-19 sub-studies (June/July 2020; November/December 2020) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (N = 4989), we found that health behaviors changes during lockdown were associated with poorer mental health in June/July 2020. However, in November/December 2020, higher depression, lower quality of life, and

SUBMITTER: Di Gessa G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9978235 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature