Nottingham Trent University is searching for participants to take part in a new study looking at how diet and exercise have been affected by social distancing.
The new research, led by nutrition and exercise scientists at the university, will reveal how spending more time at home during the coronavirus pandemic is influencing peopleās lifestyle.
People who take part in the study will be required to answer a series of questions about their habits pre and post lockdown through an online survey.
In particular, researchers are keen to know what times of the day participants are eating and exercising, as it is suggested that fasted exercise ā when people exercise on an empty stomach ā provides more significant health benefits than fed exercise.
Tommy Slater, a PhD researcher at NTUās School of Science and Technology, is leading the study and he is keen to see the changes between peopleās habits before lockdown and after lockdown.
He said: āLack of physical activity and poor nutrition are the driving factors behind obesity, so we want to see how behaviours and patterns have altered from what people were doing pre-social distancing.
āThe uncertainty around Covid-19 and the duration of social distancing measures means that we need to be prepared for longer periods of time at home and understand how this might influence our behaviour.
āGiven the potential link between obesity and the severity of the disease, it is important to identify how our behaviour has changed since social distancing was put in place. We then hope that this will lead to the development of interventions to reduce the impact long-term.ā
If you would like to take part in the survey, please click here.
Written by Jessica Goddard
Feature image credit: Unsplash