Impact of School Closures, Precipitated by COVID-19, on Weight and Weight-Related Risk Factors among Schoolteachers: A Cross-Sectional Study

The school closures, precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, required teachers to convert their entire classroom curricula to online formats, taught from home. This shift to a more sedentary teaching environment, coupled with the stresses related to the pandemic, may correlate with weight gain. In to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Nutrients Vol. 13; no. 8; p. 2723
Main Authors:	Silverman, Jill R, Wang, Branden Z
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Basel MDPI AG 01-08-2021 MDPI
Subjects:	Beverages Comparative analysis Confectionery coronavirus Coronaviruses COVID-19 Cross-sectional studies Curricula Eating emotional eating Emotions Epidemics exercise Food habits Fruit High schools New York pandemic Physical activity Physical fitness Potatoes quarantine questionnaire Questionnaires Risk analysis Risk factors School closures Soft drinks Surveys Teachers Teaching New York Long Island New York United States > US
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Summary:	The school closures, precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, required teachers to convert their entire classroom curricula to online formats, taught from home. This shift to a more sedentary teaching environment, coupled with the stresses related to the pandemic, may correlate with weight gain. In total, 52% of study participants reported weight gain, with a higher prevalence observed among kindergarten and elementary school teachers when compared to high school teachers (p < 0.05). Deviations in physical activity, emotional eating, and dietary patterns were assessed among 129 teachers (using the Leisure Time Exercise Questionnaire, the Dutch Eating Behavioral Questionnaire, and a short-form Food Frequency Questionnaire, respectively) to uncover possible associations with the observed weight gain. Increases in sedentariness (p < 0.005), emotional eating (p < 0.001), the consumption of potatoes, fries, breads, cheese, cake (p < 0.05), chips, candy, ice-cream, and soft drinks (p < 0.005) were all positively correlated with weight gain. Decreases in exercise frequency (p < 0.001), and the consumption of fruits (p < 0.05) and beans (p < 0.005), were also positively correlated with weight gain. Weight gain, observed among teachers during school closures, was associated with changes in diet, emotional eating and physical activity.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	2072-6643 2072-6643
DOI:	10.3390/nu13082723