The COVID-19 pandemic affected the individuals’ lifestyles significantly and, along with the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an increase in the emotional and mental health problems as well as a change in the individuals’ sleep and dietary patterns particularly in connection with the quarantine measure [5–7, 21]. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ambiguities about how the disease spread and what the ways of protection from it were and, in the following period, lack of an effective vaccine to protect from the disease led to an increase in the feeling of fear in the individuals [28, 37, 38]. While the mean of participants’ FCV-19S scores was 17.8 ± 6.3 points in this study, it was found as 14.3 ± 5.3, 16.7 ± 5.3, and 19.4 ± 6.0 in other studies [27, 39, 40]. In this respect, it can be asserted that the individuals did not feel high-level fear. This situation might be in place as the research findings were obtained during the second wave of the pandemic when the individuals got information about the ways of getting infected with COVID-19 and being protected from it and, above all, the vaccine development efforts looked promising.
The quarantine measures taken in the period of pandemic urged human beings to stay at home and allowed them to communicate with the external world solely through mass communication media such as the internet, TV, radio, and newspapers. In a study performed in Ecuador it was found that mandatory confinement during COVID-19 pandemic caused changes in the eating habits and sleep quality [41]. In this current study, it was reported that the mean of participants’ PSQI scores was 6.0 ± 2.3 points and 56.8% of the individuals had low sleep quality. Similar to the findings of our study, a previous study set forth that the mean of PSQI scores was 6.1 ± 3.0 points [9]. There are studies in literature reporting that there was a change in hours of sleep and sleep quality was affected during quarantine [8, 41]. Also, in a study conducted in the United Arab Emirates during the pandemic lockdown, it was reported that 60.8% of the participants had sleep disturbances [42]. As a result, it has been determined that the COVID-19 pandemic caused worsening of sleep quality in more than half of the population. Therefore, interventions to increase the sleep quality of individuals should be planned.
In this current study, the mean of participants’ EES scores was 67.2 ± 24.2 points and one-third of the participants had emotional eating behavior. In a study it was reported that emotional eating was observed in 54% of the population during COVID-19 pandemic [43]. Also, in a study conducted on Saudi women, it was reported that 40.4% of the participants had "moderate" and 12.4% had "high" level of emotional eating [44]. Although these results differ between societies, they show that emotional eating is a common problem in the pandemic period and this problem should be addressed.
According to this study, the effect of fear of COVID-19 on emotional eating is minimal. When combined with other variables, this minimal effect disappears. Unlike our findings, one study reported that psychological distress was strongly associated with emotional eating [43]. In a study carried out in Turkey, although there was a relationship between fear and emotional eating, in further analyzes, no direct association between fear of COVID-19 and emotional eating was observed, but depression was associated with emotional eating and it mediated the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and emotional eating [21]. As a result, it can be said that fear of COVID-19 alone has a minimal effect on emotional eating, but when combined with other variables, its effect on emotional eating disappears. It was considered that the fear of COVID-19 was felt at the beginning of the pandemic and was replaced by depression in the second wave of the pandemic. In fact, the level of fear felt by the individuals was not very high in this study.
According to this study, sleep quality alone affected emotional eating in a rate of 8.3%. There are studies in literature before the pandemic showing that poor sleep quality was found to be associated with emotional eating [17–19] and unhealthy dietary behaviors [45], on the other hand, a study conducted on the women during the COVID-19 pandemic stated that sleep quality did not affect emotional eating [44].
Being less exposed to the sunlight due to staying at home behind closed doors during the pandemic can change the sleep pattern by leading to circadian rhythm abnormalities [46]. The changes occurring in the sleep pattern and sleep quality due to the change in the circadian rhythm can also trigger to emotional eating behavior. As a matter of fact, in a study, it is reported that the change in circadian rhythm exacerbated the risk and symptoms of emotional eating in individuals [9].
In this study, we found that having high fear of COVID-19, being at a poor sleep quality, having a high BMI, young age and being female affected emotional eating at the rate of 18.3%. There are other studies in literature reporting that emotional eating was more prevalent among the women [21, 43] and the individuals with a higher BMI score [44]. It is also stated that in the COVID-19 pandemic, there are greater changes in the habitual food consumption of women compared to men [41]. As a result, it was determined with this study that during the pandemic period, high fear of COVID-19, poor sleep quality, high BMI, young age and being a woman can contribute to emotional eating.