Association between diet, mental health and sleep quality in university students during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate recently published scientific evidence and synthesize the results of observational studies that examine the association between diet, mental health, and sleep quality in university students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Content: An electronic search of scientific literature published in 2021 and up to 2 years ago was performed using keyword search, with focus on observational studies published in PubMed, MEDLINE and Web of Science. It included: active university students of both sexes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Summary and outlook: The 5 studies included in this review showed that there have been significant changes in both mental health and eating habits during the COVID-19 pandemic. The conclusion, there is an association between mental health and sleep quality in university students, resulting in an alteration of sleep hours and poor sleep. Furthermore, an association between mental health and diet quality is also observed, producing an increase in caloric intake or in the number of meals during the day.

Keywords: COVID-19; diet; mental health; sleep; university students.