Research explores emotional eating during COVID-19

People’s eating habits during the COVID-19 pandemic are providing food for thought in a new piece of research led by the University of Wolverhampton.

The ‘Food, Mood and You’ study is looking to survey people over the age of 18 each day for a single week in which they note their activities, their emotions and how they are eating.

The research will look at how emotions such as frustration, stress and boredom which have arisen during the pandemic have affected the way people approach eating and food.

The results for the UK will be collated over the next two weeks and volunteers can register and take the survey online.

The study is being rolled out internationally across countries including UK, Australia, Canada, USA, Finland, Spain, Italy, Russia, Portugal, China, Taiwan, Philippines and Korea.

Professor of Applied Sport and Exercise Science, Tracey Devonport, from the University of Wolverhampton, has been working with colleagues from the University of Jyväskylä in Finland (Dr Montse Ruiz) and University of Northampton (Dr Jo Chen-Wilson) to develop the project.

Professor Devonport said: “It is likely that we have all heard friends and family talking about eating more during the COVID-19 pandemic because they are experiencing emotions such as boredom, stress or frustration. We wanted to develop a research project that explores emotions and eating and in doing so provide simple interventions that may help manage emotional eating during these challenging times.”

People who are aged 18 and over who would like to know more about how their emotions are related to their eating behaviours are being invited to participate in this study.

If you would like to take part, or know of other people who may be interested, the survey can be taken online (please copy and paste the link into Google Chrome): https://northamptonspych.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_dii3gioZ9SwzBml