How are our behaviours changing in lockdown?

People have had to change their lifestyles to maintain a sense of normality during lockdown, and it is clear from social media that people are finding innovative ways to keep active, stay entertained and connect with those that matter most. These behaviour changes are being captured through an online survey* led by a team from UCL IRDR Centre for Digital Public Health in Emergencies, who hope to better understand which activities people are doing less frequently, more frequently and the type of adaptations that allow them to continue doing the activities they enjoyed, or needed, pre-lockdown. Initial findings from the first 4,000 survey responses since the beginning of April show that more than half of the sample population exercise more than once a day (52%) and are finding more time for relaxation and personal interests (59%). Generally, older generations are coping much better with isolation than younger people who say they are becoming more irritable, upset and distressed. For 18-24 year olds, 36% reported being irritable 'quite a lot' and 8% 'all the time'; 30% said they were distressed 'quite a lot' and 31% said they were upset 'quite a lot'. Negative emotional feelings decreased with age and for people over 65 years old, 10% were distressed 'quite a lot', 13% upset 'quite a lot' and 11% irritable 'quite a lot', with very few stating 'all the time' for any of these feelings. Yoga, meditation and reading have seen the biggest increase in relaxation activities and walking, cycling and running are on the rise, with people doing more of previous sporting activities rather than finding new ones.