Public interest in healthy lifestyle changes before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: Google Trends analysis

Abstract

Introduction. Healthy lifestyle behaviour is accepted as a non-pharmacological approach in the management of diseases. During the pandemic, individuals started to use the Internet to get information and protect their health. Method. The identified healthy lifestyle terms were searched in the Google Trends (GT) for the last five years in five countries: Brazil, France, Turkey, the UK, and the USA. Analysis. Kruskal Wallis test was used in comparing countries, and the Dunn test was used to determine the group that caused the difference. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare before and during the pandemic. Results. While there was a decrease in the frequency of searches for healthy nutrition after the pandemic compared to before the pandemic in Turkey, the USA and the UK, there was an increase in Brazil. The increased frequency of searches for alcohol cessation after the pandemic was statistically significant in the USA, Brazil and the UK. In Turkey, the USA, and Brazil, the increase in the frequency of searches for the physical exercise topic after the pandemic compared to before the pandemic was statistically significant. Conclusion. It can be concluded that during the pandemic, there was a significant increase in public interest in most of the healthy lifestyle terms in the five countries identified and there was an awareness to adopt a healthy lifestyle.