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BackgroundIn the past infectious diseases affected the quality of lifestyle during home confinement. The study conducted examines the influence of home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak on lifestyle, mental wellbeing, nutritional status, and sleeping pattern.MethodAn online multicategorical questionnaire was distributed to collect demographic information combined with the following tools: Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ), International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), WHO-5 wellbeing score, and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). A snowball non-discriminate sampling procedure was conducted to collect data from people attending or working at higher institutions from March 1, 2020 to April 24, 2020. A total of 1723 completed responses (917 males, 37.4 ±13.4 years old and 806 females 32.2 ± 11.5 years old) were collected.ResultsThe female participants had significantly lower mental health scores than males (53.9% vs. 46.1%). The mental wellbeing scores were higher among participants with medium and high physical activity (PA) levels (p < 0.00). Additionally, the mental wellbeing scores were significantly improved by dietary quality and it's sleeping score (p < 0.001). However, PA was by far the major determinant of the mental health scores.ConclusionFactors such as PA, diet, and sleeping patterns were associated with mental wellbeing during the COVID-19 confinement among Arab participants.

The purpose of this study was to document the significance of the practices employed by parents that contribute to children’s healthy lifestyle in Oman. Those practices encompassed the physical activity and inactivity, sedentary behaviour, nutritional knowledge, and its reflection on their children at early childhood class. Subjects consisted of 237 male and female parents of kindergarten children in the Sultanate of Oman. The researchers developed a twenty-three and a twenty-item questionnaire intended to measure the degree of parent involvement in their children's impact at acceptable levels of validity and reliability. (Amazingly, it was found that parents’ healthy lifestyle were low in their habit practices (low in engagement to physical activity, sports and daily life activity) which showed a trend of sedentary lifestyle. Meanwhile, they did not encourage their children to participate in physical activity nor control them from staying away from being in front of TV screen and video games, too. In addition, their nutritional knowledge also scored low which affected their children’s health negatively. It is, therefore, suggested that lifestyle concept should be inculcated in the learning process for children, and further analysis be made as to what extent the demographic category may influence parents’ involvement towards their children’s healthy lifestyle.

The purpose of the study was to detect the effect of a psychological program supported by Macromedia Flash technology on some of psychological conditioning skills and the level of skills performance for table tennis players. Seven subjects comprised of 5 male and 2 female players from the Jordan national team with age ranges 12-15 year of old were intentionally selected. Measurement of muscle relaxation, mental imagery, state of competition anxiety, self talk, and colored readiness concentration (in-house built) for table tennis players. Skill performance during the competition was also assessed using special forms. Experiment design involved one group with pre and post hoc test after 12 weeks of the program application, 4 sessions per week in a simulated competition circumstances. Results of none parametric statistics (Welcoxon) revealed that there was a significant effect of the program at post hoc test for all skills variables. It is imperative to provide an early psychological conditioning program for table tennis juniors’ players with practice sessions as it is important part of training regimen. In addition, it was suggested to use the Macromedia Flash technology for simulation enhancement of the real competition.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0243524.].

A distance runner's performance is generally limited by energy availability when competing or training. Modifying meal frequency and timing by abstaining from eating or drinking, from dawn to dusk, during Ramadan fasting is hypothesized to induce hypohydration and reduced caloric and nutrient intake. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of Ramadan fasting on runners' performances. Fifteen trained male distance runners who observed Ramadan participated in this study (Age = 23.9 ± 3.1 years; Peak VO2 = 71.1 ± 3.4 ml/kg/min). Each participant reported to the human performance lab on two testing occasions (pre-Ramadan and the last week of Ramadan). In each visit, participants performed a graded exercise test on the treadmill (Conconi protocol) and their VO2, Heart Rate, time to exhaustion, RPE, and running speed were recorded. Detailed anthropometrics, food records, and exercise logs were kept for the entire period of the study. Repeated measure ANOVA, paired t-test, and Cohen's effect size analysis were carried out. Results indicated no significant influence for Ramadan fasting on body mass (p = 0.201), body fat (p = 0.488), lean body mass (p = 0.525), VO2max (p = 0.960), energy availability (p = 0.137), and protein intake (p = 0.124). However, carbohydrate (p = 0.026), lipid (p = 0.009), water (p < 0.001), and caloric intakes (p = 0.002) were significantly reduced during Ramadan Fasting. Daily training duration (p < 0.001) and exercise energy expenditure (p = 0.001) were also reduced after Ramadan. Time to exhaustion (p = 0.049), and maximal running speed (p = 0.048) were improved. Overall, time to exhaustion and maximal running speed of the distance runners was improved during Ramadan fasting, independent of changes in nutrients intake observed during the current study. With proper modulation of training, distance runners performance can be maintained or even slightly improved following the month of Ramadan fasting.

Objective: Adequate dietary intake is crucial for optimum training and performance of athletes. There is almost no available information related to dietary practices among Omani athletes, especially during the competition. This study aimed to assess the nutritional practices (nutritional knowledge, eating habits and daily nutrients intake) among Omani male handball athletes in Muscat city, Oman.Methods: This is a cross sectional study including 35 male handball athletes involved in serious training for no less than three years. Data collection was done through personal interviews using a study questionnaire which enlisted questions relating to socio-demographic information, anthropometric measurements and nutritional practices. All the study participants declared no intake of anabolic steroids.Results: The mean age of the study participants was 27 ± 3 years. Their anthropometric assessment revealed that their mean height was 166 ± 12 cm, mean weight was 75 ± 10 kg, and body mass index was 27 ± 3. Nutritional knowledge analysis revealed that 80% had no nutritional supervision by a nutritionist/dietitian. Their knowledge of nutritional requirements was only 23% correct for total energy intake, 63% for protein intake, 46% for carbohydrate intake, 11% for fat intake and 83% for water intake. Eating habits indicated that 55% had