Citation: Co¸ skun, M.G.; Öztürk, R. ˙ I.; Tak, A.Y.; Sanlier, N. Working from Home during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Effects on Diet, Sedentary Lifestyle, and Stress. Nutrients 2022, 14, 4006. https:// doi.org/10.3390/nu14194006 Received: 5 August 2022 Accepted: 21 September 2022 Published: 27 September 2022 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). nutrients Article Working from Home during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Effects on Diet, Sedentary Lifestyle, and Stress Merve Güney Co¸ skun 1,2, * , Rabia ˙ Iclal Öztürk 1,3 , Ay¸ segül Yabacı Tak 4 and Nevin Sanlier 5 1 Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, Istanbul Medipol University, Istanbul 34810, Turkey 2 Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Institute of Health Sciences, Istanbul Medipol University, Istanbul 34810, Turkey 3 Research Institute for Health Sciences and Technologies (SABITA), Istanbul Medipol University, Istanbul 34810, Turkey 4 Department of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics, Faculty of Medicine, Bezmialem Vakıf University, Istanbul 34093, Turkey 5 Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Health Sciences, Ankara Medipol University, Ankara 06570, Turkey * Correspondence: merve.guney@medipol.edu.tr Abstract: Many companies switched to working from home (WFH) after the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper aimed to examine the changes in dietary behavior, body weight, sedentary lifestyle, and stress in individuals who practice WFH. A cross-sectional, web-based questionnaire was administered between March and May 2021 and included socio-demographic characteristics, anthropometric measurements, WFH arrangement, changes in diet, sedentary lifestyle, and stress status. A total of 328 individuals (260 women, 68 men), aged 31.3 ± 8.3 years with a BMI of 24.9 ± 4.6 kg/m 2 , participated in the study. The questionnaire revealed that the daily working time increased with WFH. The majority of the individuals (59.1%) gained weight. The average daily sedentary time and the Perceived Stress Scale score increased significantly. The daily sedentary time and Non-Healthy Diet Index scores were higher in individuals who gained weight (p < 0.05). A multinominal regression model revealed that increased body weight was less likely in individuals with underweight and normal BMI classifications. Normal BMI, stable work shifts, and no physical activity were positive predictors for gaining weight. These results suggest that WFH may have significant negative effects on physical and mental status of individuals. Keywords: COVID-19; dietary behavior; sedentary lifestyle; stress; working from home 1. Introduction The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syn- drome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was first reported in late December 2019 and rapidly spread all over the world [1]. To curb the pandemic, beside many other precautions, people were asked to avoid crowded places, not travel during rush hours, stay at home, and engag- ing in working from home (WFH). Almost 4 out of 10 workers in Europe started working from home [2]. Many daily personal routines changed after the COVID-19 pandemic, and the concept of a “new normal” emerged in many areas. Companies have rapidly adapted to this “new normal” concept approach positively, with WFH as a “new normal way of working” not only during the COVID-19 pandemic period but also beyond [3]. However, employees have negative as well as positive experiences regarding WFH [4]. Gender, number of people and children at home, and position cause differential impacts on people’s lives who WFH [4]. Additionally, the transition to a WFH routine per se puts physical and mental burdens on individuals [5]. In particular, the necessity of staying at home for a long time during the pandemic has been associated with general stress, leading to changes in physical activity and eating habits [6,7]. Nutrients 2022, 14, 4006. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14194006 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/nutrients