Diwaniyyah, dietary habits and daily activity during Ramadan among Kuwaiti Men

Abstract Objective: The major aim was to examine the interaction between visiting Kuwaiti Diwaniyyah , dietary habits and daily activities during Ramadan among Kuwaiti men. Design: An electronic questionnaire was used to collect data. The questionnaire included questions about various sociocultural factors, frequency of visiting Diwaniyyah , dietary habits and physical activity variables. For the sociocultural variables, age, level of education and governorate were collected. ANOVA, t test, Pearson’s correlation and regression were used. Setting: Respondents came from different and various subgroups of the Kuwaiti population and from all six governorate Participants: A total of 736 Kuwaiti men were selected from an opportunistic sample. Results: The results show that the food most eaten at night after Iftar in general was rice, meat and dairy products. Younger age groups eat more sweets, pastry, traditional sweets, dairy products and rice than the other age groups. The higher the frequency of visiting Diwaniyyah , the greater the consumption of these types of food at night. Also, older men eat fewer types of food and have lower physical activity levels at night during Ramadan than other age groups. Men with graduate educational levels who regularly visit Diwaniyyah consume more types of food at night than those who do not visit the Diwaniyyah . Age, social individuals and number of days visiting Diwaniyyah were associated with and predicted the number of types of food eaten at night during Ramadan. Conclusion: The study findings reveal that during Ramadan, lifestyle behaviour changes among men, including the timing and number of meals, type and portion of food consumption and physical activity behaviour.