A new report from the American Psychological Association shows how stressful life in America was in 2020.
The APA’s “Stress in America” report, published Thursday, provides a wonderful example of how mental health directly affects physical health. This comes exactly one year after the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a global pandemic.
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“We have been through a collective trauma,” said Arthur C. Evans, chief executive officer and executive vice president of the APA.
The resulting stress, according to the report, shows drastic weight changes and increased alcohol use.
The online survey, conducted in February, included responses from 3,013 adults over life over the past year. A majority – 61 percent – said their weight will fluctuate by 2020. Of those, 41 per cent said they gained more weight than they wanted: averaging almost 30 pounds. Ten per cent reported gains of more than £ 50.
“I’m not surprised,” said Kara Caruthers, an associate professor in the medical assistant program at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine in Memphis.
Caruthers explained that when a body feels tension, a cascade of physiological changes occurs. The body releases a hormone called cortisol, which raises insulin levels to maintain normal blood sugar. Higher insulin levels increase fat deposits along the waist.
In addition to the problem, more than half of the respondents said that their exercise levels dropped during pandemic.
Spanish adults were most likely to report changes in weight and physical activity, the report found.
Eighteen percent of respondents actually lost more weight than they wanted to lose: an average of 26 pounds.
“We know we’re all doing maladaptation to cope with stress,” Evans said. “The problem is the scale of the problems we see as a result of this behavior.”
The report also found that a growing number of adults had turned to alcohol as a coping mechanism. Nearly 25 percent of respondents in the survey cite more stress than usual in pandemics.
But that percentage has more than doubled to 52 percent among parents with children in early elementary school – a “stunning” finding, says Scott Bea, a clinical psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic.
“When stressors go up, there are changes in behavior that affect our bodies,” he said. “I think the effects are going to last for some time.”
Parents with young children at home for distance education were particularly affected, with 60 per cent reporting that their stress increased. Three-quarters of the parents said they longed for more emotional support.
Mothers often carry many of the additional responsibilities.
Nearly 47 percent of women with children attending homeschooling said their mental health deteriorated during the pandemic, compared to 30 percent of men in the same position.
“Unfortunately, the structure of society, the burden of family life and home life still fall on women,” Caruthers said. “They run their own careers, many also learn school and are not educators. I think it was difficult.”
Yet fathers also feel the tension. Eighty-two percent of dads said they needed more emotional support, compared to 68 percent of moms. Fathers were also more likely to report weight changes and increased alcohol use than mothers.
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The added tension has also led to restless nights for many, the report said. Sixty-seven percent of respondents said they have more or less slept more than necessary in the past year.
Essential workers, whose work is necessary to uphold the basic principles of society, are very heavy: for example, health care workers, firefighters, sanitation workers, police officers, public transport and those in the food supply chain.
The APA report found that a quarter of essential workers were diagnosed with a mental health disorder during the pandemic, compared to 9 percent of the other working adults.
What’s next?
Just because Covid-19 cases are declining and Covid-19 vaccines are starting to roll out does not mean that tensions will soon disappear, experts predict.
“We have a mental health pandemic coming, and we need to act now,” Evans warned. “It’s only going to get worse.”
In the survey, black Americans probably said they were worried about the future. And more than half of respondents reported feeling concerned about resuming close interaction with others.
Even the vaccine can not change the discomfort. Forty-eight percent of those vaccinated expressed anxiety about being close to others when the pandemic ends, compared to 49 percent of those who were not vaccinated.
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Kate Snow contributed.