A new report from the American Psychological Association shows how stressful life in the United States was in 2020.
The APA’s “Stress in America” report, published on Thursday, provides an impressive example of how mental health directly affects physical health. It happens exactly a year after the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a global pandemic.
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“We went through a collective trauma,” said Arthur C. Evans, APA CEO and executive vice president.
The resulting stress, the report found, is showing up in drastic weight changes and increasing alcohol use.
The online survey, conducted in February, included responses from 3,013 adults about life in the past year. The majority – 61 percent – said their weight fluctuated in 2020. Of these, 41 percent said they gained more weight than they would like: almost 30 pounds on average. Ten percent reported gains of more than 50 pounds.
“I’m not surprised,” said Kara Caruthers, an associate professor in the medical assistant program at the School of Medicine at the University of Tennessee’s Center for Health Sciences in Memphis.
Caruthers explained that when the body feels stress, a cascade of physiological changes occurs. The body releases a hormone called cortisol, which increases insulin levels to keep blood sugar normal. Higher insulin levels increase fat deposits along the waist.
To make matters worse, more than half of those surveyed said their exercise levels had dropped during the pandemic.
Hispanic 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 intended: 26 pounds on average.
“We know that we all do inappropriate things to deal with” stress, said Evans. “The problem is the magnitude of the problems that we see as a result of these behaviors.”
The report also found that an increasing number of adults have turned to alcohol as a coping mechanism. Almost 25% of respondents cited pandemic stress from drinking more than normal.
But that percentage more than doubled to 52% among parents with children in early elementary school – an “impressive” discovery, said Scott Bea, clinical psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic.
“When stressors increase, there are changes in behavior that affect our bodies,” he said. “I think these effects are going to last for some time.”
Parents with young children at home for remote learning were particularly affected, with 60 percent 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% of women with children who do distance learning at home said their mental health worsened during the pandemic, compared with 30% of men in the same position.
“Unfortunately, the way our society is structured, the burden of family and home life still falls on women,” said Caruthers. “They are managing their own careers, many are also teaching and are not educators. I think it has been difficult.”
Still, parents are also feeling the stress. Eighty-two percent of fathers said they needed more emotional support, compared with 68% of mothers. Fathers were also more likely than mothers to report weight changes and increased alcohol use.
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The additional stress also led to many restless nights, the report concluded. Sixty-seven percent of respondents said they slept more or less than necessary in the past year.
Also overwhelmed are the essential workers, whose jobs are necessary to maintain the basics of society: health personnel, firefighters, sanitarians, police, public transport workers and those in the food supply chain, for example.
The APA report found that a quarter of essential workers were diagnosed with a mental health disorder during the pandemic, compared with 9% of other working adults.
What is the next?
Just because Covid-19 cases are declining and Covid-19 vaccines are being launched does not mean that the stress will go away anytime soon, experts predict.
“We have a mental health pandemic coming and we have to act now,” warned Evans. “This is only going to get worse.”
In the poll, black Americans were more likely to say that they are concerned about the future. And more than half of respondents reported feeling concerned about resuming close interactions with other people.
Even the vaccine could not change that concern. Forty-eight percent of vaccinees expressed distress at being around other people when the pandemic ended, compared with 49 percent of unvaccinated people.
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Kate Snow contributed.