COVID-19 caused people to lose the normalcy in their lives, and not being grounded in routines results in “this ongoing sense of uncertainty that can really have a toll on the body,” Early explains. “It’s like having windows open on your computer draining the battery. It’s draining to us, and we don’t know what’s going on.”
The survey, taken by 2,002 college students between April 28 and May 2, reveals new lifestyle routines since the pandemic started that could negatively impact overall health. For example:
45 percent have fallen into less structured eating routines, eating whenever they are hungry, and 38 percent have regularly missed meals during the pandemic because they are less hungry or are more stressed.
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COVID-related Depression Linked to Reduced Physical Activity
A multi-institutional team of researchers followed university students to identify factors linked to depression and anxiety The United States spends more than $200 billion every year to treat and manage mental health. The onset of the coronavirus pandemic not only has deepened the chasm for those experiencing symptoms of depression or anxiety; the chasm has also widened, affecting more people.
New research from Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of California San Diego found that 61% of surveyed university students were at risk of clinical depression, twice the rate prior to the pandemic. This rise in depression came alongside dramatic shifts in lifestyle habits.