Original title: Depression, Anxiety and Stress during COVID-19: Associations with Changes in Physical Activity, Sleep, Tobacco and Alcohol Use in Australian Adults
Researchers surveyed Australian adults in April 2020 about distress and changes in daily habits since COVID-19 began. Nearly half said they were less physically active, and about four in ten reported worse sleep. People reporting negative changes in activity, sleep, smoking, or alcohol use also tended to report more depression, anxiety, or stress symptoms. Because the survey looked for links, it cannot tell whether habit changes caused distress or distress caused habit changes.
Imagine trying to keep a household routine when everyone’s schedules suddenly change. It becomes hard to tell whether poor sleep is making the day harder, or a hard day is ruining sleep. In this paper, disrupted routines stand for changes in activity, sleep, smoking, and drinking, while the harder days stand for depression, anxiety, and stress; the survey finds they go together but cannot tell which came first.
People trying to protect their mental health during a pandemic may also be facing disrupted routines around sleep, movement, smoking, or alcohol. The survey links negative changes in these habits with higher distress, but it does not show that one caused the other.
The survey describes associations at one point in time, so it cannot establish whether changes in habits caused distress or distress led to habit changes. It covered Australian adults surveyed online in April 2020; the abstract does not establish whether the findings apply to other groups, places, or times.
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Depression, Anxiety and Stress during COVID-19: Associations with Changes in Physical Activity, Sleep, Tobacco and Alcohol Use in Australian Adults — Robert Stanton, Quyen Gia To, Saman Khalesi et al. — International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health — doi:10.3390/ijerph17114065
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper.