Treating stress during the pandemic has caused physical changes for many Americans: some have gained unwanted weight and others have lost weight unintentionally. The American Psychological Association’s American Psychological Stress Pandemic Survey surveyed 3,013 adults in the U.S. and found that the majority, 61%, said they experienced unwanted weight changes.
Forty-two percent of American adults said they gained more weight than they intended, and among them, the amount they reported increased on average was 29 pounds. Ten per cent said he gained more than £ 50. Weight gain that entails obesity may put you at risk for serious coronavirus disease.
More women (45%) reported weight gain than men (39%), but men reported a higher average gain of 37 pounds, compared to the female average of 22 pounds.
The study also disaggregated the data by age groups, and found that 48% of millennials reported weight gain. This group reported the highest average weight gain of 41 pounds. Just over half of the Gen Z adults reported unwanted weight gain, with an average gain of 28 pounds.
Dr. Angela Fitch, vice president of the Obesity Medicine Association, told CBS News that she considers the numbers reported by millennials to be “amazing.”
“As an obesity specialist … I find it alarming, for sure,” Fitch said. “But you can see where that might be the case. I mean, it’s been a very challenging year, on several levels.”
Fitch, who is associate director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Weight Center, said she has seen patients at the center who have had weight problems due to the pandemic. “I’ve had a lot of patients who say they gained weight, that they used to see before the pandemic, and that they were doing pretty well with weight loss,” Fitch told CBS News.
Although self-reported surveys have often been shown to be less accurate than studies in which researchers measure participants, other research tracks evidence of pandemic-era weight gain. Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, found participants in a heart health study whose weight was monitored from February 1 to June 1, 2020 who gained approximately 1.5 pounds in the but after states instituted reception orders at the site last spring.
Fitch said that if more data backs up the self-report of APA survey participants, and Americans have actually won so many pounds, “it will be a major problem for us in the United States.”
“I haven’t seen any data on that yet,” Fitch said. “So I don’t know if we have anything better to report than that [survey]. “
The survey found that the groups most affected by weight gain were also among those who experienced additional challenges during the pandemic: parents and essential workers. About half of each group reported an unwanted weight gain, with parents reporting an average increase of 36 pounds and essential workers an average increase of 38 pounds.
“We’ve seen a lot of our patients who are nurses expressing it quite a bit, who have gained weight because of stress and because it’s hard to eat in the hospital now: taking off the mask to drink, eating is a difficult situation, so that you can potentially eat unhealthily or skip meals and then eat more than once, ”Fitch said.
The survey also found that 18% of participants reported unwanted weight loss, throwing an average of 26 pounds.
Weight changes were not the only issue reported in the survey. Many people also said they experienced unwanted changes in sleep patterns and increased alcohol consumption. Sixty-seven percent said they had slept more or less than desired since the pandemic began and 23 percent reported drinking more alcohol to cope with stress.
Fitch added that drinking more alcohol is certainly attributed to a higher calorie intake. “That, being more at home, eating more without stress and stress by itself is a known factor in weight gain and obesity,” he said.