IT’S NOT JUST YOU

Most Americans Had Unwanted Weight Changes During Stress of Pandemic, Says Study

Forty-one percent reported gaining 30 pounds during stress of pandemic, with 52% of parents of early-elementary-age kids admitting “drinking more than usual.”

If you’ve struggled to cope during the past year, here’s some hard proof that you’re far from alone. The American Psychological Association released a new survey Thursday—a year to the day since the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic—that illustrates the enormous stress everyone has been under, and its impact on our health. Some 61 percent of respondents to an online poll said their weight had fluctuated over the past year, with 42 percent saying they’d gained more weight than they wanted to—almost 30 pounds on average. Ten percent of respondents reported gains of more than 50 pounds. Nearly 25 percent of survey-takers said they’d been drinking more than usual during the pandemic—a figure that more than doubled to 52 percent among parents with children in early elementary school. “When stressors go up, there are changes in behavior that affect our bodies,” said Scott Bea, a psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic. “I think those effects are going to last for some time.”