Back in February 2021, a study was launched through the ZOE COVID Study app to find out more about how the pandemic has affected mental health and how best to support people.
As well as asking about how people’s life and habits had changed during COVID-19, they also asked individuals to self-report on how they were feeling.
They then used this information to calculate anxiety and depression scores during the pandemic and compared these to before the pandemic.
In total they analysed data from more than 700,000 individuals who took part. Here’s what they found.
Overall, they found several activities that people did more of during the pandemic were strongly associated with lower anxiety and depression scores. These ‘feel good’ activities were also those most commonly reported by respondents:
- Spending more time in green spaces such as gardens, parks or the countryside.
- Being physically active or exercising more.
- Talking more to family and friends over the phone or online.
- Practising relaxation or mindfulness techniques were moderately associated with lower anxiety and depression scores, along with taking part in organisations and clubs, seeing friends and family face-toface, and snacking less during the pandemic.
- They also found that drinking alcohol less often and sleeping better were associated with lower anxiety and depression scores, although this link wasn’t as strong compared with other activities.
This was a very interesting study and there was an extremely good webinar linked to it (links below) as well as this please join us for further review and a discussion on the study ‘COVID-19 & Mental Health: A review of the Zoe Study’ this is being delivered live on Wednesday 23rd June at 12pm, please use the below link to register for this session –
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/511723022745803536
If you are unable to join the webinar live, a recording of the session can be accessed using the same link above after the webinar has taken place.
How can Care first help?
If you feel you may need some support, you can contact Care first. Care first is a leading provider of confidential, professional counselling, information and advice services. All employees are eligible to use Care first, our services include; telephone counselling, information services and online support. Call Care first on the Freephone number provided by your organisation and you can speak to a professional in confidence.