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for our ( @Osea82, @silvia_saccardo, @SallySadoff, and me) work on lifestyle disruptions and mental health during COVID-19, out yesterday in @PNASNews ( https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2016632118)
#EconTwitter #mentalhealth #covid19 #healthresearch (1/11)
for our ( @Osea82, @silvia_saccardo, @SallySadoff, and me) work on lifestyle disruptions and mental health during COVID-19, out yesterday in @PNASNews ( https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2016632118) #EconTwitter #mentalhealth #covid19 #healthresearch (1/11)
The paper began by coincidence--we were in the third wave of an ongoing wellness study @PittTweet when shelter-in-place orders began in mid-March 2020. Unexpectedly, we found ourselves in the ideal environment to measure the pandemic's effects on habits & mental health: (2/11)
a continuing cohort with baseline (prepandemic) measures, and comparable cohorts from the year before.
Our first findings were concerning. Among our sample, the average CES-D score spiked from 12.1 prepandemic to 19.5 in April 2020. Risk of clinical depression: 32
61%. (3/11)
Our first findings were concerning. Among our sample, the average CES-D score spiked from 12.1 prepandemic to 19.5 in April 2020. Risk of clinical depression: 32
61%. (3/11)
Concomitantly, individuals' lifestyle habits were dramatically disrupted. Participants' wearable activity trackers reported a >50% decline in avg daily steps (10,000 to 4,600), a 1.5 hour decline in non-sedentary time, and changes in sleep patterns. (4/11)
Alongside the biometric data, time use survey responses told a story to which many of us can relate: time spent in face-to-face social interactions declined by more than half, while screen time (internet excluding studying, TV, video games) more than doubled. (5/11)
We then turned to natural follow-up questions: to what extent are these lifestyle disruptions related to individuals' mental health, and relatedly, could inducing individuals to resume their previous habits mitigate the pandemic's effects on mental health? (6/11)
To identify the leading predictors of pandemic-related mental health decline, we conducted a prediction exercise, taking advantage of the richness of our data. The results pointed to physical activity decline as the strongest predictor of postpandemic depression risk. (7/11)
Motivated by this finding, we conducted an intervention in June 2020 which rewarded participants for resuming a healthy level of activity. While the intervention successfully attenuated postpandemic decreases in activity, we found no significant effect on depression. (8/11)
Taken together, these findings suggest a puzzle: Disruptions to physical activity and mental health are strongly associated, but restoration of physical activity through a short-term intervention does not help improve mental health. (9/11)
Our findings suggest that the accumulating mental health costs of the pandemic, which continues to affect daily life in the U.S., will be substantial, and reversing persistent effects may require more intensive or multifaceted interventions to restore lifestyle habits. (10/11)
Personal note to end the thread: this is my first-ever appearance as a coauthor in a published paper. It's surreal to see my name and my work out there like this--I don't think it's fully set in yet. I am so excited for you all to read the paper! (11/11)
