The COVID 30: Americans Pack On The Pounds During COVID-19, New Report Says

They call it the Freshman 15. Young people who toddle off to college often put on weight with their new-found freedom, and somewhere along the way the gain was arbitrarily set at 15 pounds.

But something similar is happening with the pandemic. Call it the COVID 30.

The American Psychological Association (APA) says in a new report that 61% of adults have unintentionally gained weight over the last year. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the spread of COVID-19 a pandemic just more than a year ago, on March 11, 2020.

The average amount of weight gained was a whopping 29 pounds, according toc42% of Americans surveyed. Some 10% said they gained more than 50 pounds since the pandemic began.

But stress is a funny thing: 18% said they lost weight. The average amount lost was 26 pounds.

Besides eating more, the APA said Americans are losing sleep and increasing alcohol consumption.

“Adults also reported unwanted changes in sleep and increased alcohol consumption. Two in 3 (67%) said they have been sleeping more or less than desired since the pandemic started. Nearly 1 in 4 adults (23%) reported drinking more alcohol to cope with their stress,” the APA said.

“We’ve been concerned throughout this pandemic about the level of prolonged stress, exacerbated by the grief, trauma and isolation that Americans are experiencing. This survey reveals a secondary crisis that is likely to have persistent, serious mental and physical health consequences for years to come,” said Arthur C. Evans Jr., the APA’s CEO. “Health and policy leaders must come together quickly to provide additional behavioral health supports as part of any national recovery plan.”

Mental health has also suffered, with parents with children at home hardest hit.

“The pandemic has taken a particularly heavy toll on parents of children under 18. While slightly more than 3 in 10 adults (31%) reported their mental health has worsened compared with before the pandemic, nearly half of mothers who still have children home for remote learning (47%) reported their mental health has worsened; 30% of fathers who still have children home said the same.”

“Parents were more likely than those without children to have received treatment from a mental health professional (32% vs. 12%) and to have been diagnosed with a mental health disorder since the coronavirus pandemic began (24% vs. 9%). More than half of fathers (55%) reported gaining weight, and nearly half (48%) said they are drinking more alcohol to cope with stress,” said the APA report, titled “Stress In America.”

Nearly three in four of the half a million Americans who have died from COVID-19 were obese or overweight, according to data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) earlier this month.

The data of one study group found 46% of those who have died from the virus were obese and 27.3% were overweight. A body mass index (BMI) above 30 is considered obese, while overweight people have a BMI of 25 to 29.9. In the U.S., about 70% of Americans are considered overweight, with 42.4% classified as obese.

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