Being lonely during lockdown could damage your calm

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-05-25 09:01

International

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Changes in people's daily stress levels during 2020's COVID-19 lockdowns were related to age, gender, financial security, depressive symptoms and trait loneliness, according to international research. The study found that younger and less financially secure individuals are more stressed overall but had a reduction in stress as the day progressed, while more lonely individuals felt less calm throughout the day. The team say certain interventions aimed at improving people's mental health may be most effective when delivered depending on their momentary needs, especially during psychologically demanding periods such as lockdowns.

Media release

From: The Royal Society

Diurnal Dynamics of Stress and Mood during Covid-19 Lockdown - A Large Multinational Ecological Momentary Assessment Study

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

We investigated how stress and mood fluctuated throughout the course of the day during COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020. We found important risk factors modulated diurnal changes in participants' stress and mood. For example, younger and less financially secure individuals, whilst being more stressed overall, also showed an attenuated reduction in stress as the day progressed. These findings suggest that certain interventions aimed at improving people’s mental health may be most effective when delivered contingent on their momentary needs. This might be particularly the case during psychologically demanding periods, such as lockdown.

Journal/
conference: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: University of Vienna, Austria

Funder: The authors received no funding for this study.

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