The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown increased symptoms of anxiety and depression in many people. At the end of 2020, coinciding with the pandemic, a research team at IDIBAPS launched a study to determine which everyday behaviours increased or decreased symptoms of anxiety and depression.
The results of the study, led by Lydia Fortea from the IDIBAPS Imaging of Mood- and Anxiety-related Disorders (IMARD), and Joaquim Raduà, head of the same group, have now been published in the Spanish Journal of Psychiatry and Mental Health.
The study followed 942 adults in Spain for one year, selected for their demographic similarity to the general population. Every two weeks, they completed questionnaires on anxiety and depression. The study also looked at the extent to which they engaged in ten behaviours that can influence mood.
The behaviours studied were: following a healthy and balanced diet; engaging in physical activity; practising a hobby or domestic task; regularly reading news and updates about COVID-19; spending time outdoors; engaging in relaxing activities such as listening to music or practising yoga; following a routine; talking to family and friends; interacting with other people in the home such as partners or children; and drinking water regularly to stay hydrated.
The study found that, after excessive exposure to negative news, people felt more anxious and depressed in both the short and long term. In fact, during the pandemic, the WHO recommended minimizing exposure to news about COVID-19 that caused anxiety or distress: https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/mental-health-considerations.pdf.
“The study was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the results can probably be extrapolated to other situations with an excess of negative news", says Raduà. “And, not only that: other studies have found that this excess could also encourage polarization and make us see people who don’t think like us as bad or deluded.”
In contrast, the most beneficial behaviour, i.e. the one that most reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression, was following a balanced diet. The more days a week the participants followed a healthy and balanced diet, the less likely they were to develop symptoms of anxiety and depression. In addition, the types of symptom remitted earlier when this diet was followed.
Other behaviour such as drinking water, physical exercise, spending time outdoors or engaging in relaxing activities, also had a significant positive impact, albeit less intense. The mechanisms by which this type of diet may protect against symptoms of anxiety and depression may be diverse, such as an improvement in the nutritional supply to the brain or the promotion of a more stable gut microbiota. On the other hand, the study did not observe a positive effect of social interaction, as has been found in numerous studies in other contexts, but it is possible that the lack of effect can be explained by fear of contagion during the pandemic.
The preliminary results of the study were published in early 2022 (see the news item here).
The study was supported by the AXA Research Fund, CIBERSAM and the Germanes Hospitalàries Research Foundation.
