London, October 16 (IANS): A healthy diet and avoiding the news helped prevent anxiety and depression during Covid-19, even better than interacting with friends, following a routine or pursuing hobbies, the researchers found.
Dr. Joaquim Radua led a Barcelona-based team of researchers that compared how various health activities could reduce anxiety and depression during the Covid pandemic.
The final results were presented at the ECNP annual conference in Vienna this week.
The researchers found that the Covid-19 pandemic increased anxiety and depressive symptoms in the population.
“Health agencies have recommended various coping behaviors, but no study had followed the effect of these behaviors on anxiety and depressive symptoms over time – there was no real evidence on how much they work. So we decided to test what worked best.” “. Radua said.
The researchers followed 942 adults for a year. Every two weeks, the volunteers rated the frequency of 10 selected coping behaviors and noted their levels of anxiety and depression.
They found that some of the behaviors they monitored were associated with better coping during the pandemic.
These included following a healthy/balanced diet, not reading the news about Covid too often, exercising, staying outdoors, and drinking water.
On the other hand, some behaviors that were generally considered beneficial, such as talking to family or friends, or pursuing a hobby, had less of an influence on the mental health outcomes investigated in this study.
“This was a bit of a surprise. Like many people, we assumed that personal contact would play a bigger role in staving off anxiety and depression during stressful times,” Radua said.
In an earlier pilot study, researchers found that those who pursued a hobby showed less anxiety and depression.
“However, we did not know whether people first have hobbies and then feel relaxed/happy. Or, conversely, people first feel relaxed/happy and then these feelings make them pursue their hobbies,” they added.
Based on the results, the researchers recommend that everyone follow a healthy/balanced diet, avoid watching stressful news too often, spend more time outdoors, engage in relaxing activities, and exercise.
“The results suggested that eating healthy, avoiding stressful news, drinking water, staying outdoors and participating in relaxing activities showed a protective effect on mental health during this stressful period,” said Professor Catherine Harmer, director of the Laboratory of Psychopharmacology and Emotional Research (PERL) at the Oxford University Department of Psychiatry.
