Pandemic and mental health: 21% of Greeks do not leave their homes to have fun or socialize

The pandemic and mental health. According to a new nationwide survey, 21% of Greeks don’t leave their homes at all for entertainment or socializing. Mental health and sociability of Greeks are burdened by the pandemic, according to a new nationwide survey by Focus Bari and YouGov.

Both the mental/emotional health and social life of Greeks have been significantly affected, according to a new nationwide study by Focus Bari two years after the pandemic. YouGov was conducted from December 21 to December 31, 2021 on a sample of 1,002 people aged 18 to 74.

The survey showed that 56% report their psychological state as “an unstable mood with many ups and downs (“mood changes by day”), 32% report a good psychological state (“this is a test, it will pass”), 12% state bad (“I’m worried, very afraid of how it will all end”).

Only one in ten Greeks (10%) have better mental health than they did two years ago, twice as many (21%) report worsening, while the rest (69%) report a similar condition.

For those who say their health is better than two years ago, the reasons are related to the new healthy habits they have acquired during the pandemic: better nutrition (61%), more health and prevention measures (48%), daily physical exercise such as walking or running (38%), healthy eating habits (33%), more/better sleep (29%) and less stress due to remote work (16%).

For those who state that their health is worse than two years ago, the reasons are both mental and physical: anxiety about the consequences of the pandemic (55%), poor mental health (50%), depression/loneliness (50% ), recent illness (30%), weight gain due to more food (29%), lack of exercise/fitness (16%), poor sleep (12%).

58% say their sociability is worse than it was in the pre-coronavirus era, 35% say it’s the same, and 7% say it’s better. Many people avoid leaving their homes to have fun at friends/relatives’ houses or for social gatherings at restaurants/cafes etc. The exception is young people who go out to have fun much more often.

One in five, that is, 21%, declare that they do not go out at all either to their homes or to entertainment establishments; 43% go to houses and places of entertainment selectively, in compliance with the measures; 29% go only to friends/relatives where there are few people; 7% say: “I go out and go everywhere / to everything, as I did before the pandemic.”

At the age of 18-24, this percentage reaches 24%, that is, for every fourth young person it is … like a pandemic does not exist. The corresponding figure is 12% for people aged 25-34, 6% for people aged 35-44, and only 3% for people over 45.

[AMNA]

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