A new study has found that people severely lonely during the COVID-19 pandemic increasingly turned to alcohol and drugs to relieve the stress from isolation. The findings come from the first large-scale pandemic study in which more than 2,600 participants kept daily diaries of their mood and substance use between October 2020 and May 2021.
Participants filled out a daily diary for 30 days and commented on their mood, activities, health, social interactions and substance use. Researchers also measured the level of COVID-19 restrictions in place at the time, then analyzed links between substance use and loneliness relative to the participants’ moods.
People who tended to feel lonelier were more likely to use non-cannabis drugs daily. During days when people were especially lonely due to more severe lockdowns, they were more likely to use drugs other than cannabis. People also noted that they tended to drink more on days when they felt “much lonelier than usual” or “much less lonely than usual” Researchers said the variance in alcohol consumption was related to fluctuations in an individual’s perceived loneliness.
Researchers said the findings confirm that social restrictions placed on people heightened the risk of substance use and severe loneliness is a risk factor for increased drinking. They found digital interventions on smartphones could help mitigate the risk.
The World Health Organization has called social isolation and loneliness a global health crisis. Health experts compare the detrimental effects of loneliness to smoking a half pack of cigarettes a day for several years.
