Concerns grow over pandemic drinking habits

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/07/2020 (2077 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The collective loneliness sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic has had a stark effect on both young adults and vulnerable seniors, new polling data from the Canadian Red Cross and Leger show.

Based on results from a poll conducted from June 3 to 9, alcohol and cannabis consumption have remained relatively consistent throughout the pandemic. Some portions of the population — particularly the younger demographic — are changing substance use habits because they are anxious and stressed out.

Nearly two-thirds of the population said their drinking levels remained the same in the last two weeks, compared to a two-week period before the pandemic; 10 per cent of Canadians reported drinking less.

A quarter of Canadians, however, said they’ve been drinking more — a number that concerns the Canadian Red Cross and the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction.

“There is a proportion that are drinking more, and that’s worrisome,” said Paul Hebert, chief science and medical adviser for the Red Cross.

Hebert noted while the average change in consumption rate does cause concern, more concerning is the amount of drinks consumed in one sitting. Just over one in 10 Canadians reported drinking five or more drinks in a single sitting, notching up to nearly one in five Canadians between the ages of 35 and 54.

Younger people between the ages of 18 and 34 were more likely to report increased alcohol consumption, with 34 per cent of respondents in that age bracket acknowledging they’ve consumed more alcohol in recent weeks than pre-pandemic times.

Cannabis consumption has fallen along much the same lines as alcohol, though Hebert notes the respondent pool was smaller for cannabis-related questions.

Around 80 per cent of Canadians said they have not used cannabis in the previous month, and those who have used the drug use at different frequencies: some daily, some weekly, and some only on occasion.

Of those that have consumed cannabis, 62 per cent said there was no change in their consumption habits, while just over a quarter said they were consuming more, and 12 per cent said they were consuming less.

Increased substance use among younger demographics has caused some concern for the CCSA, which is engaging in further research to understand why those numbers are higher. The obvious culprit, said research and policy analyst Robert Gabrys, is a harder time coping with the stress.

“The data does seem to be driven by younger people and it seems to be related to stress, anxiety and loneliness, but also just simply to boredom and lack of schedule,” Gabrys said this week.

“It’s been a bit of both — it’s been a bit of stress and the fact that with the physical distancing that’s in place for a lot of individuals there’s just less to do.”

Young people aren’t the only demographic having a particularly difficult time in isolation. The Red Cross poll focused specifically on vulnerable seniors — those who live alone and indicated fair or poor health before the pandemic — and found that one-third of that group felt unconfident they would be able to get help right away if needed, and more than half did not feel hopeful about their futures.

“We were quite worried about what the social isolation policies would do to our vulnerable seniors,” said Hebert, noting high rates of loneliness have been recorded among senior populations.

Overall, one-third of Canadians reported feeling anxious, restless or uneasy in recent days, while a quarter reported feeling sad, depressed or hopeless.

Almost half of Canadians said they feel lonely in specific situations or on occasion, while 18 per cent said they feel lonely frequently or every day — these numbers increased among vulnerable senior populations, who were more likely to report feeling lonely on a daily basis.

The survey is the third in a series to track public perception about social and psychological health impacts of COVID-19. Leger completed web-based interviews with 2,280 adults, including 200 vulnerable seniors. The margin of error was not listed among the poll methodology.

julia-simone.rutgers@freepress.mb.ca