'He's in our hearts': Family and friends still seek answers one year after Nathan Wise’s disappearance
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
A recent study with a Canadian connection has found that people gamed, overate and shopped more often — among other potentially addictive behaviours — as a result of the initial stress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The study by the University of Guelph, as well as the Humboldt University of Berlin's psychology institute, found instances of shopping, alcohol use, smoking, legal and illegal substance use, gambling, gaming and overeating all increased gradually for two months beginning in March 2020, when the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, before gradually falling by month five.
The results were all self-reported over a six-month period and involved 1,430 adults from the United States.
The researchers say the study, to their knowledge, is the first to look at multiple, potentially addictive behavioural problems simultaneously over an extended period of time.
The study was published in the Journal of Behavioural Addictions in December 2021.
"It's only natural to expect that people would experience distress as COVID cases rose and the lockdown was in place," Sunghwan Yi, a professor in the Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics at Guelph University, said in a news release.
The researchers used self-reported online questionnaires in an Amazon survey database known as MTurk.
Between March 26 and Oct. 2, 2020, they asked participants about their engagement in the eight potentially addictive behaviours listed and asked them to gauge their level of stress caused by COVID-19.
Groups of 25 participants were sampled every three days over 191 days.
Of the 1,430 people surveyed, 562 were women and 858 were men. Seven participants did not identify with any gender and three did not answer. The average age was about 37.
The researchers found the increase in addictive behaviours was connected to how intense people's distress was during COVID-19 lockdown.
This was especially the case for those engaging in legal drug use, gambling and overeating.
The most common addictive activities reported for men were gaming, while for women it was excessive shopping.
The researchers note that although shopping increased for women, this may be because women normally tend to do more household shopping. The study also didn’t distinguish between impulse or compulsive buying and purchases such as home renovations, which generally aren't considered potentially addictive.
And although the behaviours examined did decline after about five months as COVID-19 cases dropped and lockdown measures were lifted, possibly resulting in less pandemic-related stress, the researchers say these newly acquired behaviours may have lingered for some.
"If you drank daily during that period, you are probably likely to keep drinking, although maybe slightly less or less often," Yi said. "It will be hard to suddenly reduce your drinking."
Although the links weren't unexpected, Yi says people are known to experience distress when faced with an unfamiliar and threatening situation.
The researchers write that the study helps increase the understanding of prolonged distress, both related and unrelated to the pandemic.
While self-reported behaviours such as substance use or overindulging can't be considered addictions on their own, the researchers say they may serve as proxies to "truly problematic behaviour."
"When people experience distress, they are less likely to engage in constructive behaviours like building something or something job-related or reading," Yi said. "Their first response is to escape distress."
It also takes time and effort to develop ways of constructively dealing with a situation such as pandemic self-isolation, Yi says.
"Engaging in addictive behaviour is an easy way out of distress since this doesn't require a lot of preparation or effort."
He says the initial lockdown also exposed gaps in access to counselling and mental health services, with behaviours such as excessive drinking, gambling and shopping proving to be easy ways to de-stress for many.
Some, he added, are losing control over these behaviours more easily, especially without the support of friends and family, but may benefit from check-ins by volunteer groups.
"We need to pay greater attention to those people spending suddenly available time alone," Yi said.
He and his fellow co-authors are calling for better health screening, especially for people with mental health disorders who may not have access to counselling or other services.
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
The fire burning near Fort McMurray grew from 25 hectares to 5,500 hectares over the weekend.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin began a Cabinet shakeup on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Sergei Shoigu as defence minister as he begins his fifth term in office.
Police are searching for a male suspect after a man was “slashed in neck” on Sunday morning in downtown Toronto and died.
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Health Canada announced various product recalls this week, including electric adapters, armchairs, cannabis edibles and vehicle components.
English, history, entertainment, math and geography: high school trivia teams could be quizzed on any of it when they compete at the Reach for the Top Nationals in Ottawa in June.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.