Parents and Other Caregivers Are More Stressed and in Poorer Health Due to Pandemic, Report Finds

A national study of at least 6.7 million U.S. caregivers insured by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association estimated that 26 percent of unpaid caregivers struggling to achieve a work-family balance due to COVID-19 are more stressed and in worse physical health than before the pandemic, reports CNN . "Being a caregiver is lonely," explains Alex Drane with the Archangels caregiver advocacy movement. "And loneliness is a very real thing that has clinical implications. I think a bright spot of COVID-19 could be that it may help normalize the pervasiveness of this reality so that folks can feel less alone in it." Analysis showed that millennial caregivers were 82 percent more likely to have hypertension, had a 60 percent or higher increase in anxiety or major depression, and a 74 percent boost in obesity. Visits to emergency rooms and hospitalizations also were more likely among this generation. "Because they're younger, they haven't seen things go bad such as boomers have," Drane adds. "If you've lived through hard times before, you know you're going to survive the virus."