Election fever is gripping the nation and may actually leave some people in the hospital, a study suggests.
The researchers found that demand for health services increased by up to 19 percent among first-time voters during major election campaigns.
There was a marked increase in chest pains, acute respiratory infections, gastrointestinal conditions and even physical injuries.
Researchers believed that the illnesses were mainly due to the stress of choosing who to vote for and the anxiety of being surrounded by political advertisements during the election campaign.
They said the condition should be known as “election syndrome” or “election stress disorder.”
Stress and anxiety caused by elections can put people in the hospital, researchers say
Rishi Sunak risked catching another kind of fever by announcing the July 4 election in the pouring rain
Being relentlessly bombarded by political spin can lead to fatigue and weaken immunity, researchers said, making voters more susceptible to infections like Covid.
Voters became more likely to contract contagious diseases due to lines at polling stations, and some may have suffered injuries while attending crowded political rallies or rallies.
Poll workers were also found to be dying young because they worked long hours and had to deal with the stress of “disorderly or disruptive voters.”
The 2023 study, published in the journal Health Economics, analyzed the health records of 900,000 people during four election periods in Taiwan.
During the country’s 2012 presidential election, there was a 30 percent increase in anxiety attacks and related disorders treated in hospitals.
Health spending on acute respiratory infections increased by 16.4 percent.
And people who supported the “losing” side were found to have elevated levels of cortisol (a hormone released by the body in response to stress) and depressed testosterone, leading to low mood, anxiety and depression.
“Our results suggest that campaigns during national elections increased health care use and spending by 17 to 19 percent,” the researchers wrote.
“High health care use occurred only during the campaign period and did not persist after the election.”
They identified two main “pathways” through which electoral illnesses occur: psychological stress that leads to mental health problems and participation in campaign activities that affect physical health.
Regarding polling station staff, they explained the high levels of illness and death: “The organization and management of elections can be a challenge for poll workers who often face long work hours and disorderly or disruptive voters.”
They suggested that political parties and candidates should pay a tax from their private campaign funds to pay for additional medical care needed during elections.