This ‘Side Effect’ from the Pandemic has Been Seen in Iowa

We've been through a lot in the past year and change. From constant news updates on the COVID-19 pandemic, to being forced away from seeing family and friends, it's been an overall tuff time for many Iowans. For some, there's been positives to all the downtime and, according to a new study, an interesting 'side effect' to doing less in the past 14 months has been... increased intelligence.

86% have seen a change in our personalities

For most of us, 2020 and maybe even early 2021 meant a lot more downtime. As a result, we had to find something to fill our day with, right? According to a story I found on PR Newswire, many Americans actually feel smarter. One of the top reason is with all the extra time around the house, we've had time to try things we didn't before including:

• Read more
• Take up a new hobby
• Try working on new baking skills

Despite having more free time, Iowans were among the most likely to still have an in-person conversation. According to the same study, 35% of Midwesterners were still having in-person get togethers during the heart of COVID.

COVID-19 was bad news, but there was still lots of good news out there

The study found more positives from COVID that include:

• We're getting rid of more junk now than we ever did in the past.
• A lot of us feel closer to family and friends.
•  We've discovered new restaurants in our community we chose to try in an attempt to support locally owned businesses.

See the full study here.