Kingston among London boroughs most stressed by coronavirus

Kingston and Merton in South-West London were both named in the Top 5 of 'Most Stressed' boroughs in in the capital according to online doctors Babylon Health.

Bromley, Bexley, Richmond and Wandsworth also placed in the Top 10.

Babylon Health organized the research, which was based on the number of "stressed" tweets posted from each London borough since the UK went into "lockdown" to slow the spread of Covid-19 coronavirus.

Image via Babylon Health

The online doctors used TensiStrength, a method of calculating the stress levels of short texts developed by Mike Thelwall, Professor of IT at Wolverhampton University.

TensiStrength works by analysing the terms used that are related to stress, frustration, anxiety, anger and negativity.

These texts are then ranked on two scales:

-1 (no stress) to -5 (very highly stressed)

1 (no relaxation) to 5 (highly relaxed)

For the study, Tweets for words related to the pandemic including: self-isolation, corona and social distancing were analysed.

According to the research, Hillingdon is the most stressed borough in London, with 44.3 per cent of tweets relating to the coronavirus in this area measured as 'stressed'.

Merton placed third, with 42.1 per cent of "stressed" tweets since the lockdown began, while Kingston upon Thames was fourth with 41.8 per cent.

Other South London boroughs also placed highly on the list.

Richmond reported 40.4 per cent of tweets that counted as "stressed" in the data, with Wandsworth close behind with 40.2 per cent.

Several South-East London boroughs also placed highly on the list of stressed tweets, including Bromley (39.9 per cent), and Bexley (39.8 per cent).