Nearly half of US adults — 48% — said they feel more anxious than they did a year ago, up from 43% in 2025, per the American Psychiatric Association's 2026 Annual Mental Health Poll, released May 12, 2026. The survey of 2,201 adults also found 42% feel lonely at least weekly, up from 33% the year before, with money and current events tied as the top anxiety drivers at 62% each.
This site publishes information, not medical advice. Poll results describe self-reported feelings in a snapshot, not clinical diagnoses. If anxiety, low mood, or loneliness is persistent and affecting your life, a mental health professional is the right first stop — not a workout plan alone.
What the poll found
The poll, conducted April 13–15, 2026 by Morning Consult, asked adults what drives their anxiety: current events and paying bills tied at 62%, followed by family safety (60%), identity theft (56%), personal health (55%), and climate change and emerging technology (53% each). The economy topped the current-events list, worrying 71% of respondents, per the APA's release.
Two social findings stand out for anyone who trains around other people. Loneliness rose year over year to 42% weekly and 16% daily. And while 28% of adults saw a mental health professional in the past year, a striking 17% reported using an AI chatbot for mental health support, with 35% saying they would consider one instead of a professional.
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What it changes for everyday exercisers
Exercise keeps showing up in the clinical literature as a tool for mood and anxiety symptoms — the evidence is strong enough that major treatment guidelines discuss it alongside formal care, not instead of it. The poll's loneliness numbers are the practical hook: the gym, the group run, the climbing wall are among the few remaining places strangers routinely share space and small talk. If the poll describes your year — anxious, busier in the head, more isolated — the useful move is structural, not motivational: put a recurring, social, movement-based commitment on the calendar and let it do double duty.
What it does not support is exercise as a replacement for care. The APA's own data show most adults still rate professional help as valuable; the chatbot trend is unproven territory with real open questions about safety.
The point of context other coverage skipped
Coverage fixated on the anxiety headline, which has barely moved in structure across several years of this poll — the same handful of stressors, higher numbers. The sharper year-over-year shift is the loneliness jump of nine points in a single year, and the quiet arrival of AI chatbots in the coping toolkit. Between 2025 and 2026 the share of adults open to substituting a chatbot for a clinician became large enough to measure comfortably — and no outcome data yet exist to say whether that substitution helps or harms. That is the trend line worth watching, not the anxiety topline itself.
Frequently asked questions
How many Americans feel more anxious than last year?
48% in the APA's 2026 poll, released May 12, 2026, up from 43% in 2025. Bills and current events tied as the top drivers, at 62% each.
Can exercise replace treatment for anxiety?
No. Regular activity is associated with better mood and appears in treatment guidance as a supportive measure, but it is not a substitute for professional care. Persistent anxiety warrants an evaluation by a qualified professional.