By: Chase DiCarlo
Over the last 2 years, our world has been forever changed. The world as we knew it was never going to be the same again. We have entered a point in time where nobody knows what is going to happen next. As a kid, in highschool, having to rush out of school because of this new disease was pretty scary and for most of us, we are entering a time where anything can happen. We do not know what this disease is or how it is gonna affect us? But as the days turned into hours and the hours turning into days, we all started to feel a bit different. We were all experiencing mental and physical health issues. As much as we might not have known it at the time, we were all suffering from the same thing but in different ways. While the government was addressing Covid, who was addressing mental and physical health? Who was checking in on the youth of this nation to see if we are okay? Lastly, why is this happening to everyone?
Mental Health after the Pandemic: After January 20, 2020 when the first case of covid was released, the world did not take things as they should have. People were making jokes about this issue and did not think anything of it. But when schools started to shut down and the country slowly started to become empty, we all knew something was not right. As the government shut down the country, people were going crazy about stocking up on food, water, and other household items. But it seems as if we all forgot about something way more important. Mental Health. This is the driving force in someone’s body. Their mental health gets them through the day and makes them feel better about themselves. But people sadly forgot about this issue. As someone who has suffered with depression, covid really took a turn for the worst for us kids. “The nation’s overall suicide rate fell by 3% from 2019 to 2020, even as a number of studies have highlighted the pandemic’s mental health toll on Americans. One analisys found nearly 41% of more than 5,400 adults surveyed in June 2020 reported having at least one adverse mental or behavioral health condition, with nearly 11% stating they had seriously considered suicide within the past 30 days”. This statistic is sickening. No one should feel so bad about themselves from a pandemic to try and hurt themselves let alone commit suicide. When everyone had to quarantine, people started to lose the ability to see each other and interact with everyone. People began feeling badly about themselves. In a study done by the CDC, 1 in every 10 people felt badly about themselves due to the pandemic.
Physical Health after the Pandemic: Some people may say, “There was nothing wrong sitting inside and relaxing one day” or “It’s nice to not have to go to school/work”. Well there is a big problem with doing that. As the covid pandemic grew to a worldwide spread killing thousands of people, the gyms and pretty much the whole world came to a complete stand still. As a society we grew lazy about not going places and relying on things to be virtually. We were dependent on other people doing things for us instead of ourselves. Our body’s grew weaker from sitting in quarantine and we all felt hopeless. A study done in a Wuhan lab by Hubei Key Laboratory of Sport Training and Monitoring, found that “ Domestic confinement has a long-lasting psychological and well-being effect. Chinese people were confronted by anger, boredom, and loneliness during home confinement, and psychological problems, such as depression, stress, and anxiety increased”. This information corresponds to the situation the United States was facing as well. “Nearly half of Americans (47%) said they delayed or canceled health care services since the pandemic started. Additionally, more than half of U.S. adults (53%) said they have been less physically active than they wanted to be since the pandemic started.” The important thing we all forgot about during this time was that our physical health was just as important as our mental health. We forgot about the key things to live a better life.
Conclusion: As the pandemic is coming to a slower crawl, we cannot think that we have to abandon our physical and mental health. With this pandemic slowing down, we should all go outside and be active and try to get life back to the way we knew it. Physical and mental health correspond with each other and are valuable to a happier and better life.
Work Cited:
Berg, Sara. “What Doctors Wish Patients Knew about Long Covid.” American Medical Association, 11 Mar. 2022, https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/public-health/what-doctors-wish-patients-knew-about-long-covid.
Center, From the Abilities Research. “Post-Acute Covid-19 Syndrome Negatively Impacts Physical… : American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation.” LWW, https://journals.lww.com/ajpmr/Fulltext/2022/01000/Post_acute_COVID_19_Syndrome_Negatively_Impacts.8.aspx.
“Coping with Stress.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 25 Mar. 2022, https://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/stress-coping/cope-with-stress/index.html.
“Covid ‘Long Haulers’: Long-Term Effects of COVID-19.” Johns Hopkins Medicine, 29 Apr. 2022, https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/covid-long-haulers-long-term-effects-of-covid19.
“Covid-19 (Coronavirus): Long-Term Effects.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 22 Oct. 2021, https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/coronavirus-long-term-effects/art-20490351.
“Health Tips: 3 Steps for Returning to Physical Activity after Covid-19.” Choose PT, 13 Apr. 2021, https://www.choosept.com/health-tips/steps-returning-physical-activity-after-covid-19.
Liu, Xuerong, et al. “Public Mental Health Problems during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Large-Scale Meta-Analysis of the Evidence.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 9 July 2021, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-021-01501-9.
Shanbehzadeh S;Tavahomi M;Zanjari N;Ebrahimi-Takamjani I;Amiri-Arimi S;, Sanaz. “Physical and Mental Health Complications Post-Covid-19: Scoping Review.” Journal of Psychosomatic Research, U.S. National Library of Medicine, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34051516/.
Shanbehzadeh, Sanaz, et al. “Physical and Mental Health Complications Post-Covid-19: Scoping Review.” Journal of Psychosomatic Research, Elsevier, 20 May 2021, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022399921001707.
Shaukat, Natasha, et al. “Physical and Mental Health Impacts of Covid-19 on Healthcare Workers: A Scoping Review – International Journal of Emergency Medicine.” BioMed Central, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 20 July 2020, https://intjem.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12245-020-00299-5.
