Whether you have contracted COVID-19 or not, your brain has probably changed in recent months. The virus itself can cause a number of neurological problems, along with anxiety and depression. The isolation and anxiety caused by the pandemic can similarly alter our brain chemistry and cause mood disorders.
In our new paper, published in Neuropsychopharmacology Reviews, we explore how we can best overcome the brain changes associated with the pandemic.
Let’s start with COVID-19 infection. In addition to mood disorders, common symptoms include fatigue, headaches, memory loss and problems with attention. There can be a number of reasons for these brain changes, including inflammation and cerebrovascular events (a syndrome caused by disruption of blood supply to the brain).
Research suggests that the virus can access the brain through the olfactory bulb of the forearm, which is important for odor processing. Loss of smoke is a symptom in many patients with COVID-19.
As part of the system responsible for your sense of smell, the olfactory lamp sends information about smoke to be further processed in other brain regions – including the amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex and the hippocampus – which play a major role in emotion, learning and memory.
As well as having extensive compounds with other resin regions, the oil factor bulge is rich in the chemical dopamine, which is important for fun, motivation and action. COVID-19 may alter the levels of dopamine and other chemicals, such as serotonin and acetylcholine, in the brain, but we can not say for sure. All of these chemicals are known to be involved in attention, learning, memory and mood.
These changes in the brain are likely responsible for the mood, fatigue, and cognitive changes often experienced by COVID-19 patients. This in turn may underlie the reported symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression in patients who have contracted the virus.
But it is not just people who have contracted the COVID-19 virus who have suffered from increased anxiety and depression during the pandemic. Excessive worries about contracting or spreading the virus to other family members, such as isolation and loneliness, can also alter our brain chemistry.
Repeated stress is a major trigger for persistent inflammation in the body, which can also affect the brain and shrink the hippocampus and thus affect our emotions. Stress can also affect levels of brain serotonin and cortisol, which can affect our mood. Eventually, these changes can cause symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Brain training
The good thing about the brain, however, is that it is incredibly plastic, which means it is resilient and can compensate for damage. Even serious conditions such as memory loss and depression can be ameliorated by doing things that change brain function and its chemistry.
Our paper looks at promising solutions for combating symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression – in COVID-19 patients and others.
We already know that training and mindfulness training – techniques that help us stay current – are helpful when it comes to fighting brain stress. Indeed, studies have shown beneficial functional and structural changes in the prefrontal cortex of the brain (involved in planning and decision making), hippocampus and amygdala after training of mindfulness.
One study showed an improved density of gray matter – the tissue that contains most of the cellular elements of the brain and a key component of the central nervous system – in the left hippocampus after eight weeks of training (compared to controls).
Importantly, these are all regions that are affected by the COVID-19 virus. In addition, gamified cognitive training can also help improve attention, memory function and increase motivation. Those who have persistent or severe symptoms of mental health may require clinical evaluation by a psychologist or psychiatrist. In such cases, pharmacological and psychological treatments are available, such as antidepressants or cognitive behavioral therapy.
Although many countries have not yet fully recovered from lockdown, there are long delays in access to healthcare, modern technologies such as portable devices (activity trackers) and digital platforms (mobile apps), which can be easily integrated into daily life. , are promising.
Thus, activity trackers can control things like heart rate and sleep patterns, indicating when the wearer can benefit from activities such as meditation, exercise or extra sleep. There are also apps that can help you reduce your stress level yourself.
These techniques are likely to benefit everyone, and can help us better promote cognitive resilience and mental health – preparing us for future critical events such as global pandemics. As a society, we must anticipate future challenges to our brain health, cognition and well-being. We need to use these techniques in schools to promote life sustainability, starting at an early age.
This article was republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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