YULA Girls | Panther Post | Issue I | November 2020

THE PANTHER POST | YULA GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL
PAGE 13 | NOVEMBER, 2020
Mental Health During Pressing Times
BY LEAH POMERANCE ‘22
The World Health
Organization (WHO) officially
declared the Coronavirus disease
(COVID-19) as a pandemic.
Immediately thereafter, many
countries began to implement
strict measures to limit the transmission
of this deadly disease,
including instituting lock-downs,
requiring online schooling, and
closing businesses and restaurants.
These measures were both
unprecedented and shocking to
our society and different from
people's everyday living habits.
Initially, many people, unsure of
what to do, panicked, stocking
up on food, Purell hand sanitizer,
masks, and other necessities.
Although it has been several
months since the outbreak of
COVID-19, society continues to
struggle with the whole notion
of quarantines and social distancing
as a means of promoting
health. While news has been
focused primarily on the number
of COVID-19-related cases and
deaths resulting therefrom, perhaps
we should be giving greater
thought to the recognition that
the implementation of quarantines
has led to a diminution of
public health for many people.
This "quarantine" requirement,
namely staying indoors
and out of public stores and
restaurants for a long period of
time, appears to be causing higher
levels of stress. People today
are anxious about their income
and ability to pay their bills;
businesses are closing at record
rates, and people are now left
alone for significantly greater
periods of time than what was
otherwise experienced prior to
the COVID-19 pandemic. Will
the sustained shutdown cause
an economic disaster? Will my
job be safe? —these are just a
few of the questions for which
people seek answers. The loneliness
and uncertainty feed each
other, and too often people are
left worrying about today and
their future. As a result, people
feel greater stress in their lives.
Studies show that increases in
stress can lead to a greater chance
of heart attacks, strokes and other
illnesses. Compounding matters,
the longer the quarantines are
imposed, the more likely that a
person's continued higher levels
of stress and anxiety will
weaken a person's immune system.
Although the quarantine
may limit the transmission of
COVID-19, the benefits may
be offset by more strokes, heart
attacks, ulcers, colitis, and other
ailments, all of which are very
serious.
In a similar vein, the implementation
of quarantines, and
the emphasis placed on avoiding
personal contact during the quarantine
process with any person
outside your "bubble," has led to
people forgoing needed medical
assistance. Too often, people
have avoided both elective and
other procedures for fear of coming
in contact with COVID-19
positive individuals at hospitals
and other health facilities. In
particular, cancer patients, who
are some of the most vulnerable
people to significant healthcare
problems resulting from contracting
COVID-19, are avoiding
chemotherapy and other
potentially life-saving treatments
primarily because of the need
to avoid public contact with others.
Limiting both elective and
non-elective, potentially vital
medical assistance now to avoid
public contact (and contracting
COVID-19) may very likely lead
to greater health problems in the
future.
The imposition of quarantines
and decreased personal interaction
will almost certainly have
a significant negative impact on
mental health. Too often, people
today are bored and lack motivation,
as each day seems to feel the
same. Today, people feel constrained
and trapped within the
walls of their homes. Evidence
suggests that services such as
Netflix and other online venues,
are very busy as people seek to
fill the time and escape from
their limited reality. Personal
meetings are now replaced with
a Zoom meeting, and personal
interaction is down. Everything
from restaurants, movies, gyms
and other social settings are now
closed. There is no place to go,
nowhere to exercise, and with
the economy down, too much
downtime. Evidence suggests
that when a person is bored, he or
she is in a malaise. From a physiological
perspective, this malaise
results in our brain seeking to
stimulate our dopamine neurons
(the search for thrill) and causing
us to look to food as a stimulant.
This new stimulant results in
increased appetite, and increased
food consumption becomes a
means of finding happiness and
satisfaction, the result of which
is overeating. Weight gain can
also lead to heart attacks, diabetes
and other health-related problems.
Making matters worse,
the imposition of quarantines
and shutting down gyms has led
to less physical activity (and the
loss of another potentially more
positive stimulant—exercise).
This, in turn, can lead to poor
health and the weakening of our
immune system from lack of
physical activity.
All is not lost, however.
Recognizing the potential negative
effects that quarantines and
shutdowns have on our health,
people today can attempt to offset
these challenges by making
better use of the additional time
we have resulting from more
time at home and harnessing the
energy resulting from increased
anxiety to increase our focus on
task-specific goals and new ways
of exercise that we may have
overlooked before. Channeling
the energy resulting from
increased worrying to watching
what we eat is just one way that
we can adapt to our present circumstances
and attempt to maintain
our health as we try to ride
out the COVID-19 pandemic.