COVID-19 Brain Effects: The Pandemic Is Changing Our Brains

For those who contracted COVID-19 or did not, your brain has a high probability of having undergone changes over the past couple of months; the novel coronavirus pandemic has had brain effects on the public. The novel coronavirus could trigger a number of neurological problems including anxiety and depression.

The coronavirus' impact on physical health is already apparent. One of the adverse consequences posed on brain health is dementia.

"The pandemic may increase the risk of developing dementia in two ways. First, through the virus' hallmark respiratory symptoms, there may be a decrease in oxygen going to the brain, which could have negative consequences and cause damage," according to Dr. Jennifer Ryan, senior scientist at Baycrest's Rotman Research Institute (RRI), reported Eurekalert.

The University of South Carolina's Aging Brain Cohort (ABC) has initiated a study probing into the negative cognitive and neurological effects of COVID-19.

"Doctors and researchers studying this pandemic have observed that, after surviving COVID-19's initial assault on the body, individuals infected with COVID-19 often experience negative aftereffects including physical, cognitive and mental health problems," according to lead investigator and professor of communication sciences and disorders Julius Fridriksson, reported the University of South Carolina.

One-third of people who tested positive for COVID-19 reported lingering neurological and psychological symptoms brought upon by the illness. These included numb limbs and mental slowness that some people are calling "COVID fog" which alludes to the illness' lingering effect on the brain.

Other than brain effects, chronic ailments including lung scarring and kidney and heart damage could result from COVID-19, reported MarketWatch.

Researchers and doctors and beginning to clock the probable long-term impact of the virus on the mind.

Patients suffering from COVID-19 exhibit neurological symptoms including loss of smell and taste, an increased risk of stroke, and delirium. Longer-lasting adverse effects on the brain are Guillain-Barre syndrome and myalgic encephalomyelitis /chronic fatigue syndrome.

There are three ways by which COVID-19 can attack the nervous system, according to UC San Diego Health neurointensivist Dr. Navaz Karanjia:

The first is by ''direct viral invasion, coming through the bloodstream or by infecting the nerves in the nose -- the olfactory nerves -- that are attached to the brain and crawling along them to the brain,'' reported KPBS.

The second by ''the body creating antibodies that attack the brain and nervous system.''

The third ''by causing systemic inflammation to the other organs and blood vessels that can cause blood clots to form all over the body, that may get shot up through the heart to the brain, or that may form in the brain itself."

The COVID-19 respiratory illness with such brain effects has over 600,000 fatalities across the globe in around half a year.

Since its initial outbreak detected in a wet market in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019, the infection eventually developed into a prevalent pandemic with over 15 million confirmed cases to date.