The coronavirus has brought an unprecedented crisis to the world, not only causing millions of deaths, but also having a serious impact on people's mental health. According to the World Health Organization, the number of people with depression has surged to 95 million since the pandemic, nearly double the number before the pandemic.
Depression is a common mental illness that can make people feel like life is not fun, etc. Of course, the epidemic is undoubtedly an important environmental factor, which will bring great stress and trauma to people, thereby inducing or aggravating the occurrence of depression.
What you may not know is that the coronavirus itself can trigger depression. The coronavirus not only attacks the lungs, but also circulates through the bloodstream and infects other organs, including the brain. When the new coronavirus infects the human body, the body's immune system produces a large number of inflammatory factors to fight off the invasion of the virus. However, these inflammatory factors can sometimes overreact, leading to an inflammatory storm that causes tissue and organ damage and is even life-threatening.
Inflammation affects not only physical health, but also mental health. Inflammatory factors can enter the brain and affect the structure and function of the brain, which can lead to the occurrence of depression. Inflammatory factors inhibit some important neurotransmitters in the brain, such as serotonin, dopamine, etc., which are key substances in regulating mood. When levels of these neurotransmitters drop, people experience symptoms of depression. Inflammatory factors also activate the stress axis in the brain, leading to increased secretion of cortisol, a stress hormone that damages neurons in the brain, especially the hippocampus, an important region associated with mood and memory. When the hippocampus is damaged, people develop problems such as cognitive impairment and memory loss.
Therefore, the new coronavirus can cause inflammation not only in the lungs but also in the brain, which can lead to the occurrence of depression. This also explains why some people infected with the new coronavirus, after recovery, still experience symptoms of depression, which is called "long COVID" or "post-COVID syndrome".
So, what can be done to improve or prevent depression caused by the coronavirus?
In addition to seeking medical attention and taking antiviral and antidepressant medications, another simple and effective way is to take probiotics or prebiotics by mouth. Probiotics are some beneficial microorganisms that can help us maintain the balance of intestinal flora, reduce inflammation in the gut, and promote the synthesis and release of neurotransmitters, thereby improving our mood. Prebiotics are some food components that cannot be digested by the human body, and they can be used as food for probiotics to enhance the effect of probiotics. Among them, some second-generation probiotics, such as Bacteroides fragilis BF839, AKK bacteria, etc., have stronger anti-inflammatory and antidepressant effects, and they can directly act on the brain and improve brain health.
Therefore, if you want to improve or prevent depression caused by the new coronavirus, you can take some foods or supplements containing probiotics or prebiotics every day, while paying attention to other nutrition and lifestyle improvements, combined with other treatments, to comprehensively improve your mental health.
Depression is a disease that can be prevented and treated, don't let it affect your quality of life and well-being. Start today, pay attention to your gut, pay attention to your mood, and beat depression with nutrition!