The Lifestyle and Mental Health Crises of the Youth with COVID-19

February 3rd: The COVID-19 pandemic has created a mental health crisis that has affected people around the world. Lockdowns have forced millions of people indoors, disrupted daily lives and routines, and altered the experience of school education for a generation. The COVID crisis has tightened the link between depression and lifestyle habits: the association between interruptions in physical activity and mental health has never been clearer.

One demographic has been susceptible to these non-physical impacts of COVID-19 in particular: young people. The turmoil of daily life, including lack of physical contact with peers, isolation at home and, for some, loss of financial and emotional security, has increased youth risk for mental health disorders.

Consequently, these interruptions have contributed to the decline in the productivity of young people. Such stressors exacerbate already worrying trends that have been seen in studies of adolescents. While the cost of the long-term impact on children’s lives is incalculable, the World Health Organization estimated that the economic loss from mental health conditions (2012-2020) exceeded $1 trillion in India.

Our youth face multiple challenges:

Education and the growing digital divide
With the pandemic entering its third year, the impact on young people’s mental health has continued to take a toll. The closures have required the closure of schools and the separation of friends, social activities and sports. The emotional stability of education and recreation routines has also been destabilized, leaving many young people anxious and fearful for their future.

Furthermore, the COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated an already existing digital divide between strata of society. According to UNICEF research, only 60% of students in India were able to use distance learning resources, and nearly 80% of children in the 14-18 age group reported falling behind in learning .

Many students around the world have missed nearly a year of school, and schools in some nations have yet to reopen. A World Bank article mentions that learning poverty, defined as the percentage of 10-year-olds who cannot read basic texts, will increase between 17% and almost 70% in low- and middle-income countries. In fact, the problem is not just limited to developing nations. Lockdown measures have created learning losses among young people even in the highest-income European countries.

Impact on young women
Although lockdowns have confined both men and women to households equally, the proportion of housework carried out by women has not been reduced during the pandemic. The pandemic has only pushed them deeper into the confines of their homes. A study of girls aged 13-24 from 7 cities in India found that nearly 80% of girls had a heavier workload of housework and 64% could not find adequate time to study online. With women becoming more involved in household chores, young women’s education, career and financial independence prospects have been reduced: almost 42% of girls reported additional pressure to marry. As a result, thoughts of self-harm and distress during lockdown have been more frequent in young women. Globally, these findings have been especially true of vulnerable groups such as girls, women, and people facing socioeconomic disadvantage; nearly 24% of BAME (Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic) respondents and 18% of women reported thoughts of self-harm and suicide.

Young people affected more than adults
Although rates of psychological distress have already increased over the last decade in young adults, the COVID pandemic has proven to be a mental pandemic for young people. While 19% of adults in the US reported feeling depressed or anxious, this figure doubled for young adults.
Reports from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that rates of depression and anxiety already exceed 60% among young adults ages 18-24, of whom nearly 25% reported having felt suicidal in recent years. month. These estimates indicate a 25% increase in mental health problems in young adults and college students compared to 2019, before the pandemic.
Additionally, the State of the World’s Children 2021 report found that 14% of 15-24 year olds in India reported feeling depressed and losing interest in daily activities. This corroborates research from the American Psychological Association, which found that increased isolation with an ongoing pandemic has only worsened the mental state of young adults. Nearly 80% of college students reported feeling depressed with the impact seen across a broader age range. Generation Z, young people between 13 and 23 years old, is the group most affected by mental disorders from the pandemic in the United States.

Interruptions in physical activities.
The burden of school, social, and work restrictions is creating increased stress for young adults who are increasingly concerned about wasting precious time in their prime years. This includes losing traditional milestones, relationships, and career opportunities. With many physical activities tied to social interactions, these disturbances manifest as changes in lifestyle behaviors and mental health. In fact, interruptions in physical activities and associated lifestyle behaviors appear to be the leading causes of depression in young adults.

According to a survey based on college youth comparing their activities before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, significant behavioral changes can be observed in time use, physical activity, sleep patterns, and mental health. These include startling stats like screen time doubling to more than 5 hours per day, time spent socializing falling by more than 50% to less than 30 minutes per day, sleep increasing by more than 25 minutes per day and the average number of daily steps is reduced by more than 50%. Screen time has increased in the pandemic not only as a means for online education/learning and social connection, but also as a coping mechanism for altered behavioral habits.

Worryingly, these disruptions can have effects that are not easily reversed simply by removing constraints and restoring old patterns.

An untreated mental breakdown
Treatment gaps related to mental health trends have been observed even before the COVID-19 pandemic began. Data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health suggest that nearly 14% of adolescents ages 12 to 17 in the United States experienced at least one major mental health disorder in 2017. Despite the fact that the US As one of the highest income countries in the world, almost 60% of these children did not receive any treatment.

While research has uncovered evidence of the pandemic’s impact on the mental health of children and young adults, there are signs that children are also reluctant to seek help for mental health problems. This trend appears to be more prevalent in India, where only 41% of 15-24 year olds said they thought it was a good thing to seek support for mental health issues. This is in stark comparison to young adults in other countries, where an average of 83% felt that seeking help for mental health problems was the appropriate way to deal with these problems.

what do we do?
We already know that younger people have more mental problems than previous generations and that trends in mental health have been downward. Children are living in increasingly transient circumstances and their mental health problems, such as anxiety, loneliness and depression, are being exacerbated.
With schools and universities reopening in India and around the world, it is imperative that we as a society address the negative impacts of the COVID-19 closures. Policymakers, educational leaders, teachers, families, and institutions must collaborate with young people to ensure that young people have the necessary support to address their emotional and mental needs in light of the pandemic.

An integrated response is needed to protect the mental health of young people:
·Teachers and faculty will need to be empathetic and observant to recognize signs of potential problems such as depression, signs of self-harm, and aggressive behavior. Online resources and mental health services must be made available to at-risk students. In such cases, spaces should be provided for young people to express their emotional state in a safe, confidential and non-judgmental way to help them learn self-regulation.

·Parents and family members should recognize the risks young people face and seek immediate professional help if symptoms of mental stress are observed. As educational and learning models are disrupted and redesigned, parents must empathize with their children’s struggle to adapt to changing methodology and temper expectations regarding performance in school. They must also help young people develop a positive mental attitude to navigate the uncertainties of the coming years and safeguard their mental well-being.

·Schools and universities should provide support to students at risk of leaving school early. Priority should be given to young students with existing mental health problems to minimize the impact of learning disruptions on their long-term career prospects. There is a need to standardize counseling sessions by psychologists/mental health professionals in primary, secondary and tertiary educational institutions as part of school life to help reduce the stigma of mental health problems in children and young adults.

·An effective response to the youth mental crisis is not possible without the full support of politicians and decision makers. Psychological interventions are required for young people and mental health services in addition to those in schools and universities. In recognition of the urgent emotional and mental health needs of the population, the Indian government has announced the launch of the National Tele-Mental Health program with 23 tele-mental health centers in the Union Budget for 2022. Focusing on the digitization and mental health, support can strengthen the framework for young people in both urban and rural populations.

Governments and health experts hope that with the advent of the Omicron variant, COVID-19 could become an endemic health problem from a global health crisis. However, there is no guarantee that there will be no closures or lockouts in the near future. In such a scenario, the impact of social isolation, lack of stimulation and interruptions in physical activity on adolescent development must be controlled. Preserving young people’s social networks and meeting their developmental needs are necessary to manage their mental health and future job security. India’s working-age population is expected to grow by 97 million by 2031 – now is the time to take action to help our youth in the best possible way.

Contributed By: IshiqaMultani
President, Sagar Group of Hospitals