“The COVID brain”: This is what chronic pandemic stress does to your brain

It's been a year since the start of the pandemic and things, unfortunately, have only gotten worse. Vaccines give us hope, but in the last year we all suffer to some degree from stress and uncertainty. So what is going on in our brains? How does the "lockdown" affect them, and will our brains also return to normal with our long-awaited return to a kind of "normality"?

These questions are at the heart of a fascinating new article by Dana Smith, which she prepared for Elemental. In conversation with psychologists and neuroscientists, Smith delves into what the pandemic has done to our brains. It makes for a dark but also oddly soothing read.

This is your brain under chronic stress

Smith begins her paper with a disclaimer. Science takes its time and this field of research is still developing. What we understand as the effects of COVID on our brains is bound to change as more research results become available. But what we already know suggests that they are the results are alarming.

Short-term stress isn't necessarily bad for you. In fact, it can motivate you to improve your performance in high-stakes situations. But when stress preoccupies us for months at a time, the effects on our brains are alarming, Smith writes: “One change that occurs is conditioned by the brain's immune system – a family of cells called microglia that reside in the brain. Under normal circumstances, one of the roles of microglia is to remove damaged or unused synapses—the connections between neurons that allow brain cells to communicate. In small doses, this is a normal part of maintaining a healthy brain. During periods of severe stress, however, much more microglia are produced, which are activated by cortisol circulating in the brain. Excess, over-activated microglia can then begin to remove the synapses that are still needed and functional.”

Chronic stress, in other words, acts like an ax that cuts the precious connections between neurons. This can cause a number of problems, including memory problems and foggy thinking, with the most common result being an increased susceptibility to anxiety. Thanks to the "severing" of connections between the brain's survival center, the amygdala, and other parts tasked with more rational processing, it's hard for us to think about how to get rid of irrational stress.

"There's nothing stopping the amygdala from setting off alarms, so we're more and more stressed about different things," sums up Smith. Similarly, stress can increase the likelihood of depression by removing the connections between neurons that help us regulate our moods.

No, we're not weird

Can we find something positive in this? A long and detailed article by Smith (be sure to read the whole of the article, if you're into brain science) isn't an upbeat read, but it should at least take some comfort from the fact that if you're a bit bitter and prone to anxiety after a year of COVID, you are not alone in this, nor do you imagine it.

So the "COVID brain" is so true! As Smith concludes: "I hope that describing these some very real changes that can happen in the brain after a year of stress, loneliness and loss will make people feel a little less abnormal."

Take comfort in the fact that the end is in sight and that the experience of previous pandemics shows that our collective mental health will improve once the virus is tamed. Get help if your feelings develop into full-blown depression or an anxiety disorder. But the biggest message of hope is that given the situation, it's perfectly normal to experience these struggles. So if you've been stressing yourself out over this, stop!