Covid-19’s Possible Long Term Effects on the Brain
It’s been almost one and half years since the first person in the United States was diagnosed with Covid-19. In that time, our priorities have broadened. At the beginning of the pandemic, our main focus was saving lives. Now, our attention is divided among saving lives, minimizing the spread of the virus, preventing severe illness related to Covid-19, and dealing with the long-term consequences in people who have survived after infection.
Being a coronavirus long-hauler means experiencing symptoms related to the virus, weeks and months after infection. Those symptoms aren’t just limited to shortness of breath or fatigue. Covid-19 can also have a significant impact on the brain, causing long haulers to experience neurological disorder symptoms. A common symptom among long haulers is brain fog, the sensation of feeling mentally off, disorganized, and having difficulty concentrating.
People infected with Covid-19 often experience an array of neurological symptoms, ranging from headaches, to loss of smell and taste, to life-threatening strokes, and bleeding in the brain. Those symptoms don’t just occur during the acute phase. According to a study in Lancet Psychiatry, people diagnosed with Covid-19 have an increased risk of developing a neurological disorder six months post-infection. That includes diagnoses involving the widespread dysfunction of the brain like dementia; as well as acute inflammation of the nerves as seen in Guillain-Barre Syndrome.
Causes of Long-Hauler Symptoms
There are multiple factors as to why you may develop neurological long-hauler symptoms after a Covid-19 infection.
Neuron Damage
It may be due to the damage the virus directly does to your neurons, the primary nerve cells in your brain. Covid-19 infects these cells and ruptures them.
Strokes
Additionally, strokes related to Covid-19 are likely the result of damage to blood vessels in your brain that increase the likelihood of clots forming. Blood clots might also form in other organs such as the heart and lungs, eventually traveling up to your brain, and obstructing blood flow.
Autoimmune Response
Long-hauler symptoms may also be triggered by an autoimmune response. Autoimmune responses occur when your body attacks viral particle invaders, causing your nerve tissue to end up as collateral damage. The result of this autoimmune response is usually widespread inflammation. Inflammation occurs when your body is threatened or hurt. Inflammation isn’t necessarily bad for you. In fact, inflammation is essential in the beginning stages of injury and can be life-saving. Inflammation means your body’s white blood cells are localized in an area and fighting off invaders.
However, chronic inflammation can be deadly. Inflammatory cells want to destroy the foreign objects present in your body, allowing healing to begin. When inflammation becomes chronic, instead of promoting healing, the immune response can damage and kill your healthy cells. The longer the inflammation lasts, the more healthy cells get killed off. Eventually, that causes significant and lasting damage, especially in brain tissue.
Neuroplasticity As a Solution
Regardless of the cause of neurological long-hauler symptoms, they can have a devastating impact on your life. As a result, neurological long-hauler clinics are now being conducted in order to tract these symptoms and promote healing. Neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to create new neurons, can result in healing after injury. However, neuroplasticity requires a few things.
First, your need to remove the catalyst behind brain injury. Second, you need time, which is why rest is crucial to healing. It takes time to heal after illness or injury. Last, you need to promote neuroplasticity. The best free and all-natural ways to promote neuroplasticity are through physical exercise, challenging your brain by learning new things, and getting 6-8 hours of sleep per night.
Promote Healing
Even though the Covid-19 pandemic has been raging for almost one and half years globally, we’re at the beginning of understanding the long-term impact that the virus has on our body and brain. In all likelihood, more people will develop long-hauler symptoms as the number of people exposed to the virus increases. With your brain at risk, focus on healing and activities that minimize the development of neurological disorders, while supporting a healthy brain. Promoting neuroplasticity for yourself is of utmost importance.
If you’d like to learn more about neuroplasticity, you’re brain’s ability to heal on its own, pick up a copy of my book Neuroplasticity: Your Brain’s Superpower.