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Forty million infections and 1 million deaths are the reality of Covid-19 across the world. It becomes deadly when other factors also combine, such as age, the severity of the virus, travels, no social distancing, inequality, and the existence of comorbidities, such as heart ailment, diabetes, obesity, and so on. Comorbidity refers to the co-occurrence of certain medical conditions. Since these can be chronic, you can expect them to lead to unfavorable health developments. To be precise, a diabetic or obese person can suffer more from Covid-19 than other people with no medical history. The risk of health outcomes becomes severe when a person has more comorbidities.
You may be aware that heart diseases, diabetes, cancer, lung or kidney challenges, and others can be a matter of concern for people exposed to the risk of COVID-19. But there are psychiatric comorbidities, such as disordered neural conditions, which can again make anyone vulnerable to viral infection. Depression and anxiety are the two of them.
Hani Zeini: An overview of coronavirus and psychiatric comorbidity
Coronavirus and psychiatric comorbidity
As per the data, COVID-19 patients with a background of psychiatric diagnoses showed a higher risk of death than others. Nearly 36.8% of people with psychiatric comorbidity died of the infection compared to others. It also suggests that patients with psychiatric disorders and COVID-19 are 50% more vulnerable, regardless of their age, race, and other medical conditions.
According to Hani Zeini, depression and anxiety patients are not just at the Drisk of coronavirus; they can contract any infection quite easily.
Psychiatry and immunology
You may wonder why this condition can lead to infection and other ailments after contracting the virus. The experts say that depression and anxiety can trouble the interlinked body parts, including immunity, nervous system, and gut. The disorder may not last for long, but recovery may take time if the psychological stressors take a chronic form. Eventually, it can put pressure on the body and spoil its ability to manage stressors. Due to this, any illness can easily set in.
The ways to handle psychiatric comorbidity
Extraordinary levels of stress can hamper your breathing. When you are under tremendous pressure, you can feel suffocated. About 36% of Americans admit that the pandemic is affecting their mental health. One of the best ways to manage stress can be deep breathing. When you do a breathing exercise, your belly will expand as you inhale and cave in as you exhale. The more this in-and-out happens, the more you can benefit from deep breathing. It can relax your mind and senses. There are different forms of this type of breathing. You can practice any of them to stay in good shape. These include cellular breathing, conscious breathing, and active and calming breathing.
You can go online and study these techniques and do them at home. You may find it relaxing and calming for sure. And if your mind is at peace, your overall body would also respond well. Your immunity will be stronger. Hence, the chances of getting an infection will also reduce.