Covid hasn’t gone away and the much-vaunted “living with it” is no fun, either. In the four years since the pandemic began, we’ve learned just how miserable a bout of the virus can be – and often, it doesn’t end when you have “recovered”.
A new study from Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia University has found that depression is a common post-viral symptom as Covid-19 can infect brain cells related to mood regulation and stress, and lead to disrupted dopamine production (the neurons are attacked by the virus) and inflammation in the brain.
The findings explain the depression, anxiety and brain fog which many report as a post-viral symptom – one study from Washington University, Missouri, even suggests that as many as 35 per cent experienced depressive feelings after recovering from Covid.
