Reversing the adverse health effects of prolonged lockdowns

What is it about?

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in mass quarantines, stay-at-home ordinances, and prolonged lockdowns across the globe. Although these safety measures protected people to a certain extent from deadly coronavirus infections, they also exerted some detrimental effects on public health. For example, pandemic-related lockdowns resulted into physical inactivity, weight gain, behavioural addiction disorders, insufficient sunlight exposure, and social isolation. This opinion paper sheds light on lockdown-related negative health outcomes and identifies key strategies to mitigate their effects on public health.

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Photo by Sarah Kilian on Unsplash

Photo by Sarah Kilian on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Addressing the negative effects of lockdowns plays a critical role in safe-guarding our short and long-term health. For example, although staying at home for prolonged periods reduces people’s exposure to natural sunlight (and subsequently their vitamin D levels), opting for vitamin D supplementation helps mitigate this problem. Similarly, the adverse effects of lockdowns on mental health are effectively addressed by increasing connections with friends and relatives on social media. People unable to visit their favorite gymnasium can practice indoor exercises by following app or video-based training programs. This can help them meet their World Health Organization recommended weekly exercise targets (150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity, 75 min of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity, or a combination of both). Similarly, those addicted to smartphones or other electronic devices can install software programs to limit their device usage. In this paper, the authors identify many such real-world problems and suggest practical fixes to them. KEY TAKEAWAY Although nationwide lockdowns significantly mitigate the detrimental effects brought on by the pandemic, they give rise to a host of secondary risk factors resulting from drastic lifestyle changes. This paper systematically identifies several such health risks associated with prolonged indoor stay and suggests meaningful remedies to combat them.