The pandemic body: how the Covid era changed us – from hair loss to weight gain – The Guardian
This year, out of nowhere, my left heel has started hurting. Is it the onset of some degenerative condition, a normal byproduct of ageing, or simply pandemic life, I wonder. After all, living through this period has had surprising health consequences – even for people who have not caught coronavirus. It has recently emerged, for instance, that the Covid era has been a global hair-loss event – a clear manifestation of the stress everyone has been under. What else have th…….
This year, out of nowhere, my left heel has started hurting. Is it the onset of some degenerative condition, a normal byproduct of ageing, or simply pandemic life, I wonder. After all, living through this period has had surprising health consequences – even for people who have not caught coronavirus. It has recently emerged, for instance, that the Covid era has been a global hair-loss event – a clear manifestation of the stress everyone has been under. What else have these unprecedented times written on our bodies?
Hair
When the UK’s Institute of Trichologists (IoT) – a professional association for those who treat hair and scalp disorders – surveyed its members this summer, 79% said they had seen cases of “post-Covid hair loss” in their clinics. Eva Proudman, consultant trichologist and chair of the IoT, puts it down to the high temperatures and loss of appetite that are common with having the virus. “Both of these factors reflect in the hair, usually between four to six weeks after the virus has started to resolve, and the hair will start to shed excessively.”
But mental stress alone can also lead to hair shedding. Richard Spencer, a trichologist working in central London, says other reasons for hair falling out can be “the anxiety of having the virus and not knowing how badly one might suffer from it, as well as the stress of lockdowns”. While Proudman has seen cases in men and women, it can be more obvious in women, “as they tend to wear their hair longer than men, and you see a higher volume of hair coming out in the shower, brush and generally shedding”.
Pandemic-induced hair loss is most likely a condition known as telogen effluvium, “a disruption to the hair’s normal growing and shedding cycle,” says Proudman, “causing there to be less hair in the growing phase, and more in the resting and shedding phases”. The good news, says Spencer, is that whether the loss is due to physical or emotional stress, “most or all of the hair is recoverable”. In some cases, adds Proudman, “the body will recover from this disruption on its own. In other cases, we may need to help with dietary changes, specific hair supplements or treatments.”
Eyes
Pandemic eyes are dry and, frankly, shattered from so much screen time. This makes them scratchy, sore and blurry, and it’s hard not to blame this on some perceived malignant force in the screens, such as blue light. Ditto for the boom in childhood myopia that was shown in a Chinese study …….
