essay on the topic mental and physiology growth in children during covid?
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Answer:
There are scarce data about the impact of epidemics on children’s growth and development. Preserving children’s well-being during stressful times such as pandemics needs greater attention in the medical literature. Children’s health is one of the most important issues in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and science has shown that genetic predispositions are modified by environmental influences, such as those experienced during a pandemic, and affect learning capacities, adaptive behaviors, lifelong physical and mental health, and adult productivity.
Epidemics or pandemics, such as COVID-19, produce potential risks to child development due to the risk of illness, protective confinement, social isolation, and the increased stress level of parents and caregivers. This situation becomes an adverse childhood experience (ACEs) and may generate toxic stress, with consequent potential losses for brain development, individual and collective health, and the long-term impairment of cognition, mental and physical health, and working capacity of future adults.
Studies to improve the understanding of the impact of epidemics and pandemics such as COVID-19 on children’s mental health and development can help to guide strategies to prevent damage to children’s growth and promote positive development.
The COVID-19 pandemic has produced impacts on general health and child development through exposure to the virus and consequent infection, as well as through the social confinement recommended or mandated in an attempt to slow the progress of COVID-19, enable adequate medical care, and prevent the collapse of health care systems.
Consequently, the pandemic demands that millions of parents and caregivers demonstrate a high capacity for resilience to ensure protective health measures to prevent contagion. One of the pillars for overcoming adversity is interaction among people, which is compromised by isolation, leading to increased stress in both parents and children. In addition to general care and strategies to minimize stress, preserving children's well-being is an important focus, increasingly highlighted in medical literature. Children’s good health is one of the most important issues for the SDGs, and science demonstrates that genetic predispositions (biology) are modified by environmental influences (ecology) and affect learning capacities, adaptive behaviors, lifelong physical and mental health, and adult productivity.1
From this perspective, there are several factors that influence the physical and mental health of children and adolescents experiencing the stress inherent in a pandemic, such as isolation itself, school shutdown, reduced social life and physical activities, changes to routine, sleep difficulties, exposure to disharmony at home, excessive screen use, unhealthy diet, and others.2
Depending on levels and kinds of support, high and continuous stress may either be tolerable or become toxic to children and adolescents. ACEs are traumatic or stressful events that occur in childhood, such as abuse, neglect, domestic violence, and parents with substance dependence or mental illness. The pandemic can be understood as another source of ACE.3
This review of the scientific literature about the impacts of isolation, environmental restriction, social distancing, and the challenges of maintaining general child health and development within the context of previous epidemics and the COVID-19 pandemic was undertaken in light of the above.
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