Page 12 - aruba-today-20200912

A12 HEALTH
Saturday 12 September 2020
Poll: Pandemic takes toll on mental health of young adults

By CHEYANNE MUMPHREY hardship her generation is
and JENNIFER SINCO KELLE- experiencing now could
HER be attributed to their lack
Associated Press of historical context, com-
PHOENIX (AP) — The coro- pared with her parents'
navirus pandemic has tak- generation.
en a harsh toll on the men- "So it kind of feels like, oh
tal health of young Ameri- my God, can this get any
cans, according to a new worse? When is it going to
poll that finds adults under get better?" she said. "It
35 especially likely to report doesn't feel like it's going to
negative feelings or experi- get better."
ence physical or emotional Young adults also face
symptoms associated with constant exposure to so-
stress and anxiety. cial media, which could
A majority of Americans make negative feelings
ages 18 through 34 — 56% about the virus even worse.
— say they have at least The survey found that fre-
sometimes felt isolated in quently watching, reading
the past month, compared or talking about the virus
with about 4 in 10 older is consistently linked with
Americans, according to higher rates of negative
the latest COVID Response mental health symptoms.
Tracking Study conducted In this April 30, 2020, file photo, a man wears a face mask as he walks on Pier 45 in Hudson River Wayne Evans, 18, a fresh-
by NORC at the University Park in New York. man at North Carolina
of Chicago. Twenty-five Associated Press State University studying
percent of young adults likely to have already mar- going to the gym and get- One possible explanation remotely after being sent
rate their mental health as ried and started their own ting together with friends. for the age gap could be home because of virus cas-
fair or poor, compared with families. Some young peo- "And so it's hard to not feel that young adults have less es at the school, said social
13% of older adults, while ple are just beginning their really hopeless sometimes, experience dealing with media provided daily re-
56% of older adults say their adult lives amid a reces- especially because the a public health crisis, said minders of COVID-19.
mental health is excellent or sion, and older members numbers keep going up," Tom Smith, who has direct- The survey found 67% of
very good, compared with of the group are already she said. ed NORC's General Social young adults, but just 50%
just 39% of young adults. experiencing their second. The study found that young- Survey since 1980. Smith, of those older, say they
In the midst of the pan- Christina Torres, 32, a mid- er Americans also consis- 71, says he grew up being have at least sometimes
demic, young adults are dle school teacher in Hono- tently show higher rates of told not to play in the dirt felt that they were unable
navigating life transitions lulu, had to postpone her psychosomatic symptoms, because of the risk of con- to control the important
such as starting college June wedding and was not like having trouble sleep- tracting polio. things in life. And 55% of
and finding jobs, all without able to travel to her grand- ing, getting headaches or "This experience facing a 18 to 34 year olds say they
being able to experience mother's funeral in Califor- crying, compared to other pandemic is complete- have felt difficulties piling
normal social activities that nia because of the pan- age groups. The likelihood ly new for most younger up too high to overcome,
might be especially essen- demic. She misses being of experiencing such symp- adults," he said. compared with 33% of old-
tial for people who are less able to deal with stress by toms decreases with age. Torres thought some of the er adults.q

‘Mighty mice’ stay musclebound in space, boon for astronauts

By MARCIA DUNN necticut sent 40 young normal mice that received the U.S. "The only silver lin- to human studies," Ger-
AP Aerospace Writer female black mice to the "mighty mouse" treatment ing of COVID is that we main-Lee said.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. space station in Decem- in space returned to Earth had time to write it up very Lee said the experiment
(AP) — Bulked-up, mu- ber, launching aboard a with dramatically bigger intensively" and submit the pointed out other mole-
tant "mighty mice" held SpaceX rocket. muscles. The treatment results for publication, said cules and signaling path-
onto their muscle during In a paper published in involves blocking a pair of Dr. Emily Germain-Lee of ways worth investigating
a monthlong stay at the the Proceedings of the proteins that typically limit Connecticut Children's — "an embarrassment of
International Space Sta- National Academy of Sci- muscle mass. Medical Center, Lee's wife riches ... so many things
tion, returning to Earth with ences, Lee said the 24 reg- A SpaceX capsule brought who also took part in the we'd like to pursue." His
ripped bodybuilder phy- ular untreated mice lost all 40 mice back in good study. Both are affiliated next step: possibly sending
siques, scientists reported considerable muscle and condition, parachuting with the University of Con- more "mighty mice" to the
Monday. bone mass in weightless- into the Pacific off the necticut. space station for an even
The findings hold promise ness as expected — up to California coast in Janu- While encouraged by longer stay.
for preventing muscle and 18%. But the eight geneti- ary. Some of the ordinary their findings, the couple Three NASA astronauts
bone loss in astronauts on cally engineered "mighty mice were injected with said much more work looked after the space
prolonged space trips like mice" launched with dou- the "mighty mice" drug af- needs to be done before mice, performing body
Mars missions, as well as ble the muscle maintained ter returning and quickly testing the drug on peo- scans and injections:
people on Earth who are their bulk. Their muscles built up more muscle than ple to build up muscle and Christina Koch and Jes-
confined to bed or need appeared to be compa- their untreated compan- bone, without serious side sica Meir, who performed
wheelchairs. rable to similar "mighty ions, Lee said. effects. the first all-female space-
A research team led by mice" that stayed behind The scientists completed "We're years away. But walk last fall, and Andrew
Dr. Se-Jin Lee of the Jack- at NASA's Kennedy Space the experiment just as the that's how everything is Morgan. They are listed as
son Laboratory in Con- Center. In addition, eight coronavirus was hitting when you go from mouse co-authors.q