Blog Health more than the physical
Just as Americans are adjusting to a life without masks, recommendations are swirling for tighter restrictions again. The truth is--viruses mutate. If we keep shutting down, we will never be free of masks or distancing. We will constantly be at the mercy of government agents who will bully and force the will of a few onto the many.
Those who wear masks throughout a work shift, need to put on a fresh mask several times a day. Masks gather body fluids, germs, and bacteria until they are a health risk. Think about taping a used tissue to your face for several hours. (BTW, I was told about the importance of changing masks by a nurse from Grand Island who worked with Covid patients.)
Some medical personnel are concerned about the long-term use of masks. Masks may impair breathing and may well cause respiratory problems, especially in children. I know of at least one teacher who went out in the hall to rip off the mask and breathe.
Others hardly make it out of the store due to dizziness. An athlete was forced to wear a mask as he ran. He fell unconscious from lack of oxygen. Doubling masks only makes breathing more difficult.
Children who run and play with masks may not receive adequate oxygen. Those who say masks don’t pose a problem are not dealing with reality. Health is more than physical. When a person’s mental, emotional, or even spiritual, state is not considered, then that person will languish and may lose motivation for getting well. Check out the rise in suicides due to the inability for personal intervention.
Years ago, I read how orphans in places like China die in orphanages. Researchers discovered they died from a lack of human touch, love, and care—beyond basic needs. Many children adopted from these places suffered bonding issues.
How many of our children are also going to exhibit such problems when they are separated by space and masks and told getting close is dangerous? Adults also need hugs, touch, and care that only physical closeness can bring.
While video is a wonderful technology, it cannot replace physical presence. In the last couple of years, how many died in care homes because their need for mental and emotional care was not filled? Instead, they were shut away from the very things that make life worth living.
In 2014, I fell and almost died. I was in Good Samaritan in Kearney for 2 ½ months. Without my family as well as friends near, I don’t believe I would have survived. I not only absolutely needed those visits and hugs, but also needed family to, at times, hold the hospital accountable.
In 2020, the only way to have family close was to give up care and prepare to die. I have wondered, in cases with which I’m familiar, if the patient might have lived longer if family had been allowed in without being forced to take the choice of family or aggressive care.
According to https://www.tmc.edu/news/2020/05/touch-starvation/ “When physical contact becomes limited—or, in some cases, eliminated—people can develop a condition called touch starvation or touch deprivation.…Touch starvation increases stress, depression, and anxiety, triggering a cascade of negative physiological effects.
The body releases the hormone cortisol as a response to stress…. This can increase heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, and muscle tension, and can suppress the digestive system and immune system—increasing the risk of infection. People who are stressed or depressed, perhaps because of lack of touch, will have problems sleeping,”
Hospitals that separate physical health from mental and emotional health through masks and distancing are actually harming the very ones they seek to protect. I can’t wear a mask. Under today’s restrictions, I would not have been allowed in emergency to comfort my sister-in-law as we watched medical personal desperately try to save my brother’s life after a massive coronary. That can’t be done with Zoom.
Consider the health needs of the whole person when concocting restrictions. The bottom line—to be healthy, we need our loved ones around us.
© 2021 Carolyn R Scheidies
Published in my Kearney Hub column 8/16/2021
Masks effectiveness: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/47-studies-confirm-inefectiveness-of-masks-for-covid-and-32-more-confirm-their-negative-health-effects