Health
'Pandemic skip,' a COVID mental health phenomenon, could delay major milestones, experts say
The coronavirus pandemic resulted in a lot of loss — and to this day people may be losing out because of it.
A mental health phenomenon dubbed the “pandemic skip” has caught viral attention on social media.
The hosts of the podcast “Between Us Girlies” revealed their understanding of the concept in a TikTok video, which has been viewed over six million times.
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“Whatever age you were when the pandemic started is … where you’re at mentally,” Casey Corradin, the Pennsylvania-based co-host, said in the video, which was posted in November 2023.
“So, these women that were, like, 27 when the pandemic started, and then it’s three years later and they’re 30, and everyone around them is having kids, they’re like … ‘I’m not ready to have kids. I’m still young, I’m 27.’”
She added, “We were in our early 20s when the pandemic started — and we took a big chunk of the early-20s, figuring-your-life-out phase, and now we’re 27 and we’re still figuring it out.”
Dominique Hamler, a registered nurse and executive director of the Los Angeles Outpatient Center, told Fox News Digital that the pandemic skip could pose a real concern for people of all ages.
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“I am just excited that there is a word for it, because we definitely lost a moment of our lives during the pandemic,” she said.
“People were suffering with not only illness, but the fact that we were isolated and couldn’t even touch each other for a long period of time.”
Los Angeles Outpatient Center executive director Dominique Hamler said the pandemic skip could pose a real concern for people of all ages. (AONL Conference 2023)
Hamler worked on the front lines of the pandemic as a registered nurse. She said the pandemic skip refers to “that time period where our lives were disrupted.”
“Our lives were totally changed and will never be the same,” she said. “Not to mention our experience of what we lost from the aspect of time that we’ll never be able to gain again.”
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Hamler considers the concept a “mental regression,” as people feel stuck at the same developmental period and age they were when the pandemic started.
“We’re still processing it years later,” she said.
Psychologist Dr. Yamalis Diaz of NYU Langone reiterated that the pandemic skip represents a significant pause or slowing down of development.
A mental health phenomenon dubbed the “pandemic skip” has gone viral. (iStock)
“It’s almost like a movie you paused and resumed,” she said in a conversation with Fox News Digital.
“For people in a developmentally sensitive state … when a lot of developmental change is occurring, such as young adults, it makes sense that they would feel this most, compared to older adults whose lives were already relatively stable when the pandemic started.”
“People were suffering with not only illness, but the fact that we were isolated and couldn’t even touch each other for a long period of time.”
Young adults in particular may feel this impact when it comes to completing education, making career decisions, dating, establishing long-term relationships and becoming financially independent, Diaz said.
“[These] are all critical elements of this developmental stage and were highly impacted by having to ‘pause,’” she said.
Traditional plans and milestones were also put on hold during the pandemic, said Hamler.
Establishing long-term relationships is one of the critical developmental phases that was highly impacted by the pandemic, an expert said. (iStock)
“If you were a young adult, maybe thinking about getting married or having kids, that was put on hold,” she said.
This “skip” could result in continued delayed development if not addressed, Hamler warned.
“We are just at the tip of the iceberg [when it comes to] addressing mental health as a whole,” she said.
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“It’s going to delay everything until we start having a conversation about it, start getting the therapy and the treatment we need to address the trauma” that the pandemic caused, she said.
For some people, Hamler suggested a “deeper dive” may be necessary in order to “advance mentally, spiritually and emotionally.”
For some people, a “deeper dive” may be necessary in order to “advance mentally, spiritually and emotionally,” an expert told Fox News Digital. (iStock)
“It’s going to take some time and … a full, head-on focus on mental health,” she said.
Diaz agreed that the pandemic skip will cause a ripple effect that could delay other milestones, but noted that it’s “not necessarily a completely new phenomenon.”
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“[This] is part of the basis for Dr. Jeffrey Arnett’s Emerging Adulthood theory,” she said.
Arnett, a psychologist, proposed that people between ages 18 and 25 are in a period called “emerging adulthood.”
“Our lives were totally changed and will never be the same.”
“In essence, when you look back over generations, the ‘path to adulthood’ has gotten longer, and young adults are reaching what are considered ‘traditional adulthood markers’ — finishing education, leaving home, becoming financially independent, starting a career, getting married and having kids — at older ages.”
Since the pandemic was “such a dramatic, ‘stop-everything’ kind of event,” Diaz suggested that it’s likely to impact transition times for the 20-something generations, he suggested.
Young party-goers dressed as holiday characters participate in the annual SantaCon pub crawl on Dec. 9, 2023, in New York City. (Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)
“This is especially true when you also consider mental health, which could also impact young adults’ ability to successfully transition through this stage,” she said.
“Given that this stage of development is already susceptible to increased anxiety, depression and executive functioning difficulties, the pandemic … added pressure to an already pressured developmental turning point.”
Hamler recommended “giving yourself time” instead of chasing milestones that may have been missed.
Pubs and restaurants reopen in London’s Soho following the U.K. government’s relaxing of COVID restrictions in England on April 12, 2021. (Jeremy Selwyn/Evening Standard via Getty Images)
With 2024 marking four years since the coronavirus outbreak, Hamler encouraged people not to suppress their emotions and to seek professional help when needed.
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“We need to talk about our problems,” she said. “It’s OK to feel angry, frustrated, depressed, anxious — all these feelings are normal.”
Travelers wear face masks as a preventive measure during the COVID-19 outbreak as they arrive at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City on March 20, 2020. (REUTERS/Brendan McDermid)
“Between Us Girlies” podcast co-host Corradin echoed this remark in a conversation with Fox News Digital.
“It’s so comforting to see so many people, across all different ages, who feel the same way,” she said.
“[The fact that it’s] resonating with so many different people shows us that even if we feel alone — we’re not.”
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Feeling lonely may take a toll on older adults’ memory — but it may not speed up cognitive decline, according to a new study.
Researchers from Colombia, Spain and Sweden analyzed data from more than 10,000 adults ages 65 to 94 across 12 European countries and found those who reported higher levels of loneliness did worse on memory tests at the start of the study, according to research published this month in the journal Aging & Mental Health.
Over a seven-year period, however, memory decline occurred at a similar rate regardless of how lonely participants felt.
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“The finding that loneliness significantly impacted memory, but not the speed of decline in memory over time was a surprising outcome,” lead author Dr. Luis Carlos Venegas-Sanabria of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences at the Universidad del Rosario said in a statement.
Loneliness may be linked to memory performance in older adults, a new study suggests. (iStock)
“It suggests that loneliness may play a more prominent role in the initial state of memory than in its progressive decline,” Venegas-Sanabria said, adding that the findings highlight the importance of addressing loneliness as a factor in cognitive performance.
The findings add to debate about whether loneliness contributes to dementia risk. While loneliness and social isolation are often considered risk factors for cognitive decline, research results have been mixed.
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The study looked at data from the long-running Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), which tracked 10,217 older adults between 2012 and 2019. Participants were asked to recall words immediately and after a delay to measure memory performance.
Social isolation and loneliness could play a surprising role in cognitive health among seniors. (iStock)
Loneliness was assessed using three questions about how often participants felt isolated, left out or lacking companionship.
About 8% of participants reported high levels of loneliness at the outset. That group tended to be older, more likely to be female and more likely to have conditions such as depression.
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Researchers found that those with higher loneliness had lower scores on both immediate and delayed memory tests at baseline. Still, all groups — regardless of loneliness level — experienced similar declines in memory over time.
The results suggest loneliness may not directly accelerate the progression of memory loss, though it remains linked to poorer cognitive performance overall.
Researchers look at a brain scan at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)
Experts warn, however, that the findings should not be interpreted to mean loneliness is harmless.
“The finding that lonely older adults start with worse memory but don’t decline faster is actually the most interesting part of the paper, and I think it’s easy to misread,” said Jordan Weiss, Ph.D., a scientific advisor and aging expert at Assisted Living Magazine and a professor at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.
“It likely means loneliness does its damage earlier in life, well before people show up in a study like this at 65-plus,” Weiss told Fox News Digital.
By older age, long-term social patterns may already be established, making it harder to detect when the effects of loneliness first took hold, an aging expert says. (iStock)
He suggested that by older age, long-term social patterns may already be established, making it harder to detect when the effects of loneliness first took hold.
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“By the time you’re measuring someone in their late 60s, decades of social connection patterns are already baked in,” he said.
Weiss, who was not involved in the research, added that loneliness may coincide with other health conditions, and noted that participants who felt more isolated also had higher rates of depression, high-blood pressure and diabetes. The link, he said, may reflect a cluster of health risks rather than a direct cause.
“While they can go hand-in-hand, it’s not clear that loneliness contributes to dementia,” a psychotherapist says. (iStock)
Amy Morin, a Florida-based psychotherapist and author, said the findings reflect a broader pattern in research on loneliness and brain health, and that the relationship may be more complex than it appears.
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“The evidence shows there’s a link between loneliness and cognitive decline but there’s no direct evidence of a cause and effect relationship,” she said. “So while they can go hand-in-hand, it’s not clear that loneliness contributes to dementia.”
Morin added that loneliness, which can fluctuate, may not be the root of the problem, but rather a symptom of other underlying mental or physical health issues.
Researchers suggested screening for loneliness be incorporated into routine cognitive assessments as one way to support healthy aging. (iStock)
She said staying socially and mentally engaged is crucial for overall brain health.
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“It’s important to be proactive about social activities,” Morin said. “Joining a book club, having coffee with a friend, or attending faith-based services can be a powerful way to maintain connections in older age.”
The researchers also suggested screening for loneliness be incorporated into routine cognitive assessments as one way to support healthy aging.
Fox News Digital reached out to the researchers for comment.
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Research continues to uncover new details on how fasting may help extend life.
A new study published in the journal Nature Communications investigated how intermittent fasting can boost longevity in small worms often used in aging research.
Researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas compared worms that were fed normally to those that underwent a 24-hour fast in early adulthood and were then fed again, according to a press release.
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The scientists measured a variety of factors, including stored fat, gene activity related to fat metabolism and lifespan.
The results showed that the life-boosting benefit did not depend on the fasting itself but on the body’s behavior after eating again.
Experts say sustainability is key when choosing a long-term weight-loss strategy. (iStock)
Study lead Peter Douglas, associate professor of molecular biology and a member of the Hamon Center for Regenerative Science and Medicine at UT Southwestern, suggested that these discoveries “shift the focus toward a neglected side of the metabolic coin – the re-feeding phase.”
“Our data suggest that the health-promoting effects of intermittent fasting are not merely a product of the fast itself, but are dependent on how the metabolic machinery recalibrates during the subsequent transition back to a fed state,” he said.
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“Our findings bridge a gap between lipid metabolism and aging research,” he added. “By targeting aging, the single greatest risk factor for human disease, we move beyond treating isolated conditions toward a preventive model of medicine that enhances quality of life for all individuals.”
Lauri Wright, director of nutrition programs at the University of South Florida’s College of Public Health, called this a “high-quality” study that adds an “important nuance to how we think about fasting and longevity.”
Intermittent fasting typically involves limiting meals to an eight-hour daily window or fasting every other day. (iStock)
The benefits of the refeeding phase after fasting were “especially interesting,” Wright, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital.
“The researchers showed that longevity was linked to the body’s ability to turn off fat breakdown after fasting, allowing cells to restore energy balance,” she reiterated.
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“From a scientific standpoint, that’s a meaningful shift because it suggests fasting is not just about burning fat, but about metabolic flexibility.”
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Fasting may support longevity through triggering metabolic switching, enhancing cellular repair and stress resistance and improving markers like insulin sensitivity, research shows.
Limitations and cautions
Although this study provides “important insight” on the power of refeeding, Wright noted that the findings should be approached with caution, as the study was done on worms and cannot always be translated to humans.
“Additionally, it explains how a process might work in a controlled lab condition rather than real-world eating behaviors,” she added as a limitation. “Finally, the study is short-term and doesn’t give us the long-term translation on lifespan outcomes.”
The review found intermittent fasting was barely more effective than doing nothing, according to the study authors. (iStock)
Wright cautioned that fasting is “not a magic solution for longevity, and how you eat overall matters more than when you eat.”
“I advise, first and foremost, to focus on diet quality, including a variety of fruits and vegetables, healthy fats and minimally processed foods,” she said.
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For those who are considering fasting, it’s better to stick with a moderate plan — like a 12- to 14-hour overnight fast — rather than going to extremes, Wright said. After fasting, she recommends focusing on well-balanced meals.
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Several groups of people should be cautioned against fasting, according to Wright, including those with diabetes who are on insulin or hypoglycemic medications, those who are pregnant or breastfeeding, anyone with a history of eating disorders and older adults at risk of malnutrition.
Anyone considering intermittent fasting should consult with a doctor before starting.
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