A study born out of the COVID-19 pandemic may help us to understand what is happening in the brains of those of us who have stress-related disorders.The study, conducted by Massachusetts General Hospital and published by Brain, Behavior and Immunity, looked at healthy adults who were not infected with COVID-19 and tested them for various markers of inflammation in the brain and blood. People who said they had greater mood, physical and mental fatigue symptoms had a higher brain level of one inflammatory marker.The pandemic has seen an increase of individuals showing symptoms of psychological distress, fatigue and brain fog in people with and without COVID-19, according to an MGH press release about the study.“While COVID-19 research has seen an explosion in the literature, the impact of pandemic-related societal and lifestyle disruptions on brain health among the uninfected has remained under-explored,” Ludovica Brusaferri, a postdoctoral research fellow at MGH and Harvard Medical School, said. “Our study demonstrates an example of how the pandemic has impacted human health beyond the effects directly caused by the virus itself.”The authors of this study think that these findings could lead to more methods of treatment for people with mental health-related symptoms. “For instance, behavioral or pharmacological interventions that are thought to reduce inflammation – such as exercise and certain medications – might turn out to be helpful as a means of reducing these vexing symptoms,” Marco Loggia, the co-director of the Center for Integrative Pain NeuroImaging at MGH and HMS, said.