YOUTH 2020 - The position of young people in Slovenia

Health and wellbeing of young people  235 Based on these analyses we can conclude that young people’s relatively lower health satisfaction in 2020 as compared to 2010 is primarily relat- ed to mental health factors, which was certainly also affected by the Covid-19 epidemic (especially the aspect of loneliness). “I feel healthy. Given that I go to the gym, I should be like that. But I’m an- noyed by stress. And stress is huge – it’s my biggest enemy. (Benjamin, 17 years old, young musician) “Mentally, at the moment, I am just fine. However, it wasn’t like that when I was in the eighth or ninth grade, for there was a lot of stress and I felt some- what lonely. More so in times of isolation due to Covid-19, when we are sep- arated from friends and we don’t hang out, and that has a negative impact on everyone. During the first lockdown, I lost all willpower for my training. If you’re not physically active, you quickly get depressed.” (Ahac, 15 years old, high school student, athlete and model maker) “I would rate my health as good. Mental health, however, fluctuates a little bit depending on several things. Especially this year (2020) ormaybe even before, it didn’t fluctuate so much. I was actually able to do what all the things that suited me, I was able to gowhere I wanted. This year, however, it seems tome that I have often felt totally sad and imprisoned with all these rules. I was troubled about how it was going to be. I felt a bit lost. I lost hope that things will get better. “ (Ester, 25 years old, researcher) The importance of factors affecting mental health can be inferred from the fact that the U.S. National Health Service (CDC), which published the results of analysis, showing that stress causes cardiovascular disease, obesity, and diabetes. This is supported by numerous other studies showing, in addition to the above, links between stress and weakened immune systems, digestive disorders and mental health problems, in- cluding depression, anger, anxiety, and self-harming behavior. The latter can also lead to suicide in the final stage (Gould et al., 2003).