Ahead of print Pak J Med Sci November - December 2022 Vol. 38 No. 8 www.pjms.org.pk 2056 A researcher unable to meet the deadlines or facing repeated failures in publishing a manuscript, a student worried about upcoming exams and future, a young scholar coming unprepared in tutorial or a meeting with the fear of getting laid off or making a mistake, an introvert who has to face a large audience for a presentation, or someone who is suffering from a disease or fear of losing a loved one. These are a few of the stressors that almost every student comes across. Stress is defned as a state of homeodynamic imbalance, 1 which is normal part of life. Short-term stress initiates a fght and fight response, that is benefcial and a natural mechanism to cope up with the challenges of daily life by enhancing the physiological and psychological processes of human body. 2 It is imperative that these altered physiological and psychological changes return to baseline before the next stressor hits, in order to retain the optimal functionality of human body. In the presence of chronic stress, the stress related biological changes failed to resolve back to the baseline within the 1. Sundus Tariq, Professor Physiology, 2. Saba Tariq, Professor Pharmacology and Therapeutics, 3. Naeem Mubarak Associate Professor, Basic Medical Science Department, Lahore Medical & Dental College, University of Health Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan. 1, 2: University Medical & Dental College, The University of Faisalabad, Pakistan, University of Health Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan. Correspondence: Sundus Tariq, Email: dr.sundustariq@gmail.com * Pre-submission Review: August 27, 2022 * Received for Publication: August 29, 2022 * Revision Received: September 5, 2022 * Revision Accepted: September 9, 2022 Guest Editorial Stress and depression among students: Are we doing enough? Sundus Tariq 1 , Saba Tariq 2 , Naeem Mubarak 3 doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.38.8.7076 How to cite this: Tariq S, Tariq S, Mubarak N. Stress and depression among students: Are we doing enough? Pak J Med Sci. 2022;38(8):2056-2057. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.38.8.7076 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. time frame leading to deleterious effects on both physical and psychological health. 2 A person suffering from chronic stress can have behavioral changes, attention defcit, altered sleep and eating patterns, memory impairment, frequent headaches and inability to accomplish a task. It can further lead to anxiety and depression if not re- lieved timely. More than 40% of the undergraduate students were suffering from stress in a single cent- er study and the major stressors turned out to be raised parental expectations, uncertainty about their future, accommodation away from home and fre- quent examinations. 3 Two independent systematic reviews revealed that depression prevailed among 27% 4 to 42.66% 5 of the undergraduate students in Pakistan. The reasons were again high parental and societal expectations and limited opportunities in highly competitive job market. 5 Interestingly in a study, stress was also linked to unhealthy eating habits of the students especially in males. 6 In the past two years, COVID-19 has caused interference in normal life of every individual. The impact of COVID-19 on student’s mental health as well as lifestyle further adds to stress. A few studies conducted on medical students in Pakistan, unraveled the hidden crises related to this pandemic and its damaging effects on mental health and lifestyle of these students. 7,8 In one study, more than 48% of the students suffered from depression and anxiety. Alarming fnding was that one in fve thought that it would be better if they were dead, and 8% admitted to often think of committing suicide during the past two weeks. 7 Another study showed that more than 50% of the medical students reported increase in screen time, weight gain and poor sleep while increasing their use of sleeping pills (3.1%). On the other hand, exercise and increasing the physical activity helped in reducing their anxiety. 8