According to a study published in the journal Biological Psychiatry, pandemic-related stress has physically altered adolescents′ brains. It has made the teen′s brain structures appear several years older than the brains of comparable peers before the pandemic.

In the study, the MRI scans of 163 children, taken before and during the pandemic, were compared to determine the speed of the developmental process in adolescents as they experienced the COVID-19 lockdowns.

Earlier, the accelerated changes in the "brain age" were only observed in children who had experienced chronic adversity, whether from violence, neglect, family dysfunction, or a combination of multiple factors. However, this study showed that the pandemic′s neurological and mental health effects on adolescents may have been even worse.

The researchers from Stanford claimed that it is not clear if the changes are permanent. But if their brain remains permanently older than their chronological age, physicians and researchers will have to account for that abnormal rate of growth in any future research involving this generation

(Source: https://www.daijiworld.com/news/newsDisplay?newsID=1025481)