A new study finds that COVID-19 pandemic restrictions had a 'disturbing' effect on teenagers' brains.

Scientific Asia: Scientists claim that lockdowns, extreme stress, and a lack of sociability had an impact on brain development.

Numerous studies have demonstrated the pandemic’s detrimental impact on children and teenagers in terms of academics, social skills, and other areas. The most recent long-term effect seems to be an acceleration of the aging process of young brains.

A group of researchers from the University of Washington examined 160 teenagers, ranging in age from nine to seventeen. In 2018, they collected data for an unrelated study on adolescent brain structural changes, but the COVID outbreak halted that investigation.

“The University of Washington’s Neva Corrigan, Ph.D., the study’s lead author, stated in a press release that “once the pandemic got going, we started to think about which brain measures would allow us to estimate what the pandemic lockdown had done to the brain.”

What did it mean for our teenagers to be without their social groups, not attending school, participating in sports, or hanging out, when they were at home?”

Teenage brains aged more quickly than they should have due to the pandemic, the researchers discovered.

This accelerated maturation was more widespread and pronounced in females compared to males.

Male brains aged by 1.4 years, and the young females’ brains aged by an average of 4.2 years quicker than normal.

Researchers discovered that thirty areas in the female brain exhibited faster aging than two areas in the male brain.

On September 9, the results were released in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

According to Corrigan, the researchers think that the stress brought on by the stringent procedures implemented to stop COVID-19’s spread was the cause of accelerated brain aging.

She observed that previous research has well-established a connection between accelerated cerebral cortex development and chronic stress.

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Recommendations to parents

According to Corrigan, this study emphasizes how sensitive teens’ brains are to environmental stimuli.

She advised that parents of teenagers who experienced the pandemic should maintain strong connections with their children and be vigilant for signs of depression and anxiety, as accelerated cortical thinning heightens the risk of these and other neuropsychiatric disorders.

We also believe parents should recognize the importance of their teens’ social lives for brain development and encourage participation in healthy activities with peers.

According to Corrigan, these results “seem alarming,” but it’s unclear if the teens’ ongoing brain development will be impacted in the long run by their faster aging.

She told Scientific Asia that it remains unclear whether the accelerated maturation of the cerebral cortex in these teens will eventually normalize to an age-appropriate thickness or if the effects will be permanent.

She also mentioned that “cortical thinning” is a normal part of aging and that it can potentially improve brain function.

“It is not clear that all the consequences of accelerated maturation are negative,” Corrigan remarked.

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Possible drawbacks

The study’s reduced sample size was the first of several drawbacks that the researchers acknowledged.

Corrigan told Scientific Asia that while we gathered data from 160 teens before the lockdowns and 130 teens afterward, larger sample sizes are always preferable for research.

What were the implications for our teens being at home instead of engaging in their social groups—missing school, sports, and social activities?

Furthermore, we did not gather the behavioral data necessary to identify the precise lifestyle disruptions or lockdown-related stressors that may have contributed most to the teens’ stress levels because the study was not initially intended to address the COVID pandemic’s effects, the researcher added.

Additionally, because they only looked at a small age range, the researchers were unable to extrapolate the findings to other age groups.

Ultimately, Corrigan stated, “We do not know if the COVID-19 virus itself may have contributed to these findings, although we found no reports of a sex disparity in the virus’s contraction in the community from which our study sample was derived.”

Downrange impacts”

Despite not being engaged in the study, Florida neurologist Dr. Brett Osborn made comments about the “detrimental consequences” of stress related to pandemics for teenagers.

He told Scientific Asia, “High levels of stress, often associated with elevated cortisol, can wreak havoc on the brain.”

According to Osborn, the adrenal glands normally release cortisol, the body’s main stress hormone, during acute stress. However, cortisol can be hazardous if it is present in excess for extended periods of time.

This ongoing elevation is especially harmful to brain structures such as the hippocampus, which is linked to memory, and the prefrontal cortex, responsible for higher-order cognitive functions like decision-making and social behavior.

Although the pandemic has ended, this is not the conclusion.

According to Osborn, prolonged exposure to elevated cortisol levels can have a deleterious effect on memory, emotional regulation, impulse control, focus, and concentration.

He added that, over time, these changes could predispose individuals to mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety, which are already known to be worsened by elevated cortisol levels.

Overall, the study illuminates “yet another downrange effect” of the COVID-19 epidemic, according to Osborn.

“Although the pandemic is over, this is not the end,” the doctor continued.

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