In addition to heavily increased rates of anxiety and depression, researchers at Stanford University discovered the covid-19 pandemic aged teenagers’ brains by almost three years, according to a study published Thursday.
In “Effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Mental Health and Brain Maturation in Adolescents,” the group of seven researchers compared MRI scans taken of teenagers ages 15 to 18 before the pandemic to scans of the same age group taken during the pandemic.
The images showed teenagers’ brains looked almost three years older during the pandemic than they did before covid. The scans also reportedly showed structural changes in the brain and changes to the parts of the brain responsible for memory, concentration, learning, emotion, reactivity and judgment.