Posted on 09/09/2024 3:42:45 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A recent study by the University of Washington found that the COVID pandemic may have prematurely aged teenagers' brains, particularly young girls.
Many people experienced disruptions to their daily lives and routines due to stay-at-home orders and limited social interactions during the COVID-19 pandemic, with this being shown to particularly affect the well-being of young people.
Now, a study by researchers at the University of Washington has found that the COVID-19 pandemic may have caused unusual changes in adolescents’ brain development, resulting in accelerated brain maturation.
"We were really surprised to find that in our post-COVID data the cortical thickness was a lot lower than it would be expected from the pre-COVID models, and we found this lower thickness was more pronounced and in a lot more regions in the brain in females than in males," Neva Corrigan, lead author of the study and research scientist at the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences at the University of Washington, told Euronews Health.
Related COVID can cause ‘significant’ brain abnormalities for up to six months, researchers say Initially, back in 2018, the researchers aimed to track normal brain changes in teenagers as part of a longitudinal study involving 160 participants aged nine to 17.
The video player is currently playing an ad. You can skip the ad in 5 sec with a mouse or keyboard
However, due to the pandemic, follow-up testing was delayed until 2021, prompting the researchers to shift their focus to how the pandemic might have affected brain development instead.
The researchers measured brain maturation by looking at how much the cerebral cortex, which is the outer layer of the brain, thinned over time.
The findings were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Effects of the COVID pandemic on teenagers' brains By comparing new scans with pre-pandemic data for 80 per cent of participants, they found that the adolescents’ brains thinned faster than expected, particularly for girls.
While this thinning naturally occurs with age, even in young people, girls' brain development accelerated by an average of 4.2 years, while boys' brains matured by 1.4 years.
Related COVID may impact your cognitive abilities a year or more after infection, study finds "The cerebral cortex does thin as a normal process of ageing, and it does happen during adolescence, however, the thickness of the cerebral cortex in the post-COVID timeline was a lot lower than is normal for their age at those time points," Corrigan said.
"That's how we were able to determine that this was accelerated thinning that these kids are experiencing, which is basically accelerated ageing," she added.
The study has several limitations, including a small sample size, lack of behavioural and lifestyle data, and limited understanding of how these factors or contracting COVID-19 may have influenced the results.
According to Corrigan, accelerated cortical thinning has been linked in past studies to severe trauma, stress and neglect in childhood, which led the researchers to hypothesise that these brain changes were due to the stress of the lockdowns.
Related Scientists believe COVID may have altered our personalities, especially young adults Once thinned, the cerebral cortex is unlikely to thicken again, though the thinning might slow down once teenagers return to a normal social life, according to Patricia Kuhl, senior author of the study.
She added in a statement: "On the other hand, it's also possible to imagine that brain maturation will remain accelerated in these teens".
While Kuhl noted that more studies are still needed to assess the impact of cortex thinning in teenagers, previous research has linked accelerated cortical thinning to an increased risk of developing neuropsychiatric and behavioural disorders, such as depression, in adolescents.
“This is just another piece of evidence that lockdowns had consequences that weren't anticipated by policymakers," Corrigan said.
"We know that their academic performance suffered and kids are still suffering the consequences from that. We know that there has been an increased incidence in neuropsychiatric disorders, anxiety and depression, in people who experienced the pandemic, and I think it just points to the real importance of mental health support in our communities for young adults," she continued.
Fauxie should be criminally hanging
Was it the lockdown or the Vax?
Early Social Security for everyone !
There’s a good chance we knew of this beforehand.
We did know there would be increased violence; I read an article by a psychologist about it in 2020.
Around the same time an economist penned an article saying lockdowns would kill the economy.
It seems like these outcomes were the goal.
The impact of seclusion on younger children is very obvious. I know a family with a child, he’s now about 7. He’s so shy - terrified of strangers. It’s because of the lock down and not mixing with other children when he was small. It will take years to get over it.
I agree with you. There’s a plan in place. All this was by design.
Agreed. Also, the reprehensible phenomenon which emerged during the pandemic, where the young were made to sacrifice for the old, was the thing that showed me that ours is sick, dying society.
Couldn’t be the gene therapy euthanasia jabs
If they them its votes f or kamalatoe they are old idiots!
They are closer to dementia setting in.
The whole plan for pandemic lockdowns was drawn up in 2007 during the Bush administration.... Right down to essential and non-essential businesses.
And it was sponsored by a who’s who of big business, who all benefited at the expense of small businesses.
I blame the idiot sheeple for not having a damn brain in their heads. I didn’t stay home for one day and didn’t listen to one word they said. And everybody else could have done the same.
I thought conservatives believed in personal responsibility? And that means having the responsibility to not be a robot who worships the high priests of modern science and technology, who sit elevated on the alter of academic consensus.
I’m just reading *United States of Fear* by Mark McDonald, M.D.
It’s pretty interesting and fits well with this.
Or was it not getting enough fresh air because of the stupid masks?
>> where the young were made to sacrifice for the old
Absolutely appalling. Our HS kids paid that price to a reasonable extent.
>> I blame the idiot sheeple for not having a damn brain in their heads.
It became immediately apparent that an inordinate number of people seek comfort through being told what to do and “being part of the team”. It was mind-boggling to see that happen. The Elites were no doubt elated to see the pathetic weakness in action.
Meanwhile, the marginalization of White males continues.
A walk in the fresh air and sunshine cures a lot of things. Maybe cuz it's FREE!!
yes
So it’s not being glued to social media on their phones?
I use the term “friends, neighbors, relatives, and coworkers”.
Meaning that people will look to their left, look to their right, and do whatever all of the people in those four groups are doing.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.