While the study suggests that pandemic stress may have temporarily accelerated brain aging, it doesn’t offer irrefutable evidence of causation.
More importantly, neuroplasticity—the brain’s ability to adapt and recover—means that even if structural changes occurred, they are probably reversible. The brain is shaped not only by trauma, but also by healing, learning, and human connection. The human brain is incredibly adaptive.
However, because children’s growing processes get pruned as they dont use them, some children are permanently hampered.
Thank you for posting something hopeful. That said, I can say that our collective response to the pandemic changed me, and not in a good way necessarily. It was chilling to see people turn on each other; on strangers, family members, co-workers, and friends. Our government went full authoritarian, and a mob mentality quickly emerged. It was as if all the dystopian novels I read as a youth suddenly merged into one nightmare over the course of a maybe a month or two. My view of humanity, and my community, was permanently altered. My faith in God deepened, but my faith in my fellow man nearly evaporated.