by Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D., Childrens Health Defense:
A study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that accelerated brain maturation during the COVID-19 lockdowns was particularly pronounced in teenage girls, with a mean acceleration of 4.2 years in females compared to 1.4 years in males.
A new study by University of Washington (UW) researchers found that COVID-19 lockdowns accelerated the aging of teenagers’ brains.
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The study, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that accelerated brain maturation was particularly pronounced in teenage girls, with a mean acceleration of 4.2 years in females compared to 1.4 years in males.
The teenagers’ brains demonstrated signs of cortical thinning — described by The Telegraph as “a natural process that happens with age and [that] can be accelerated by stress.”
According to the study, MRIs performed on participants’ brains showed that, in girls, all eight lobes sustained accelerated maturation, while significant cortical thinning was noted in 30 distinct regions. Teenage boys showed cortical thinning in just two regions.
According to The Guardian, “Many affected areas underpinning social cognition with roles in processing emotions, interpreting facial expressions and language comprehension” were affected in teenage girls — areas which “are critical for communication.”
Patricia Kuhl, Ph.D., the study’s senior author and co-director of UW’s Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences (I-LABS), told The Guardian her research team was “shocked by these data, that the difference is so dramatic.”
Neva Corrigan, Ph.D., lead author of the study and a researcher at I-LABS, told Euronews the study represents “just another piece of evidence that lockdowns had consequences that weren’t anticipated by policymakers.”
“We know that their academic performance suffered and kids are still suffering the consequences from that,” Corrigan said. “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.”
Brian Hooker, Ph.D., chief scientific officer for Children’s Health Defense, told The Defender the study “is a horrifying testament to the significant damage caused by lockdowns, among other draconian measures, from the COVID-19 era.”
“The empirical evidence here for neurological harm is easily predictable considering the extreme and wrong-headed nature of closing off this population from social interaction and in-person learning,” Hooker said.
“As a university professor, I saw this effect firsthand in students after lockdowns had finally been lifted. The level of PTSD and other psychological damage in these individuals was obvious,” Hooker added.
Dr. Kat Lindley, a family medicine physician and president of the Global Heath Project, told The Defender, “It has been known that stress and anxiety can affect neuroplasticity of the brain, so the study finding that lockdowns caused the thinning of the cortex in adolescents is not surprising.”
For Lindley, “The alarming finding was the acceleration of this process and the possible effect it may have on their future development.”
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According to The New York Times, “Thinning of the cortex is not necessarily bad; some scientists frame the process as the brain rewiring itself as it matures, increasing its efficiency.”
But the process is also “known to accelerate in stressful conditions, and accelerated thinning is correlated with depression and anxiety,” according to the Times, while according to UW, these disorders “often emerge during adolescence — with females at a higher risk.”
“Adversity in early life is known to speed up cortical thinning in adolescents and it has been linked to an increased risk of neuropsychiatric and behavioural disorders such as anxiety and depression,” The Telegraph noted.
“While the cerebral cortex thinning is part of normal development, the accelerated rate observed might have implications for cognitive functions, emotional regulation and mental health,” Lindley said.
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