COVID has rapidly aged the brains of teenagers. Here's how to fix it

A new study this week found that the pandemic may also be changing the structure of teenage brains, with the effects most pronounced among teenage girls than teenage boys.

of study Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences The journal found Monday that during COVID-19 lockdowns, teenage girls' brains aged 4.2 years faster than normal, while teenage boys' brains aged 1.4 years faster than normal.

The researchers looked at the thickness of the outer layer of the brain, the cerebral cortex, in teenagers before and after COVID-19 lockdowns and found that teenage girls' brains showed accelerated aging in 30 areas involved in social-emotional processing, whereas teenage boys' brains showed accelerated aging in just two areas involved in visual processing.

The authors hypothesize: Stress contributes to accelerated brain agingThey found that teenage girls who were more likely to emotionally connect with their peers experienced more dramatic structural changes to their brains during lockdown.

So, if COVID-19 If the structure of the teenage brain has changed, what does that mean for teenagers today? And is it possible to reverse the effects?

To answer these questions, luck He said Dr. Elizabeth Ortiz SchwartzHe is a Connecticut-based child psychiatrist and a distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.

Fortune: This study finds that teenagers' brains are aging more than normal during the pandemic. Why do you suspect this happened?

Ortiz Schwartz: It's been very well documented about the maturation of the brains of teenagers who have been exposed to trauma, neglect, war, and other severe situations. This was a study where they looked at teenagers' brains and did MRIs, and then the pandemic hit, and they continued to do MRIs. It's clear that maturation is happening, but not in a good way. Instead of the brains getting smarter or more intelligent, they're seeing the cortex getting thinner and thinner in different areas depending on the gender. So the brain is being exposed to significant levels of stress hormones.

luck: How do stress and adversity affect teen brain aging, and why does this differ by gender?

Ortiz Schwartz: of [teen] The brain has already undergone dramatic development. When you add adverse conditions to a brain that is very open to change, the brain develops differently. In this case, the brain is accelerating what it needs to do to survive in a stressful situation. And it's sacrificing some of the aspects of development that would be seen in a more nurturing environment. It's putting pressure on the brain.

It is known that women's brains are wired to be socially responsive to different signals and to be more sociable, but they also tend to have higher levels of anxiety and depression. It is significant that women are less responsive to social interaction and it is very limited.The authors note that accelerated teen brain aging due to adversity may increase young people's risk of behavioral and mental health problems.)

luckIs stress-induced accelerated brain aging necessarily an entirely bad thing?

Ortiz Schwartz: Cortical maturation is not necessarily a bad thing. It is adaptive. When we are in a stressful environment, our brain is set to function at a higher level in areas associated with avoiding danger and fear, such as the amygdala, which makes us more vigilant. So in situations like war or famine, we would expect the brain to put more energy into those areas, but less into focus, attention, and the more positive aspects.

I don't think there's much benefit to a child being that mature, especially if it's associated with depression and anxiety. We're not talking about emotional maturity, we're talking about the brain under stress.

luck: Could building resilience be an antidote to accelerated teen brain aging?

Ortiz Schwartz: The same things that help build resilience also help with depression and anxiety, helping to turn down the amygdala, the part of the brain that activates to trigger the fight, flight, or freeze response seen in traumatic situations. The same things that help build resilience, such as meditation, have also been shown to help relieve chronic stress.

luck: What other concrete steps can be taken to combat the accelerated brain aging in teenagers? What can be done to reverse this trend and stop it from getting worse?

Ortiz Schwartz: Teens, especially younger generations, need to feel safe in this world, and even after the pandemic, we must continue to do all we can to create a safe and secure environment for them. [teens] Making them feel supported includes targeting and addressing bullying, targeting and understanding the impact of social media especially on young children, and providing mental health support in schools. Families need a lot of interventions and support to optimise their children's mental health and ensure they receive support. This is building resilience.

From a clinical perspective, we know that teaching individuals to be patient, to be persistent, to not be avoidant, and to learn really good skills for realigning and re-centering is what leads to healing — it's about turning these negative experiences into learning and growth, not about the individual feeling broken or feeling like people need to throw their hands up.

Strategies to reduce stress include managing your sleep, appropriately reducing social media overconsumption, and being mindful of electronic devices.

luck: So, is it still not too late?

Ortiz Schwartz: The brain is plastic, and hopefully we can get it back to something a little closer to baseline. What I would love to see is these kids re-evaluated in their mid-20s to see if these changes continue or if positive factors can be put in place to manage maturation.

My message, or my hope, is that we move forward with a greater understanding that it is possible to mitigate the chronic effects of negative events that have happened, and to do that, we need to be very conscious of what contributes to good mental health, including managing sleep, which children struggle with quite a bit.

In this time of collective injury, we need to be more mindful and proactive about how these things are introduced, helping people live healthier lives and avoid harmful stress on the brain.

luck: Are there any questions a parent, guardian, or teacher can ask their teen to help them become more resilient?

Ortiz Schwartz: What are your stress levels? How are you feeling emotionally? These are great questions for parents and teachers to check in with on a regular basis. With openers like these, we can learn a lot from our kids.

For more information on teens and mental health, see: