Covid lockdowns, such as school closures, canceled sports activities and stay-at-home orders, prematurely aged teen brains by as much as four years, researchers from the University of Washington found. Lead researcher Patricia Kuhl, co-director of I-LABS, said that after Covid lockdowns began in 2020, they couldn’t do brain scan follow-ups until 2021. Pandemic lockdowns resulted in unusually accelerated brain maturation in adolescents. The research doesn’t prove the lockdowns caused the brain changes — mental health disorders were rising among children even before Covid. Another brain scan study in 2022 from Stanford University showed similar changes in cortical thickness in teen brains during Covid restrictions.

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Persons: Covid, Patricia Kuhl, Covid lockdowns, ” Kuhl, Kuhl, Ellen Rome, they’re, ”, Jonathan Posner, Posner, there’s, It’s, Parkinson, Karin Zaugg Black, Delia Organizations: University of Washington, National Academy of Sciences, university's Institute for Learning, Brain Sciences, Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital, Rome, University of Washington's Institute for Learning, Stanford University, Stanford, Centers for Disease Control, CDC, Duke University School of Medicine Locations: Seattle