A new study has revealed that teenagers had a tremendous impact on their mental health due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The findings claimed that pandemic-related stressors have physically aged the brains of adolescents.
Ian Gotlib, the first author of the journal Biological Psychiatry: Global Open Science said, "We already know from global research that the pandemic has adversely affected mental health in youth, but we didn't know what, if anything, it was doing physically to their brains".
In 2020, a study by Stanford University claimed that anxiety and depression in adults rose by more than 25% compared to 2019.
As per scientists, changes in brain structure occur naturally as we age. During puberty and early teenage years, kids' bodies experience increased growth in both the hippocampus and the amygdala, areas of the brain that respectively control access to certain memories and help to modulate emotions.