Brains of US Teens Changed During and Is Aging Faster Than Normal

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on the lives of US teens, leaving far more than physical and economic carnage in its wake. 

According to a new study, it’s caused their brains to physically age faster than normal. While this may sound ominous, experts say it’s manageable so long as teens and families are able to better cope with the mental health challenges that arose during the last year. 

Taking action & recognizing that things have changed is an important part of recovering from the psychological & physiological effects of this difficult time for teens. 

It’s essential for young people to surround themselves with support networks and access professionals who can help them process and cope with their emotions better.

Therapist here, I work with kids 4-17 and can attest to this. There’s many common trends I’ve definitely noticed with the issues these kids are coming in for.

Senior in highschool here. My one teacher has told my class how talkative her senior classes were before COVID and then her classes now, they’re dead silent. Then also, I’m in a teacher program so when I went to observe 6th grade, they were surprisingly dead silent. COVID is a big reason why everyone’s like this. Yes social media is also to blame but you can’t just say it’s one or the other

the body keeps the score 💔 the pandemic must have been especially traumatic for adolescents

I tell my students all the time, years from now we will realize how many mistakes we made with this pandemic including our solutions to it. It’s really scary.

😢😢 ultimately it’s the parents fault…. My family had the times of our lives during pandemic. We were out every single day, jogging, throwing/ hitting softballs in open fields, hiking and our favorite, surfing! It’s absolutely insane to think some of you kept your kids couped up in a house for two fricken years.

Let’s forget about the fear of being shot in class… that’s gotta be a HUUUGE anxiety in young ppl. I’m nervous leaving my house. I don’t do anything fun outside of the home anymore