Lockdowns and Covid fear campaigns aged our brains

The recent Covid-19 pandemic has aged our brains—even if we never caught the virus.

Stress, fear and the nation-wide lockdowns all caused our brains to age faster, say researchers from the University of Nottingham.

People who were infected showed a drop in certain cognitive abilities, such as mental flexibility and processing speed.

But although brain scans showed signs of accelerated ageing, the phenomenon may not manifest into mental problems, and it’s possible the damage could be reversed.

The researchers looked at brain scans from nearly 1,000 healthy adults who participated in the UK Biobank study. Some participants had scans before and after the pandemic, and others were scanned only before it happened.

Older people and those from deprived backgrounds were especially affected, the researchers found.

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