Covid, Padovani (L): “Fear of the virus spurs adolescents towards maturity”

“The brain of an adolescent is very plastic and sensitive to life events. And certainly the Covid-19 pandemic has represented an element of stimulation from the point of view of brain maturity”. He states this to Adnkronos Salute Alexander Padovanipresident of the Italian Society of Neurology (Sin) commenting on the study by the University of Washington according to which the lockdown has aged the brains of adolescents by accelerating their cerebral maturation, especially among girls. The proof? According to the researchers, the brains of teenagers had thinned more than expected.

“The thinning was observed in both males but more in females especially in areas considered relevant for social relationships – explains Padovani – The less banal interpretation is that the lockdown together with pandemic anxiety acted as a trigger for an accelerated brain maturation greater in women because they are more physiologically mature. As if stress determined a sort of stimulus effect on the brain to put it in the condition of being ready or more ready to take up the challenge. These data go hand in hand with two other studies, one of which documented an increase in the volume of the amygdala connected to emotions while the other focused on how the levels of inflammatory biomarkers had increased even in those who did not get sick with Covid”.

The work of the American team “is interesting. However – warns Padovani – we must talk about a process of accelerated maturation in the adolescents who are the objects of the research and not of an aging process”.