The pandemic’s negative effects on kids and teens — academically, socially and otherwise — have been shown in numerous studies, and now the latest long-term effect appears to be accelerated aging of young brains.

A team of researchers at the University of Washington studied 160 teens between the ages of 9 and 17. They had gathered data in 2018 for a different study on changes in brain structure during adolescence, but the COVID pandemic interrupted that research.

“Once the pandemic was underway, we started to think about which brain measures would allow us to estimate what the pandemic lockdown had done to the brain,” lead author Neva Corrigan, Ph.D., a research scientist at the University of Washington, said in a press release. 

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“What did it mean for our teens to be at home rather than in their social groups — not at school, not playing sports, not hanging out?”

The researchers found that the pandemic caused teenage brains to age faster than normal.

“The lifestyle changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns appear to have affected brain development during adolescence, causing the brain to mature much faster than is typical,” Corrigan told Fox News Digital via email.

“This accelerated maturation was more widespread throughout the brain, and larger in magnitude, for females as compared to males.”

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On average, the young females’ brains aged 4.2 years faster than normal, and male brains were accelerated by 1.4 years.

Thirty regions in the female brain showed accelerated aging, compared to only two regions in the male brain, researchers found.

The findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Sept. 9.

The researchers found that the pandemic caused teenage brains to age faster than normal. (iStock)

The researchers believe that the accelerated brain aging was due to the stress associated with the restrictive measures taken to curb COVID’s spread, Corrigan said.

“Accelerated development of the cerebral cortex during development has been well-established by previous research to be associated with chronic stress,” she noted.

Recommendations to parents

This study highlights the fact that teenagers’ brains are highly vulnerable to stressors in their environment, according to Corrigan. 

“We recommend that parents of children who were teens during the pandemic stay connected to their teens, and also look out for signs of depression and anxiety, as accelerated cortical thinning increases the risk of developing these and other neuropsychiatric disorders,” she advised. 

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“We also think parents should be aware that their teens’ social lives are very important to their brain development, and [they should] encourage healthy activities with peers.”

While these findings “seem alarming,” Corrigan said, it’s not known whether the accelerated aging will have long-term effects on continued brain development throughout the teens’ lives. 

“It is not clear whether the cerebral cortex of these teens that showed accelerated maturation will return to a thickness that is more appropriate for their age with time, or whether these effects are permanent,” she told Fox News Digital.

It’s not known whether the accelerated aging will have long-term effects on continued brain development throughout the teens’ lives, a researcher noted. (iStock)

She also pointed out that “cortical thinning” is a natural process in aging and can actually allow the brain to function more efficiently. 

“It is not clear that all the consequences of accelerated maturation are negative,” Corrigan added.

Potential limitations

The researchers acknowledged several limitations of the study, the first being its smaller sample size.

“Although we collected data from 160 teens prior to the lockdowns, and 130 teens after the lockdowns ended, larger samples are always better when conducting research,” Corrigan told Fox News Digital.

“What did it mean for our teens to be at home rather than in their social groups — not at school, not playing sports, not hanging out?”

“Also, since the study was not initially designed for the effects of the COVID pandemic, we did not collect the type of behavioral measures that would have allowed us to determine what exact lifestyle disruptions or stressors associated with the lockdowns might have been the greatest contributors to the stress experienced by the teens,” she said.

The researchers also only studied a limited age range, so they couldn’t determine whether the findings apply to other ages. 

On average, the young females’ brains aged 4.2 years faster than normal, and male brains were accelerated by 1.4 years. (iStock)

“Finally, we do not know whether contraction of the COVID-19 virus itself may have contributed to these findings, although in the community from which our study sample was derived, we found no reports of a sex disparity in the contraction of the virus,” Corrigan said. 

‘Downrange effects’

Dr. Brett Osborn, a Florida neurologist, was not involved in the study, but commented on the “detrimental consequences” of pandemic-related stress for teens.

“We recommend that parents of children who were teens during the pandemic stay connected to their teens, and also look out for signs of depression and anxiety,” a researcher said. (iStock)

“High levels of stress, often associated with elevated cortisol, can wreak havoc on the brain,” he told Fox News Digital.

Cortisol, the body’s primary stress hormone, is typically released by the adrenal glands during acute stress, Osborn explained, but it can become harmful when present at high levels for prolonged periods.

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“This chronic elevation is particularly damaging to brain structures like the hippocampus (the region associated with memory) and the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for higher-level cognitive functions like decision-making and social behavior.”

“While the pandemic is over, this is not the end.”

Long-term exposure to high cortisol levels can negatively impact memory, emotional regulation, impulse control, focus and concentration, according to Osborn.

“Over time, these changes may predispose individuals to mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety, which are already known to be exacerbated by high cortisol levels,” he added.

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Overall, Osborn said, the study sheds light on “yet another downrange effect” of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The doctor added, “While the pandemic is over, this is not the end.”

Ironically, it was a notification on his phone that prompted author and podcaster Carlos Whittaker to embark on a seven-week screen-free journey that would change his life. 

Whittaker, who lives in Nashville on a “suburban farm” with his wife, three children and dog, knew he used his phone a lot, but didn’t consider it a problem until he sat down and did the math.

After getting an alert that he had averaged seven hours and 23 minutes of daily phone time that particular week, Whittaker realized that if he lived to be 85, he would spend more than a decade of his remaining life on the device.

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In the summer of 2022, Whittaker embarked on a seven-week journey across the United States, navigating his life without the use of any screens.

He documented the mission in his latest book, “Reconnected: How Seven Screen-Free Weeks with Monks and Amish Farmers Helped Me Recover the Lost Art of Being Human,” which was published on Sept. 10.

“That’s exactly what I did,” Whittaker told Fox News Digital in a Zoom interview. “I lived with these monks and the Amish, and it absolutely changed my life.” 

The author spent two weeks at a monastery, two weeks with the Amish and three weeks with his family, living entirely without screens.

“I lived with these monks and the Amish, and it absolutely changed my life.” 

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Before and after the experiment, Whittaker’s brain was scanned and analyzed by neurologists – and he details those results in his book. 

Whittaker, who described himself as an evangelical Christian, was connected to St. Andrew’s Abbey – a Catholic, Benedictine monastery in California – which allowed him to stay in a guest cabin for the first part of his journey. 

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Digital detox

Whittaker almost quit the experiment at the very beginning. 

“When you can’t get out of your head by picking up your phone and scrolling TikTok or X or whatever it is, and you’re stuck in your own thoughts – that’s something we’re not used to, and I definitely wasn’t used to it,” he said. 

This sudden digital detox led to “four days of panic,” he said, as he experienced “panic attacks, night sweats, heart palpitations [and] jitters.” 

Whittaker said he nearly quit his experiment right as it began, finding the sudden lack of a smartphone to be physically taxing. (iStock; Carlos Whittaker)

Not having his phone felt like “coming off the drug of knowledge and the drug of control,” Whittaker said. 

But on day five of the experiment, something changed. 

“It literally felt like an elephant stepped off my chest and I could breathe again,” he said. “And I got it. But those first four days were the crazy days.”

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In the book, Whittaker writes about how he initially felt uncomfortable living among Benedictine monks and found their prayer routine to be “boring.” (Benedictine monks pray the Liturgy of the Hours, a daily prayer, at different times throughout the day.)

“I’ll be blatantly honest, the first two days, I was bored out of my mind,” he said. “We were praying five or six times a day.”

“When you lower the volume of life, the volume of God goes up.”

But eventually, he said, “I got it,” adding that he has kept up the practice of praying the Liturgy of the Hours even after leaving the monastery.

“I missed it so much. It created a rhythm in my day,” he said. “It gave some stability to some parts of my faith that maybe were unstable.”

Whittaker lived among the Benedictine monks at St. Andrew’s Abbey in California for two weeks, joining them for daily prayer and Mass.  (Bryan Chan/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

“What I learned from the monks is that every day, I had multiple opportunities to lower the volume of life and slow down — and when you lower the volume of life, the volume of God goes up,” he said. 

After his time at the monastery, Whittaker moved to the Midwest and lived for two weeks with an Amish family. (The Amish are a religious group that eschews most modern technology.)

Getting permission to live among the Amish, however, was more challenging. Whittaker was rejected by many people he contacted, as they were wary of an outsider temporarily joining their community.

Whittaker spent two weeks living with an Amish family as part of his screen-free experiment.  (iStock)

“We finally ended up with a sheep-farming family that was like, ‘Absolutely, come on in,’” he said. “And they helped me become as Amish as I could in 14 days.” 

Throughout his seven screen-free weeks, Whittaker journaled and recorded videos each night on a small, screen-free camera. 

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Those videos will be compiled into a documentary, also called “Reconnected,” that will be released on Oct. 25, he said.

New habits

While Whittaker has largely returned to life as it was before his experiment – including the use of a smartphone – he has made changes that he says have improved his life. 

“This book isn’t about how bad phones are. This book is about how beautiful it is on the other side of the phone,” he told Fox News Digital. 

“This book isn’t about how bad phones are. This book is about how beautiful it is on the other side of the phone.”

“Instead of setting up all these rules and restrictions for my screen time, once I fell in love with wondering, with noticing, with savoring, with 90-minute meals – with all of these things I was doing without my phone, I just picked up my phone less.”

Today, Whittaker uses his phone about 3-½ hours a day, four hours less than before the experiment.

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“I’ve legitimately added half of my life back, half of the years back that I was losing before.” 

4 tips to cut down on screen time

Whittaker offered a few tips for those who want to limit their daily screen time.

1. Charge your phone outside the bedroom 

“The first thing everyone needs to do is stop charging your phone in the bedroom and start charging it in another room,” he said. 

“Buy an alarm clock. I know it’s the craziest, most old-fashioned thing, but all it’s going to do is wake you up.” 

One of Whittaker’s suggestions to cut down on screen time is to buy an alarm clock.  (iStock)

2. Don’t pick up your phone right away

People should avoid looking at their phones for “at least 30 minutes in the morning,” Whittaker suggested.

“Just drink your coffee. When you’re just drinking the coffee, [it] tastes so much better. You get to savor it,” he said. 

3. Subscribe to print media

Whittaker subscribes to a newspaper rather than relying on the constant buzz of a smartphone app. 

4. Use the ‘do not disturb’ feature

“I’ve actually placed my smartphone in permanent ‘do not disturb,’ so I never get a ‘ding,’” he told Fox News Digital. 

Whittaker said his smartphone is permanently on “do not disturb” for everyone except his family and his assistant.  (iStock)

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Whittaker has set up his phone so that only his assistant and family can immediately reach him.

“I never get a buzz. I never get a notification,” he said.

Patti Scialfa, Bruce Springsteen’s wife and a member of the E Street Band, recently shared that she was diagnosed in 2018 with a type of blood cancer called multiple myeloma.

She revealed her illness in the documentary “Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band,” which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on Sept. 8. 

The production gives a behind-the-scenes look at the famed musician and the long-standing band during their latest tour.

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“This affects my immune system, so I have to be careful what I choose to do and where I choose to go,” Scialfa, 71, said in the film when discussing her illness.

“Every once in a while, I come to a show or two and I can sing a few songs on stage, and that’s been a treat,” she continued. 

Scialfa joined the E Street Band right before the 1984 “Born in the U.S.A.” tour. She later married Springsteen in 1991 and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014.

Fox News Digital reached out to Scialfa for comment.

What is multiple myeloma?

Multiple myeloma, a cancer of the cells in the bone marrow, is diagnosed in more than 35,000 people in the U.S. each year, according to the American Cancer Society.

Plasma cells grow in the bone marrow, which has been described as a “factory” of blood. 

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In a healthy person, the cells produce proteins called antibodies that are directed against germs to fight infection, according to Dr. Cristina Gasparetto, a hematologic oncologist and professor of medicine at Duke University School of Medicine.

Multiple myeloma occurs when plasma cells grow “out of control,” the ACS states.

Multiple myeloma occurs when plasma cells grow “out of control,” per the American Cancer Society. (iStock)

That causes abnormal antibodies to be secreted in the blood, which can damage the bones and other organs.

“[The disease] is called ‘multiple’ because there are frequently multiple patches or areas in the bone where it grows,” Dr. Joseph Mikhael, chief medical officer of the International Myeloma Foundation in California, told Fox News Digital.

Symptoms of the disease

“Most of the signs and symptoms of myeloma are rather general, with the top three being excessive fatigue, bone pain and anemia,” Mikhael said.

Some patients, however, may not have any symptoms when they are diagnosed.

The most common symptoms can be summed up in the acronym “CRAB,” which stands for high calcium levels in the blood, renal (or kidney) insufficiency, anemia and bone destruction, experts say.

The top three symptoms of the disease are excessive fatigue, bone pain and anemia, experts say.

Bone pain is the hallmark of the disease, as the myeloma cells grow within the bone, which may lead to elevated levels of calcium in the blood, Gasparetto told Fox News Digital.

“Symptoms of having high calcium include increased thirst, dehydration, fatigue, muscle pain and sometimes confusion,” she added.

Multiple myeloma is diagnosed in more than 35,000 people in the U.S. each year, according to the American Cancer Society. (iStock)

The antibodies produced by the myeloma cells are eliminated through the kidneys, which can cause obstruction and/or direct damage to the organs.

“The patient will notice some foamy urine, due to the presence of an abundant amount of an [abnormal] protein called Bence-Jones proteinuria,” Gasparetto said.

Methods of diagnosis

The first step is typically to administer specific blood and urine tests, which reveal abnormally high protein levels excreted by the tumor cells – often referred to as an “M spike,” experts told Fox News Digital.

“We measure this protein at the time of diagnosis, during therapy to assess response, and thereafter to monitor progression or relapse,” Gasparetto said.

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Bone pain may also prompt imaging, which would reveal any skeletal abnormalities.

The initial results are then confirmed with a bone aspiration and biopsy.

“With the bone marrow aspiration, we remove a small amount of fluid from the bone marrow, and with the bone marrow biopsy, we remove a small piece of bone,” Gasparetto said.

Myeloma does not typically run in families, but there is a slightly increased incidence when a family member has the disease, experts say. (iStock)

A pathologist then analyzes the sample to determine the severity of the disease.

The final diagnosis is based on a combination of all these tests — blood work, bone marrow aspiration and biopsy, imaging studies and urinalysis, experts told Fox News Digital.

Risk factors for the disease

Myeloma does not typically run in families, but there is a slightly increased incidence when a family member has the disease, Mikhael told Fox News Digital.

“For the vast majority of cases, we do not know the cause of myeloma.”

Many cases may be due to random genetic changes that occur later in life, experts say.

“For the vast majority of cases, we do not know the cause of myeloma,” Mikhael said. “It is more common as we age, with the average age of diagnosis approximately 69.”

African-American and Latino American patients are diagnosed at a younger age, on average at around 64 or 65.

Individuals of African descent are twice as likely to have myeloma, statistics show.

Multiple myeloma is more common as people age, doctors say, with the average age of diagnosis approximately 69. (iStock)

Firefighters who have been exposed to fires are more at risk, and other types of chemical exposures are also connected to myeloma, including Agent Orange and excessive radiation, Mikhael noted.

There may also be a greater risk for people who have a higher increased body mass index, as well as in people who have certain blood conditions, such as monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), which involves an abnormal protein in the blood without the organ damage caused by multiple myeloma.

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In most cases, multiple myeloma cannot be prevented, according to Dr. Mikkael Sekeres, chief of the division of hematology of Sylvester Cancer Center at the University of Miami.

Treatment options

The American Cancer Society recommends that myeloma patients see an oncologist for a personalized treatment plan based on their age, overall health and severity of the disease.

Some therapies may include monoclonal antibodies and drugs called immune modulating agents, which boost the immune system to help the body fight cancer.

“Multiple myeloma can [also] be treated with chemotherapy — up to three or four drug regimens for a few months, followed by maintenance therapy,” a doctor said. (iStock)

“Multiple myeloma can [also] be treated with chemotherapy — up to three or four drug regimens for a few months, followed by maintenance therapy,” Sekeres told Fox News Digital.

Eligible patients may pursue a bone marrow (stem cell) transplant, which can lead to prolonged remissions, the doctor added.

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The cancer is not cured with conventional therapy, but most patients respond well to treatment, according to Mikhael.

“The average survival rate was one or two years just 20 years ago, but it is now over 10 years,” he noted.