The covid-19 pandemic changed our lives, and the world, in many ways - and now we are starting to understand its wider neurological effects

New research reveals that simply living through the COVID-19 pandemic — regardless of infection — has measurably aged our brains, with the effect most pronounced in men and those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The brains of healthy people aged faster during the COVID-19 pandemic than did the brains of people analysed before the pandemic began, a study of almost 1,000 people suggests. The accelerated ageing occurred even in people who didn’t become infected.