Post-pandemic brains appear almost six months older than they should, scans from more than 16,000 UK Biobank participants have revealed.
Summary
Our brains aged almost six months more than usual during the pandemic, scans from UK Biobank participants have shown. While that doesn’t mean our post-pandemic brains function more poorly, it suggests that major societal disruptions might leave a mark even in healthy people.
The anxiety, social isolation, disrupted routines and economic uncertainty many of us experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic seems to have aged our brains.
UK Biobank participants’ brain scans had previously revealed that COVID-19 infections, even mild ones, can shrink parts of the brain responsible for smell and memory. Now, another research team found that participants’ brains aged almost six months more than usual during the pandemic. That was true even for those participants who never caught the virus, although some may have been infected without knowing it.
This study reminds us that brain health is shaped not only by illness, but by our everyday environment.
Professor Dorothee Auer, University of Nottingham, UK
“This study reminds us that brain health is shaped not only by illness, but by our everyday environment,” study co-leader Dorothee Auer from the University of Nottingham, UK, said in a statement. Men, older participants and people who experienced hardships such as low income or unemployment were particularly affected by accelerated brain ageing.
Yet brains that had aged more didn’t necessarily function more poorly than previously. UK Biobank participants who completed thinking and memory tests before and after the pandemic showed no signs of cognitive decline.
Participants who caught COVID-19 took slightly longer to complete the tests after they got infected – but it’s not clear that this is really going to make a difference in everyday life, pointed out neuroscientist Masud Husain from the University of Oxford, UK. “We can’t yet test whether the changes we saw will reverse, but it’s certainly possible, and that’s an encouraging thought,” Auer added.
The brain-age gap
The researchers used an AI algorithm to estimate ‘brain age’: someone’s age according to their brain scans. More than 15,000 UK Biobank participants’ brain images taught the algorithm how the brain looks at various ages.
The team then had the algorithm analyse the brain age of another group of nearly 1000 participants. Roughly half of them had two brain scans, several years apart, before the pandemic. The other half had one scan before and one after the pandemic.
People’s brains can appear younger or older than their actual age. This brain-age gap tends to stay the same over time. For the participants who had both their scans before the pandemic, this was indeed the case. But for the other group, the brain-age gap increased by 5.5 months on average.
“It is important to note that the majority of people showed brain ageing at the expected rate,” explained psychiatry researcher Maxime Taquet from the University of Oxford, UK. “However, a higher-than-usual proportion showed striking increases in brain age of an extra 15 to 20 months per year.”
How to stay brain-healthy
This adds to our understanding of public health by reinforcing the importance of considering mental, cognitive, and social well-being alongside traditional physical health indicators during future crisis-response planning.
Dr Ali-Reza Mohammadi-Nejad, University of Sheffield, UK
The research has suggested that everyday activities and major societal disruptions might leave a mark even in healthy individuals, study team member Ali-Reza Mohammadi-Nejad told Time. “This adds to our understanding of public health by reinforcing the importance of considering mental, cognitive, and social well-being alongside traditional physical health indicators during future crisis-response planning.”
Exercise, a balanced diet, enough sleep and social connections can all help to keep our brains healthy, particularly during stressful times, Mohammadi-Nejad pointed out. “Whether these can reverse the specific changes we observed remains to be studied.
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- Nature Communications, July 2025
