A study has found that catching Covid-19 can age your brain by 20 years and knock 10 points off your IQ.
The research was carried out by University of Cambridge and Imperial College London and also found that those admitted to hospital with Covid could suffer brain damage that lasts for more than six months.
Those people might struggle to find the right words, take longer to process information or have a shorter attention span.
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The research studied 46 Brits who were hospitalised with Covid in 2020.
It discovered that they scored worse on brain tests when compared to the average scores of 66,000 other members of the public.
Professor David Menon, an anaesthetist and brain expert said: “We followed some patients up as late as ten months after their acute infection, so we were able to see a very slow improvement.
“This is at least heading in the right direction, but it is very possible that some of these individuals will never fully recover.”
Professor Adam Hampshire from the Department of Brain Sciences at Imperial College London and the study’s first author, said there "is a large number of people out there still experiencing problems with cognition".
He said: “Around 40,000 people have been through intensive care with COVID-19 in England alone and many more will have been very sick, but not admitted to hospital.
“This means there is a large number of people out there still experiencing problems with cognition many months later. We urgently need to look at what can be done to help these people."
During the study, the patients’ scores and reaction times started to improve over time.
However, the researchers said their recovery was "at best gradual and likely to be affected by a number of factors".
These factors included "illness severity and its neurological or psychological impacts."
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