Supportive relationships with family and friends, exercise and sleep was found to reduce the harmful effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescents’ mental health, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) released on Jan. 24. The NIH listed “poorer quality and functioning of family relationships” and increased “screen time,” including social media and video games, as factors that “predicted youth distress.” “Early adolescence is a time when youth are already experiencing rapid change physically, emotionally, and socially, and the COVID-19 pandemic has caused immense disruption to this sensitive stage in life,” stated Nora D. Volkow, director of National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), a department under the NIH. “This study helps us understand how modifiable lifestyle factors affect the mental health and well-being of adolescents, and it can inform the development of interventions to protect youth during a major life stress,” Volkow added. The study, …