So how much do you know about
your brain? I am guessing probably not a lot and actually none of us knew very
much about the teenage brain until about 20 years ago. We used to think that all of our brain
development happened in our early years but now we know this is not the
case.
In actual fact your brain goes
through some pretty phenomenal changes that start when you begin puberty and
actually don’t finish until you get to your mid-twenties. That’s right your brain is not fully
developed until 25 at the earliest, maybe even a little bit later.
The first thing to know is that
different parts of our brain develop at different speeds. One of the first parts of your brain to
develop is called the limbic system where the amygdala lives. This is the part of your brain that is
responsible for all of your emotional reactions – anger, sadness, excitement
and is also the part that is responsible for keeping you safe by activating
your flight, flight, freeze response.
This is a brilliant and very important part of our brain, but it is not
great at making good decisions. For good
decisions we need the part of our brain called the prefrontal cortex – this is
the part that sits just behind our forehead and is often called the control
tower - this is the part that helps us
to plan, organise, think about potential consequences and is really good at
helping us to manage our big feelings like frustration or anger. The trouble is this is the part of our brain
that is under construction in adolescence and will not be fully functional
until you are at least 25. What this
means is that during your teenage years (like now) many of your decisions will
be much more influenced by the emotional rather than the rational part of the
brain.
Now this is not all bad
news. Our brains develop like this for a
very good reason - to help us to make the transition into adulthood. To become brave independent adults, we (and
our parents!) need to embrace these changes and start exploring the big amazing
world we live in.
So, what do you need to know
about the adolescent brain? According to Dan Siegel, who knows a lot about the brain,
there are four things we need to hold in mind….
1. As
teenagers you are going to experience your emotions much more intently than at
other times in your life. And this is
fantastic because it is these intense emotions that drive your big bright
shining passion and vitality come from encouraging you to try new things and
engage with new people. The tricky part
of this is that it can make life less predictable, because one thing we know
for sure is that emotions in adolescence can change very rapidly, sometimes
making for a very bumpy ride.
2. Another
big change that happens in adolescence is that your friends and being part of a
peer group becomes super important. This
is why it can feel so painful when we experience difficulties in our friendship
group. The other thing you will notice
is that while your friends become more and more important the relationship
between you and your parents/carers might start to feel different and less
close something that can feel a bit weird and unsettling. But remember this is happening for a reason, the
main job of adolescence is to get you ready for adulthood and the changes in your
brain will be pushing you towards your peers and a little bit further away from
your parents to help you to make this transition.
3. As
a teenager you love new things, particularly new things that are a little (or a
big) bit risky. This drive to try new
things is really important and will give you lots of motivation to explore and
challenge yourself. The tricky part of
these brain changes is that you will probably focus on the thrill and
excitement and not think very much about the potential risk. This is because
the part of your brain that is good at considering the consequences is under
construction and not working very well as a result. So, if at all possible, it’s always helpful
to PAUSE and have a quick think about what you are about to do before you do
it. Easier said than done, I know!!
4. As
a teenager your brain is beginning to be able to think in much more complex
ways and because your brain is designed to push away from adult ideas you will
often feel like questioning the adults around you and pushing against
boundaries. Sometimes this can feel a
bit unsettling, especially when you suddenly realise your parents/carers are
not so clever after all and actually are just normal fallible human beings (or
maybe you knew this already😊)
However, the massively positive side to all of this is your ability to
imagine all sorts of new things and it’s because of this that teenagers are
often really good at coming up innovative and exciting solutions to all sorts
of difficulties that adults are unable to resolve.
Finally…
Your teenage brain is amazing. And although all the changes can be difficult
to make sense of it is because of these changes that adolescence is a time of remarkable
opportunity, creativity and energy.
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