The troublesome "brain" of adolescence actually comes from the adolescent brain

In addition to the frontal lobe, we should also mention the "limbic system" that is closely related to the frontal lobe. Although it is called the limbic system, its status is very important.

The limbic system is seen as a crossroads where people perceive external stimuli and emotions, and works with the frontal lobes to process our emotions. To give a simple example, the limbic system can easily perceive the irony of the outside world, and then generate anger, but it needs the frontal lobe to decide whether to vent or suppress its emotions. Unfortunately, underdevelopment of the frontal lobes can cause adolescents to lack self-control. Emotions triggered by external stimuli in turn prompt the body to secrete hormones, such as adrenaline. This makes it easy for teenagers to become emotional, and they also like to find something to do that triggers strong emotions. For example, girls like to watch tragic Korean dramas, maybe to feel the hysterical thrill of crying; while boys do dangerous behaviors like drag racing, maybe just to experience a thrilling feeling. From this point of view, it is not difficult to understand why young people always like to make trouble.

Speaking of which, everyone must have understood that the adolescent brain is actually different from our adult brain. The gray, white matter, parietal lobes, frontal lobes, and limbic systems of adolescent children's brains are not fully developed, so that adolescents have shortcomings such as inattentiveness, lack of self-control, and emotionality. This is what we talked about in the first part. So apart from these disgusting shortcomings, what benefits does the teenage brain bring to teenage learning? That's it for the second part of what we're going to talk about today: How does the adolescent brain affect teenage learning?

the third part
To explore the addiction mechanism of the brain, it must be said that there is a neurotransmitter called "dopamine" in the brain. Dopamine is part of the reward mechanism of the human brain, which allows us to obtain a pleasurable pleasure after completing a certain task. The more dopamine there is in the brain, the stronger the pleasure we experience. The satisfaction we get from good food, wealth, and even love, is essentially dopamine-related. Addiction happens precisely because a certain substance activates the relevant neurons, causing more dopamine to be released.

Compared with the adult brain, the adolescent brain is more easily stimulated by the outside world, releases dopamine, and responds more strongly to dopamine. As we just said, the frontal lobes in the adolescent brain are immature, and they are slightly less capable of predicting risk and controlling behavior. Even if teenagers are able to control themselves rationally, they have to work harder than adults to resist temptation. Therefore, in the face of tobacco, alcohol and the Internet, teenagers are often more addicted than adults.

What's more worrying is that the adolescent brain is not only prone to gossip, but also suffers far more damage than adults. Whether it's smoking, drinking, or being addicted to the Internet, any kind of addictive behavior can cause irreversible damage to a teenager's brain.

Studies have shown that teens who smoke have lower intelligence levels than teens who don't smoke. If exposed to secondhand smoke regularly, in addition to being susceptible to physical diseases such as asthma and otitis media, their intelligence and reasoning abilities will be adversely affected. In adolescents who smoke excessively for a long time, brain cells will produce different degrees of necrosis and atrophy. They may find it okay to smoke a cigarette or two every now and then and not make a fuss about it. But the truth is that teenagers' brains are much more plastic than we think. Just a few cigarettes can cause their brains to activate the "remodeling" mechanism to create a large number of new nicotine receptors, which in turn leads to cravings. Some researchers even found that teenagers only need to smoke one cigarette a month to become addicted.

So, if we want to keep children away from cigarettes, it is necessary for them to realize that their brains cannot withstand temptation and will eventually become slaves to tobacco. Of course, if children are already addicted to smoking, even if they can't quit smoking, at least they are required to use smokeless tobacco or electronic cigarettes to reduce the damage to the brain.

In addition to cigarettes, alcohol can also have devastating effects on teenage brains. The most obvious point is that it affects memory function. Many people have had the experience of drinking too much alcohol, and other than waking up with a splitting headache, they have absolutely no recollection of what happened. Remember the hippocampus we mentioned earlier, it's crucial for memory formation. The earlier a person starts drinking, the smaller the size of the hippocampus. Alcohol depresses the hippocampus and alters the structure of our brains, causing permanent damage. Even more frightening, alcohol not only kills existing neurons in the hippocampus, it also impairs the hippocampus's ability to make new neurons.

Generally speaking, if parents teach by words and deeds and strictly supervise their children, the chances of children becoming addicted to alcohol are very small. But there is a situation where teenagers drink recklessly when faced with friends who persuade them to drink because they are out of parental control. To this end, parents need to discuss the dangers of excessive drinking with their children, and let them know that the damage to the brain caused by alcohol does not disappear after sobering up.

Internet addiction is the last thorny issue we're going to explore. This seems to be a chronic disease of the whole society, even three or five-year-old children will hold their mobile phones and Pads all day long. Some teenagers are even willing to give up their studies. Although Internet addiction is a type of behavioral addiction, it is as difficult to get rid of as drug addiction because the brain circuits involved are the same.

According to research surveys, the age of Internet addicts in my country is mainly between 15 and 20 years old. Teenagers have a heavy academic burden and are also under a lot of psychological pressure. The virtual network can easily become an outlet for them to escape from reality. Coupled with the poor self-control caused by the limitation of the brain, it is not surprising that the youth group has become the hardest hit area of ​​Internet addiction. But Internet addiction is far more harmful to adolescents than adults. Internet access for a long time will cause damage to all areas of the adolescent brain responsible for language, memory, emotion, and motor functions, which will further lead to problems such as memory decline, distraction, and emotional indifference among adolescents.

Realistically speaking, in the Internet age, it is almost impossible for us to completely isolate our children from the online world. In this case, it is better to start from yourself, try to listen to the pressures and small emotions in your children's daily life, and encourage them to build a healthy social life. Maybe when teenagers have a normal channel to vent their emotions and energy in real life, they are willing to come out of the virtual world.

s who persuade them to drink because they are out of parental control. To this end, parents need to discuss the dangers of excessive drinking with their children, and let them know that the damage to the brain caused by alcohol does not disappear after sobering up.

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