¶ … wiring of the teenage brain?
The teenage brain undergoes major restructuring during the formative teen years. The frontal cortex goes through a growth spurt right before puberty. This leads to a thickening of the area brain responsible for thinking. Typically the human brain is already ninety-five percent the size of an adult's by age six. However, during the teenage years the growth spurt results in new neural interconnections and pathways.
It is hypothesized that skills that are in constant use during the teenage are reinforced by the brain. While those skills or areas of the brain that are not in use, do not get the same reinforcement. This is known as the "use it or lose it" principal. For example, those students who engage in high levels of music and art see those neural pathways reinforced, therefore poised to flourish in the latter years, while other skill sets and pathways are left to die.
The teenage brain is also immature since the frontal cortex is still developing. The fact that the brain is still in development leads teenagers to make decisions that are not well thought out or planned. Teenagers take higher risks and often do not see the consequences of their actions. For example, teenagers do not utilize helmets as they should. This is because...
Researchers in Rhode Island have found that while most teenagers sleep seven and half hours, the optimal number for teens is actually need nine and a quarter hours of sleep. However, modern distractions such as television, the internet, video games, and cell phones are preventing teenagers from achieving the maximal hours of sleep. Incidentally, their circadian clock makes them more active at night; this keeps teens up into the late hours of the night.
The lack of sleep affects teenagers in a number of ways. It affects their mood, their mental capacity to think, and their judgment. The University of Trent ran an experiment comparing sleep levels and a teen's capacity to learn. They found that during REM sleep the brain rehearses and even improves what they learned during the day. So a good night's sleep is imperative to learning new material. These findings led to certain school districts starting school later in the day. The results are positive; students are more engaged and active throughout the school day.
What do teens need from their parents?
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