adolescent brain

Why Emotional Turmoil in Adolescence is Normal

I care deeply about young people and have done since I too was a moody, often confused adolescent who made some big, sometimes life-threatening, mistakes. The development of the physical body together with sexual urges, novelty seeking behaviours, rapidly changing moods and emotional states make adolescence a very interesting time. The developing pre-frontal lobe affects [...]

By |2019-01-07T16:11:12+11:00January 7th, 2019|Categories: Uncategorized|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

Cannabis ‘More Harmful than Alcohol’ for Teen Brains

Teenagers using cannabis are causing long-lasting damage to their developing brains, a Canadian study suggests. It found the impact on thinking skills, memory and behaviour was worse than that of teenage drinking. The researchers, from the University of Montreal, urged teenagers to delay their use of cannabis for as long as they felt able. The [...]

By |2020-10-30T11:45:44+11:00October 8th, 2018|Categories: Drugs & Alcohol|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

Survey Raises Worries About how Screen Time Affects Kids’ Brains

Nearly two out of three U.S. kids spend more than two hours a day looking at screens, a new analysis of activity levels finds. And those children perform worse on memory, language and thinking tests than kids who spend less time in front of a device, the study of over 4,500 8- to 11-year-olds shows. [...]

Children’s Forgotten ‘Middle Years’, Ages 8-14, Are Crucial To Wellbeing

Early intervention when children are very young – from birth to three years of age, while their brains and skills are developing rapidly – can dramatically improve life prospects. Basics such as good nutrition, language development, and physical, cognitive and social skills can be helped by family and supported by social and early-child development programs. [...]

Why video games aren’t all bad

Why do kids like playing video games so much? Is it because they’re violent, misogynistic or just plain mind-numbing?   Generation Next speaker Dr Wayne Warburton has conducted research that shows the impact of violent games on the adolescent brain has both short and long term effects. None of them good.   Let’s leave violent [...]

Random Acts of Kindness

“Why should I be nice to people? They aren’t nice to me...” This is a common response from adolescents when I try and engage them in the notion of being “kind.”   Researchers will tell us that because of the adolescent brain, the teaching of such concepts need to demonstrate: “What’s in it for me?” [...]

Cannabis and the Adolescent Brain

For some time, people have known that using cannabis during adolescence increases the risk of developing cognitive impairment and mental illness (e.g. depression, anxiety or schizophrenia) later in life. Importantly however, the mechanisms responsible for this vulnerability are not well understood. A new study, published in Brain, shows that long-term cannabis use that starts during [...]

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