Epsilon December 2013 | Page 35

As with any stage of life there are ups and downs and misconceptions that come with being a teenager. Kids seem to always think that it is the best part of life and that teens are always free, adults seem to think that there is a lot more complaining and fuss than necessary. The issue is no one, not even teenagers themselves, seems to know what the reasons are behind the behaviors of a teenager. It’s all in the brain and the body, and how they’re wired, and also importantly how they’re evolving.

Interestingly, human are one of the few species who go through the several-year-gap of puberty; many other animals simply develop rapidly from infancy into full adults, without a ‘buffer’ stage of being teenagers where the physiology of the body is still adjusting (Heyeda).

Other than the ‘mature body’ the other major organ in development during the teens, the age gap from around 13 years to 17 years, although there is quite a lot of variation in this from person to person (Mascerelli). The brain is made up of three main sections, the brain stem, the limbic system and the cortex. The limbic system is what controls the hormones and emotions of a person, and the cortex is the logic section that controls the planning and thinking (Mascerelli). During puberty both of these sections and the connections between them are

being developed and altered to how they were when the individual was still a child. During the teen years, myelination and pruning occur, which is where the information paths in the brain are sped up, and some old paths are removed; some paths are re-routed and reconnected to other areas (Heyeda). Most importantly new connections are being formed and this process of renewal and ‘renovation’ is what causes new ideas to become prominent and old ideologies to fade (Heyeda). Hence the changing attitudes and opinion which teenagers often experience.

Brain developments and their effects:

•Prefrontal cortex: This is responsible for the cognitive processes (planning, executing etc.), and undergoes a huge reduction in size during puberty, which is why teens come sometimes seem unorganized. As it develops into the early 20s though it connects more an more with the limbic system that controls a person’s emotions (Mascerelli). When you’re a teen though, the limbic system is more dominant and that’s why teens are more prone to emotional and impulsive responses. The lag in the development of the prefrontal cortex is so that the brain is not too rigid early on, and is still open to learning new things (Heyeda).

•Pineal gland: This gland produces the hormone melatonin, which is what signals to the body that it is time to sleep. During adolescence melatonin levels peak later in the evening, which is why teenagers tend to sleep later in the night (Heyeda). The early starts for school and unsuitable for teens and designed more for adults, so as further and further into the week teens suffer more and more from sleep deprivation, and therefore experience decreasing cognitive processing abilities (Nixon).

Zinc. Zinc is a hugely important mineral in the teenage body and for many of them they are not getting enough of it. Zinc is used to produce serotonin, which is a mood-regulating chemical. If there isn’t enough zinc in the body there is often too much dopamine and glutamate as a result. Dopamine is the chemical that makes a person seek novelty and a thrill, and glutamate is a chemical that over-stimulates a person and causes anxiety. And so with a deficiency of zinc you find teenagers resorting to drugs and alcohol to sooth the anxiety and the desire for a thrill. The problem is that the bones take up so much zinc that this deficiency is very common in teens, so the solution is either eating as much spinach as possible, or taking supplements. (Heyeda)

Teens are also quite sensitive to the influence of those around them, mainly their peers and parents, much more so than adults, because of their still-developing opinions and personality. Parent still provide a stable structure for the teen to be able to develop, despite them also wanting to go out and discover the world on their own (Nixon). Peers are important in the sense that their approval and acceptance is highly rated in the teen brain, and this is the natural development of social skills and a social network (Nixon).

So the behavior seen in teenagers is not random or done on purpose to irritate their parents. For the most part it occurs as a result of the changes in the body and in the brain. As the brain develops and reaches maturity, it is a less ‘volatile’ organ and so a person’s actions and habits become more regulated. Sadly they also become more rigid as the brain begins to reject new information after it has become settled down. This is why adults are often more closed-minded than teenagers.

WORKS CITED

Mascerelli, Amanda. "The teenage brain." Student Science. N.p., 17 Oct. 2012. Web. 13 Dec. 2013. <https://student.societyforscience.org/article/teenage-brain>.

Heyeda, Robert . "The Teenager's Brain." Psychology Today . N.p., 3 June 2010. Web. 13 Dec. 2013. <http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/health-matters/201006/the-teenagers-brain>.

Nixon, Robin. "10 Facts Every Parent Should Know about Their Teen's Brain." LiveScience.com. N.p., 22 May 2011. Web. 13 Dec. 2013. <http://www.livescience.com/13850-10-facts-parent-teen-brain.html>.