Alcohol Can Damage Teen Brains
Dutton Country Courier
There is a mindset among some folks that suggests that partying is something teens need to do – a right of passage on their way to adulthood. Brain research shows just the opposite – that partying can actually cause brain damage to the developing brain. I have just a few examples of how alcohol affects the developing brain, from information provided by Gateway Community Services specialist, Collette Steiner.
Different areas of the brain develop at different rates in humans. The brain stem is the most developed at birth because it allows us survive – it’s where our most basic survival instincts reside, but other areas of the brain continue to develop into early to mid-adulthood.
While the brain is maturing is can be affected either positively or negatively by environmental factors. Alcohol and drug use can cause lasting damage, while positive experiences can help the brain develop to its full potential.
There is a mindset among some folks that suggests that partying is something teens need to do – a right of passage on their way to adulthood. Brain research shows just the opposite – that partying can actually cause brain damage to the developing brain. I have just a few examples of how alcohol affects the developing brain, from information provided by Gateway Community Services specialist, Collette Steiner.
Different areas of the brain develop at different rates in humans. The brain stem is the most developed at birth because it allows us survive – it’s where our most basic survival instincts reside, but other areas of the brain continue to develop into early to mid-adulthood.
While the brain is maturing is can be affected either positively or negatively by environmental factors. Alcohol and drug use can cause lasting damage, while positive experiences can help the brain develop to its full potential.
Between the ages of 12 and 15 the cerebellum, which controls balance and muscle coordination, becomes fully developed. This is important because as a teen, the muscle coordination is actually more heightened than in adulthood, so it takes a teen longer to experience the expected physical signs of being drunk – like stumbling. This is why sometimes young people drink to the point of alcohol poisoning, because they don’t realize how impaired they really are until it’s too late.
Between the ages of 17 and 19, the temporal lobe and limbic system develop, which regulate emotions and motivations (including sex, eating and substance abuse) – Drugs of abuse activate the reward system producing powerful feelings of pleasure, which creates a desire to repeat drug use. Because the part of the brain that controls decision making is not fully developed, teens are very likely to choose activities that “feel good” regardless of the consequences.
The frontal lobe and prefrontal cortex, which are vital to becoming a well-functioning adult control emotions, judgement, planning for the future, organizing, problem solving, impulse inhibition, analysis, self-awareness, identity and spirituality. This is where your personality is developed, logic and understanding of consequences, and goal persistence. This is not fully developed until between the ages of 21 and 24 – which may explain why binge drinking is so prevalent in young adults.
Because this area of the brain is not fully developed in teens, they are more prone to act on emotion, rather than logic. This is a large reason why high school is fraught with so much of the dreaded DRAMA – emotion rules the day. This is where adults must use their own reasoning skills to help youth make good decisions. Teens don’t have access to alcohol without an adult to provide it, so take that decision out of their hands and don’t provide it.
The frontal lobe which, as I said, is the last to develop, between ages 24 to 26, is the brain area most susceptible to damage from teen drinking. Once the brain is damaged, a certain amount of healing takes place over time, but research shows that the brain will never completely heal itself. This means that the damage done when teens and young adults are repeatedly just having a good time may affect their ability to become the fully functioning people they have the potential to be.
On the upside, development of the frontal lobe is positively enhanced by adult guidance, mentoring and opportunities to develop good decision making skills. While their brain development makes teens particularly vulnerable to alcohol and drug abuse, they alsohave the ability to make good choices, and adults can help them do that.
Adults can provide fun social opportunities that do not include alcohol. They can set high expectations with consequences if no-drinking/drugs/tobacco rules are broken. They can make it easier for their children to make good choices by checking on them regularly to make sure they are where they are supposed to be. They can mentor youth to help them develop to their full potential. They can choose to be that positive catalyst in a young person’s life.
Graduation is just around the corner, and families will be celebrating their graduates' futures. If you want to give that graduate and his/her friends a real gift, don’t provide alcohol for their party. Send them into the world with a positive message that the best things in life are celebrated with the people you enjoy, and that alcohol does not need to be part of that celebration.
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