The Teenage Brain

Guess who is being described in this riddle … Known to be moody most of the time even though they do not admit it, and love to hate everything surrounding them?  You are right… Teenagers! While watching the program “Inside a teenage brain,” I learned many interesting things about being a teenager that I did not know before. I have to admit, this program allowed me to understand myself better. Teenagers like me are moody all the time. It’s like a being on a roller coaster: up and down during the same ride. No wonder people see teenagers as “unstable,” one minute very happy and the other very depressed. These ups and downs are known as mood swings. Sometimes we feel we want to cry for no apparent reason; sometimes we feel so angry that we want to scream and most of the time we hide in our rooms to get away from people when reality is, we need to get away from ourselves. Thank goodness for I-pods! But wait, I forgot to say, I am a normal, healthy, happy teenager.

Teenagers do not get enough sleep. On the average, teenagers should get eight to nine hours of sleep each night, but we are lucky if we get five to six hours on weekdays and Saturdays. Sundays we try to catch up on lost sleep thinking twelve hours will do the trick; but unfortunately, it seems sleep can not be recovered. Can someone please introduce me to a teenager that thinks of him/herself as a morning person because I do not know any? Who decided that school should be held during the day? Have you ever met a teenager that is cranky and tired at night and freely goes to bed? If adults are so worried about the amount of sleep we as teenagers get, why do our teachers assign so much homework? Don’t they know that lack of sleep affects our brains?

Adults seem to be worried about Alcohol and tobacco use among teenagers. Let me tell you, it is insane. I have witnessed the throwing up, the passing out and how stupid teenagers act when drunk. So, where are the adults when this happens? It is sad to say that many times, they are the ones quietly encouraging it. Silence and pretend blindness will not make the problem go away.

To conclude, brain development in teenagers is not complete until we reach 21. We see the outside world in a different way than adults do. No wonder we have many conflicts with just about everyone in our lives. Adults especially parents play an important role in a teenager’s life. We need their advice, their love, their understanding and their support, even if we say and act as if we do not want it. As a teenager who is lucky to have a great relationship with her mother, I think parents make a big mistake when they try to control teenagers’ actions. What they do not understand is that the more they try to control teenagers, the more they will rebel.  I am not an expert on this topic, I am a teenager; but, after watching the TV program about the teenage brain, I recommend that not only teenagers be educated on this matter. Parents have to be educated as well. No matter how much teenagers say they hate their parents, they need to have a strong connection with them to be able to make the right decisions everyone expects them to make.