[Music]
the teenage brain is amazing and
powerful because of how much we can do
with it a teenager can be a downright
new sometimes because of all the
inconveniences that we have to bear from
the physical changes the hormonal
imbalances and the impulsive decisions
it isn’t surprising that we look at our
lessons with a frown parents describe
teenagers as impulsive irrational
unpredictable reckless forgetful these
are all the negative thoughts that we
get lessons with and this viewpoint on
adolescence is anything but new Socrates
once said our youth now love luxury they
have bad manners contempt for authority
they show disrespect for their elders be
contradicted and chatter before company
this is what the great philosopher
thought of us as teenagers and doesn’t
this sound similar to what it all say
about us today some think of adolescence
as a minefield when nothing good can
happen and if you just have to overcome
before getting to the gold mine that is
adulthood and it’s even quite amusing
that adolescence can be considered the
ugly duckling phase I don’t think we
look like I’ll be ducklings do it and
because of all this we are accustomed to
seeing adolescence as an uncomfortable
and awkward and a straining phase of
life however were unaware of the
remarkable effects that our way of life
as adolescents can have on our future as
adults we see it as such an
inconvenience even though we aren’t even
aware about most of the brain
development that occurs at adolescence
and even if we do we just think of it as
a problem that we have to deal with
now the problem is this because we’re
clouded with this perception it is hard
to accept that adolescence isn’t that
like a huge trampoline ready to bounce
you up as high as you want but only if
you try every single one of us in this
room has a brain so versatile and so
amazing that if you don’t take advantage
of all the amazing opportunities that
adolescence has to offer you’re missing
out on mazing opportunity but I’m here
to tell you one thing that being a
teenager gives you power but if you
continue looking at adolescents in a
negative light you will never be able to
use it but understanding and taking
advantage of the changes that occur at
adolescence you can is a potential of
your adolescence and use it to shape
your future the way you want it is
common knowledge today that there’s a
huge surge in brain development between
the ages of 0 and 3 however there’s
another similar surge that our first add
adolescents and doesn’t end until around
25 years of age this is why adolescents
in itself is so crucial time for brain
development one of the aspects of brain
development that occurs at adolescence
in your brain you have a hundred billion
neurons that send messages to each other
along synapses and control almost
everything that you do as you go through
all throughout your childhood your brain
keeps on adding more and more
connections for all the skills that you
learn it can be an instrument you learn
to play or a language you learn to speak
as you go through adolescence
well most your childhood your brain done
adding these connections the more you
perform an activity the stronger thing
the connections between the neurons
become now the work of important neuro
scientists such as jeg en have told us
that at adolescence your brain refines
these connections and prunes all the
connections that are being used while
keeping those that are
a generally considered pruning is bad
because we forget the skills that we
stopped practicing and as our brain
rewires we can feel disoriented it can
be really stressful suddenly finding
that you can no longer do once you used
to be able to however pruning can
actually be good because it’s the
perfect chance for you to get rid of the
skills that you don’t need whose what
skills you want as an adult yet compares
pruning to the process of making a
sculpture such as Michelangelo’s David
just as Michelangelo sculpted away all
the unnecessary parts of marble to
create the masterpiece your brain goons
away all the connections that you don’t
need to in order to make your neuronal
connections faster more efficient and
more organized because this is an
ongoing process in adolescence is the
optimal time to learn something new and
in this way
adolescence becomes a unique window of
time given T to prepare your minds the
way you want it for the future
look at the case of camera and watch a
girl who had to get half of her brain
removed because of a medical condition
of course she had to go through
intensive therapy after but because she
was young her brain could rewire and
restore some of the functions that she
had lost into other parts of her brain
now the reason I’m telling you is this
your brain is malleable the younger you
are the easier it is to change your
brain and with pruning you can choose
what changes you want to happen so when
you get when you get to adopt learning
new skills and changing your brain is
much harder it is also easier right now
to recall skills that you learned before
and that you want to keep for the future
what’s amazing is that there’s really no
limit to how much you can retain so as
long as you engage in that activity
during adolescence you will retain that
connection in your brain another aspect
that affects teenage behavior is the
underdeveloped prefrontal cortex 3
such as dr. de bourree yo Glen Todd a
recognized leader in brain research have
taught us that the prefrontal cortex is
different for us if you can all put your
hand on your forehead like this right
beneath is your prefrontal cortex your
prefrontal cortex is what truly
distinguishes you from other animals it
contains all your higher level cognitive
thinking skills such as planning
decision-making inhibiting bad behaviors
thinking about the consequences of your
decisions now because of adolescents
your brain develops from the back to the
front your prefrontal cortex is one of
the last areas to develop
have you ever blurted out something and
then look back the minute after and
wondered how you could have said
something so dumb well you can brain
your you can blame your prefrontal
cortex for that because of this we
sometimes act impulsively and without
considering the consequences of our
actions we find it harder to control bad
behavior because our prefrontal cortex
is so underdeveloped and this is what
makes us vulnerable to being such a
substance abuse bad habits which starts
at adolescents are much harder to drop
at adulthood because as your cortex
develops it has already made that habit
a part of it and it becomes embedded in
you but because the brain isn’t fully
formed yet this can be an advantage this
is the time when you can manipulate your
brain the most and choose what it
considers normal just as bad habit
started now are harder to draw good
habits that you start now will stick
much longer into your adulthood now
because it’s easier to create good
habits that you want in the future your
underdeveloped prefrontal cortex can be
your advantage because it is
underdeveloped you have some control
over how to shape and this is your
chance if you want to make a habit for
example of waking up early organized or
working out everyday you can create
those habit out so that as your
prefrontal cortex
have it’s part of your brain and you can
keep them for the rest of your life
whereas the prefrontal cortex isn’t at
its full potential the amygdala is
working too much
we tend to have an overactive amygdala
if you can all put your hand behind your
ear your amygdala is a small part of
your brain in this region where your
impulses your emotions and your
instincts are clouded dr. Yoga land
taught among others have found that we
as adolescent user amygdala much more
than our prefrontal cortex when compared
to adults this is why we seem dramatic
and our actions sometimes extreme
because the amygdala as a reference
point for decision-making produces
overly emotional and iraq on results
this is why we seem traumatic and this
is why the amygdala hard our behavior
and can affect us because stress in
emotions cloud our rational thinking we
become impulsive and irrational however
having an overactive amygdala that is
powered with emotion and be an advantage
for example you can channel that emotion
into something that you’re passionate
about such a service and sometimes we
need impulsive action hit the case of
this 18 Europe Zealand 8 an 18 year old
was told bad I survived that there was a
driver hanging off a cliff without
thinking twice without even putting on
his shoes he ran out of his house as
fast as he could to save the driver and
he did now the thing is if he wasn’t
impulsive the driver would have probably
fallen to his death and so what I’m
saying to you here
is that I’m not saying that if you see
someone hanging off a bit then you
should all I’m saying is that being
impulsive and thinking victory without
without overthinking is can actually be
useful for you lastly these aren’t the
only negatives that can become positives
we also have set to enlarges
thanks to we know this thanks to experts
such as Lauren Steinberg a professor of
psychology at Temple University when you
get something that you like your brain
releases a biological reward that tells
your brain that that activity was good
your brain releases amine and serotonin
and on what it basically says is I like
this and I want more of it the
difference for teenagers is that rewards
stimulate our brains much our research
shows have given the same reward teams
are much more excited and this is why we
seek risks we seek thrill seeking
experiences because it’s it just
stimulates our pleasure center much more
this is why we often see ourselves being
reckless and taking bizarre ist’s just
that we feel good but having a sensitive
and large pleasure center doesn’t have
to motional sensitivity that leads to
poor decisions it can also make you more
confident at picky and challenging
there’s also a way you can manipulate
the support system Vince if you want to
work out every morning for example if
you reward yourself every time you do it
your brain will import that activity as
good and you will be more motivated to
do it again next time we usually see the
pleasure center as a satanic force that
lures us into undeserved four habits but
as long as we think like this we won’t
be able to take advantage of it who
usually talk about the pleasure center
and substance abuse or the pleasure
center and reckless behavior but there
are other things that activate our
pleasure center my favorite is chocolate
but hugs encouragement oh and crying
victory when you do something good will
make your brain like good Oh again for
example going for a jog with a bunch of
friends at 5:00 a.m.
may be more satisfying and more pleasing
than a solitary jog and you will trust
be more than willing to do it again now
the reason you should use these ideas in
your life
it said we’re taking all these parts of
our adolescence that frustrate us and
that everyone complains about and we
painting them into strengths this is the
perfect solution to all the problems
that we face as teenagers because we’re
changing our limitations into our
strengths we can be in control
just don’t use these mental processes as
excuses to continue propagating same
idea of adolescence which shouldn’t even
exist now that you know why you act the
way you do we can turn the tables on
adolescence it is simply your mentality
that needs to change but to be able to
harness the power of the teenage brain
you can either look at it in two ways
you can appreciate it and use your time
effectively or you can’t read it and
just wait until it’s over but the
outlook is yours the teenage brain is a
work in progress
which means that you can choose how you
want to finish it what I want to leave
you with is this adolescence is an
amazing time because of all the
contributions that make in shaping your
your adult life
it is thus important to understand the
true potential of life as an adolescent
most look at adolescence as a nuisance
and as an ugly awkward phase of life
maybe just can’t wait to be over with
even as children we can’t wait to grow
up and be adults because of this
mentality looking at other lessons as a
mirror and convenience we don’t take
advantage of one of the most of one of
the scientifically proven most optimal
periods for growth and development of
your brain adolescence is a time when
you can exceed your limits and do great
things and choose what your brain
considers normal because of all these
mental factors adolescence is such an
integral foundational period that you
can use to take advantage of
and shaping your future and harnessing
the true power of the teenage brain
the teenage brain is amazing and
powerful because of how much we can do
with it a teenager can be a downright
new sometimes because of all the
inconveniences that we have to bear from
the physical changes the hormonal
imbalances and the impulsive decisions
it isn’t surprising that we look at our
lessons with a frown parents describe
teenagers as impulsive irrational
unpredictable reckless forgetful these
are all the negative thoughts that we
get lessons with and this viewpoint on
adolescence is anything but new Socrates
once said our youth now love luxury they
have bad manners contempt for authority
they show disrespect for their elders be
contradicted and chatter before company
this is what the great philosopher
thought of us as teenagers and doesn’t
this sound similar to what it all say
about us today some think of adolescence
as a minefield when nothing good can
happen and if you just have to overcome
before getting to the gold mine that is
adulthood and it’s even quite amusing
that adolescence can be considered the
ugly duckling phase I don’t think we
look like I’ll be ducklings do it and
because of all this we are accustomed to
seeing adolescence as an uncomfortable
and awkward and a straining phase of
life however were unaware of the
remarkable effects that our way of life
as adolescents can have on our future as
adults we see it as such an
inconvenience even though we aren’t even
aware about most of the brain
development that occurs at adolescence
and even if we do we just think of it as
a problem that we have to deal with
now the problem is this because we’re
clouded with this perception it is hard
to accept that adolescence isn’t that
like a huge trampoline ready to bounce
you up as high as you want but only if
you try every single one of us in this
room has a brain so versatile and so
amazing that if you don’t take advantage
of all the amazing opportunities that
adolescence has to offer you’re missing
out on mazing opportunity but I’m here
to tell you one thing that being a
teenager gives you power but if you
continue looking at adolescents in a
negative light you will never be able to
use it but understanding and taking
advantage of the changes that occur at
adolescence you can is a potential of
your adolescence and use it to shape
your future the way you want it is
common knowledge today that there’s a
huge surge in brain development between
the ages of 0 and 3 however there’s
another similar surge that our first add
adolescents and doesn’t end until around
25 years of age this is why adolescents
in itself is so crucial time for brain
development one of the aspects of brain
development that occurs at adolescence
in your brain you have a hundred billion
neurons that send messages to each other
along synapses and control almost
everything that you do as you go through
all throughout your childhood your brain
keeps on adding more and more
connections for all the skills that you
learn it can be an instrument you learn
to play or a language you learn to speak
as you go through adolescence
well most your childhood your brain done
adding these connections the more you
perform an activity the stronger thing
the connections between the neurons
become now the work of important neuro
scientists such as jeg en have told us
that at adolescence your brain refines
these connections and prunes all the
connections that are being used while
keeping those that are
a generally considered pruning is bad
because we forget the skills that we
stopped practicing and as our brain
rewires we can feel disoriented it can
be really stressful suddenly finding
that you can no longer do once you used
to be able to however pruning can
actually be good because it’s the
perfect chance for you to get rid of the
skills that you don’t need whose what
skills you want as an adult yet compares
pruning to the process of making a
sculpture such as Michelangelo’s David
just as Michelangelo sculpted away all
the unnecessary parts of marble to
create the masterpiece your brain goons
away all the connections that you don’t
need to in order to make your neuronal
connections faster more efficient and
more organized because this is an
ongoing process in adolescence is the
optimal time to learn something new and
in this way
adolescence becomes a unique window of
time given T to prepare your minds the
way you want it for the future
look at the case of camera and watch a
girl who had to get half of her brain
removed because of a medical condition
of course she had to go through
intensive therapy after but because she
was young her brain could rewire and
restore some of the functions that she
had lost into other parts of her brain
now the reason I’m telling you is this
your brain is malleable the younger you
are the easier it is to change your
brain and with pruning you can choose
what changes you want to happen so when
you get when you get to adopt learning
new skills and changing your brain is
much harder it is also easier right now
to recall skills that you learned before
and that you want to keep for the future
what’s amazing is that there’s really no
limit to how much you can retain so as
long as you engage in that activity
during adolescence you will retain that
connection in your brain another aspect
that affects teenage behavior is the
underdeveloped prefrontal cortex 3
such as dr. de bourree yo Glen Todd a
recognized leader in brain research have
taught us that the prefrontal cortex is
different for us if you can all put your
hand on your forehead like this right
beneath is your prefrontal cortex your
prefrontal cortex is what truly
distinguishes you from other animals it
contains all your higher level cognitive
thinking skills such as planning
decision-making inhibiting bad behaviors
thinking about the consequences of your
decisions now because of adolescents
your brain develops from the back to the
front your prefrontal cortex is one of
the last areas to develop
have you ever blurted out something and
then look back the minute after and
wondered how you could have said
something so dumb well you can brain
your you can blame your prefrontal
cortex for that because of this we
sometimes act impulsively and without
considering the consequences of our
actions we find it harder to control bad
behavior because our prefrontal cortex
is so underdeveloped and this is what
makes us vulnerable to being such a
substance abuse bad habits which starts
at adolescents are much harder to drop
at adulthood because as your cortex
develops it has already made that habit
a part of it and it becomes embedded in
you but because the brain isn’t fully
formed yet this can be an advantage this
is the time when you can manipulate your
brain the most and choose what it
considers normal just as bad habit
started now are harder to draw good
habits that you start now will stick
much longer into your adulthood now
because it’s easier to create good
habits that you want in the future your
underdeveloped prefrontal cortex can be
your advantage because it is
underdeveloped you have some control
over how to shape and this is your
chance if you want to make a habit for
example of waking up early organized or
working out everyday you can create
those habit out so that as your
prefrontal cortex
have it’s part of your brain and you can
keep them for the rest of your life
whereas the prefrontal cortex isn’t at
its full potential the amygdala is
working too much
we tend to have an overactive amygdala
if you can all put your hand behind your
ear your amygdala is a small part of
your brain in this region where your
impulses your emotions and your
instincts are clouded dr. Yoga land
taught among others have found that we
as adolescent user amygdala much more
than our prefrontal cortex when compared
to adults this is why we seem dramatic
and our actions sometimes extreme
because the amygdala as a reference
point for decision-making produces
overly emotional and iraq on results
this is why we seem traumatic and this
is why the amygdala hard our behavior
and can affect us because stress in
emotions cloud our rational thinking we
become impulsive and irrational however
having an overactive amygdala that is
powered with emotion and be an advantage
for example you can channel that emotion
into something that you’re passionate
about such a service and sometimes we
need impulsive action hit the case of
this 18 Europe Zealand 8 an 18 year old
was told bad I survived that there was a
driver hanging off a cliff without
thinking twice without even putting on
his shoes he ran out of his house as
fast as he could to save the driver and
he did now the thing is if he wasn’t
impulsive the driver would have probably
fallen to his death and so what I’m
saying to you here
is that I’m not saying that if you see
someone hanging off a bit then you
should all I’m saying is that being
impulsive and thinking victory without
without overthinking is can actually be
useful for you lastly these aren’t the
only negatives that can become positives
we also have set to enlarges
thanks to we know this thanks to experts
such as Lauren Steinberg a professor of
psychology at Temple University when you
get something that you like your brain
releases a biological reward that tells
your brain that that activity was good
your brain releases amine and serotonin
and on what it basically says is I like
this and I want more of it the
difference for teenagers is that rewards
stimulate our brains much our research
shows have given the same reward teams
are much more excited and this is why we
seek risks we seek thrill seeking
experiences because it’s it just
stimulates our pleasure center much more
this is why we often see ourselves being
reckless and taking bizarre ist’s just
that we feel good but having a sensitive
and large pleasure center doesn’t have
to motional sensitivity that leads to
poor decisions it can also make you more
confident at picky and challenging
there’s also a way you can manipulate
the support system Vince if you want to
work out every morning for example if
you reward yourself every time you do it
your brain will import that activity as
good and you will be more motivated to
do it again next time we usually see the
pleasure center as a satanic force that
lures us into undeserved four habits but
as long as we think like this we won’t
be able to take advantage of it who
usually talk about the pleasure center
and substance abuse or the pleasure
center and reckless behavior but there
are other things that activate our
pleasure center my favorite is chocolate
but hugs encouragement oh and crying
victory when you do something good will
make your brain like good Oh again for
example going for a jog with a bunch of
friends at 5:00 a.m.
may be more satisfying and more pleasing
than a solitary jog and you will trust
be more than willing to do it again now
the reason you should use these ideas in
your life
it said we’re taking all these parts of
our adolescence that frustrate us and
that everyone complains about and we
painting them into strengths this is the
perfect solution to all the problems
that we face as teenagers because we’re
changing our limitations into our
strengths we can be in control
just don’t use these mental processes as
excuses to continue propagating same
idea of adolescence which shouldn’t even
exist now that you know why you act the
way you do we can turn the tables on
adolescence it is simply your mentality
that needs to change but to be able to
harness the power of the teenage brain
you can either look at it in two ways
you can appreciate it and use your time
effectively or you can’t read it and
just wait until it’s over but the
outlook is yours the teenage brain is a
work in progress
which means that you can choose how you
want to finish it what I want to leave
you with is this adolescence is an
amazing time because of all the
contributions that make in shaping your
your adult life
it is thus important to understand the
true potential of life as an adolescent
most look at adolescence as a nuisance
and as an ugly awkward phase of life
maybe just can’t wait to be over with
even as children we can’t wait to grow
up and be adults because of this
mentality looking at other lessons as a
mirror and convenience we don’t take
advantage of one of the most of one of
the scientifically proven most optimal
periods for growth and development of
your brain adolescence is a time when
you can exceed your limits and do great
things and choose what your brain
considers normal because of all these
mental factors adolescence is such an
integral foundational period that you
can use to take advantage of
and shaping your future and harnessing
the true power of the teenage brain
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