A lot of teens are stressed, some say more than ever these days, and as a neuroscientist tells Woman’s Day, “What happens in adolescence can have a lifelong impact on how your child’s brain works.” And indeed stress can have lasting effects on teen mental health.
It’s hard when teens are developing to take things in stride like adults can. Something trivial can be the end of the world to a teenager, and when a really bad thing happens, like a death, it can hit a teenager much harder. As Woman’s Day writes, “Major stresses can make some kids more likely to develop depression and PTSD.”
Parents can combat this by teaching your kids how to be resilient, and “teach them to take control of their lives by setting small goals, and working toward those things a step at a time.” If kids don’t feel comfortable talking to their parents, parents should encourage them to seek out someone they can trust.
Teens also have what Women’s Day calls “super-active brains,” and it can make them absorb learning quicker, and also absorb drugs and alcohol quicker as well. This article states that “alcohol can affect the size of two regions of the brain, the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus, leaving learning, memory, attention, and organizational functions compromised.”
As a doctor suggests, “rehearse potential risky situations” your children could encounter,” which can prepare them to confront danger, and make the right decisions because as this article states, teens “likely won’t intuitively know how to react because they don’t have the wiring yet.”
With today’s world of tech, it’s also important to monitor their technology. Using electronic devices late at night can mess up a teen’s internal clock and mess up their sleeping patterns. Have them turn off their devices an hour before bedtime because light can hurt the production of melatonin, the natural hormone that makes you sleep.