Teens & young adults have 'incomplete brains'!
Teen brains have not yet completed the delicate process of insulating all the brain nerve cells with a special white substance called MYELIN (the WHITE MATTER) which helps nerve energy pass quickly along the nerves. Teens may have about half the myelin process completed at the back of the brain. It takes until 26-30yrs for men and 20-25yrs for women to complete this process of myelination which occurs in a sequence from the back part of the thinking brain (neo-cortex)to the front part of the brain. See picture below which describes how the adolescent brain does NOT have a breaking system.
Spend 5-10 minutes watching the you tube videos on brain development of teens below:
Video 1: Insight Into the Teenage Brain: Adriana Galván at TEDxYouth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWUkW4s3XxY
Video 2: Teenage Brain versus Adult Brain https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Flvd2jgGyRU
Video 3: Neuroanatomy of the teenage brain https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzT_SBl31-s
Video 1: Insight Into the Teenage Brain: Adriana Galván at TEDxYouth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWUkW4s3XxY
Video 2: Teenage Brain versus Adult Brain https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Flvd2jgGyRU
Video 3: Neuroanatomy of the teenage brain https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzT_SBl31-s
banner images courtesy of koratmember/freedigitalphotos.net & courtesy of victorhabbick/freedigitalphotos.net