The Teenage Brain audiobook

Eye-opening book on the teenage brain, and human brains generally. It will downright change the way we view teenagers and kids. An absolute 'paradigm-shifter’.Frances, a neurologist herself, showcases the scientific evidence on how teenage brains are substantially different than adult brains in many ways. Putting time to understand the differences will place both adults and teenagers in a better position to acknowledge and reconcile the differences and how things are viewed by both of them.Sleep, taking risks, tobacco, alcohol, pot, drugs, stress, mental illness, digital invasion, gender matters, sports and concussions, crime and punishment (very interesting section for lawyers) and more are dissected in this book, giving a more comprehensive view of the relationship and effect of such things on the teenage brains compared to adults.Highly recommended, though there will often be some neurological terminologies throughout the book that might put some people off especially the ones who can't withstand reading (or listening) to the lovely brainy words like frontal lobes, neocortex, grey matter, white matter, thalamus, hippocampus, basal ganglia, amygdala, limbic system and other stuff of the brain.

A friend recommended this book and I'm so glad that she did. Yes, I knew that teenagers' brains developed slower than parents would like, but I didn't know how exactly and which parts developed first. After reading this book, I have a much better understanding of the development of the teenaged brain.I liked the fact that she covered what is involved as a child becomes a teenager not only with the brain, but a bit about the hormonal changes, too. She then goes on to discuss learning; sleep; risk taking; drugs, alcohol and smoking; stress; mental illness; digital "invasions"; gender; and concussions. Each section was written so that the average parent could understand the importance of that section and gave ammunition to use in discussing why that particular section was important. I found the section on sleep to be really interesting and also the section on gender. The concussion section was one that I wish I wasn't familiar with, but was glad that she addressed it.If you have teenagers or will have teenagers soon, you really should read this book.

Excellently written outline of how the teenage brain is not fully developed, has a higher propensity for addiction and risk taking, and has very high plasticity. When you combine these elements it leads to many complications for both adolescents and the parents that raise and guide them. Jensen carefully outlines how these factors present both opportunities and challenges related to decision making, drugs, alcohol, tobacco, technology, risky behavior, sexuality, mental illness, and crime. Jensen presents advice drawn from her scientific background as a neuroscientist as well as her experience as a parent. I recommend this book for every parent, teacher, youth worker, and anyone else that works regularly with youth. The perspective this book gives us extremely valuable.

It's very scientific, but it's an eye opener .. it's useful specially with this generation teenagers who like to have the answers for "whys" when you want to convince them why they should or shouldn't do the thing. Highly recommended ❤️

Parents and teachers: read this book and say it with me, "It's not personal; it's just adolescence!"

Review copy provided by Harper Collins Publishers NZ via Booksellers NZ.The teenage brain? What sort of word trickery is that? Well, all logic tells you there is a brain of course, nestling inside the head of that child of yours, but it is not a brain, Jim, as we know it. And that is the totally bizarre thing about teenagers - after all we were all one once angst ridden, tormented, self absorbed, idealistic, misunderstood, unloved - so you think we would have no problem some years down the track dealing with our own teenager's tormented souls. And that is the conumdrum of it all. Our brains, unbeknown to us, moved on from being teenage brains somewhere in our 20s (hopefully), maybe by our 30s (more likely). But now that our wiring is different, we have no understanding really on what is going on in our darlings' brains. This book attempts to redress this lack of knowledge and understanding to us - parents, teachers, other significant grown ups. Frances Jensen is a professor of neurology at the University of Pennsylvania. Blessedly, she is also the parent of two fine sounding young men who were once teenagers. It would seem, from her biography blurb at the back of this book, that she is a specialist in the developing brain and age specific therapies. So, not so much a handbook on how to deal with your teenager(s), more a handbook on what is going on inside their heads and so lead to some understanding. So this may seem like a medical book and not for the average teen parent, but it is extremely readable, probably because it was co-authored with a Pulitzer Prize winning science writer who writes for the Washington Post and so well used to turning medical language/concepts/theories etc into everday language for us mere mortals. There is plenty of brain terminology in this book - amygdala, frontal cortex, cortical map, hippocampus, hypothalamus, myelin, how they all work, how they change and interact with each other during the teen years to produce a different type of brain at the end of it all. And most importantly how all these changes lead to and directly cause the behaviours that we see so frequently in our teens - their flawed decision making, impulsiveness, inability to be rational, sensible, that boys' brains are different from girls' brains, why their body clock is out of whack. As I have said, Ms Jensen is a scientist, not a psychologist, so not much in this book on how to deal with teenagers. But I found myself regularly referring to NZ psychologist and author Nigel Latta's writings on parenting teenagers, with his Mad Uncle Jacks and Mad Aunt Janes, which gives plenty of advice on dealing with all this weird and alarming brain change. So I think the two complement each other very nicely.There were some sections of medical terminology and explanation when I felt my eyes glazing over, but throughout the book the authors are constantly referencing the biology with the evidence, that is what we see, and so it does all gradually come together, and I do know a lot more about the functioning of the brain than previously. A lot of issues are covered in this book that affect teenagers differently from children and adults. How the brain learns, sleep patterns, risk taking, the effects of alcohol and cannabis, mental illness and the digital invasion. The two chapters that I found the most alarming and that I think all parents should have an understanding of are stress and its impact on teenage wellbeing, and the danger of sports and concussions. This book is written by an American and published in America, but many of the issues in high schools and colleges there are also in New Zealand schools. With an 18 year old and a 20 year old, our time in the dark, never ending teenage tunnel is thankfully nearing an end, and the light is getting brighter and closer. But there is an increasing obsession in our schools to be the best in sport and/or academics to the detriment of the students supposedly earning that glory. As these two chapters reveal, the impact of this endless race to the top can take a serious toll on our young ones, physically, mentally and emotionally. As parents, the ones closest to our teens, we really do need to be mindful of how things can go wrong inside their heads that may take some time to actually show up. There is a lot of very good stuff in this book, reading it will certainly increase your arsenal of information about teenagers, and hopefully your understanding and communication with them.

The Teenage Brain by Frances Jensen grabbed my attention right away. Who doesn’t want to gain wisdom about the most baffling time of life? As a high school teacher, it’s important for me to understand my students in order to best connect with and teach them. This book helped me recognize how to do this on a different level. Since the author is both a neurologist and the mother of two boys who have been through the teenage years, she offers both insight as well as practical advice on how to handle and help teenagers through this growth period of their lives.While not specifically about teaching, this book explicitly discusses how the brain of a teenager differs from that of both a child and an adult, but it does so in an engaging manner, which kept me reading. This is quite an interesting phase of life, and understanding these differences provides the opportunity to have a bit more compassion for teens and the sometimes questionable decisions they make as well as teaches how to help them avoid potentially dangerous situations despite the still growing maturity of their brains. In fact, the book largely dealt with how to help teens avoid problems and situations that could even be deadly. Aimed at parents, this book is also a helpful read for teachers or truly anyone who interacts with teens on a regular basis. It’s a good reminder that these people aren’t children, but they’re really not yet adults, either, so we must find a way to connect with them on their playing field.

While most of us understand the basics of puberty and the hormones that kick it into gear, this book delves into the biological details of this time of life. By presenting those particulars of brain chemistry and development, Jensen gives readers a better understanding of WHY teens and young adults behave the way they do. We spend so much time learning about infant and toddler development in order to help our children be the best they can be, we neglect this second highly impressionable developmental stage. Because of this lack of understanding, we often expect the wrong things of our kids, jeopardizing the trust they have in us to help them grow into the adults we'd always hoped they would become. In order to help my teens navigate adolescence, these facts are helping me to evaluate my previous missteps in order to make choices that will more appropriately help us reach our goals.

This was a scientific look at why teenagers behave the way they do. Their brains are not fully myelinated and won't be until their early 20's. They don't have all the synapses connected and functioning in their frontal lobe. It was a good scientific explanation about why teenagers behave the way they do. There were some interesting studies and stories mentioned and I have a few good take aways about their abilities to forecast consequences and lack of organizational skills.