Dr Sears on nutrition

Check out my other blog on Dr Sears and Nutrition.

He has much to say about brain health (which ends up being all about general health in the end).

Teeneagers and sleep

It is pretty simple - no, scratch that... it is pretty basic: young people need more sleep than many are getting. There is a recent study that connects lack of sleep to increased depression among teens. Good sleep patterns also help the brain process as sleep is one of the best processing times for the brain (rule #7 of Medina's Brain Rules).

Simple? Not so much. Many distractions from sleep these days: too easy to keep texting, and surfing, and social-networking from a smart phone late at night, etc... But worth the effort for parents to keep the sleep hours of their children high - and their own as well!

Does your house (including you) have a set time for sleep? Enforced?

The basics (exercise, diet and play/rest) make a huge difference in our performance capacity.

The Teenage Brain

So much new information on how we grow and learn and develop - and most of it is centered on new findings about the brain.

Check out the book "Secrets of the Teenage Brain..." by Sheryl Feinstein. Very important stuff for parents and teachers.

"... did you know that:
1. the brain, not hormones, is to blame for the inexplicable behavior of the teenage years;
2. short term memory increases by about 30% during the adolescent years;
3. the activities teens invest their time and energy in influence what activities they'll invest in as adults;
4. teens are ruled far more by their emotions than by logic."

Connect #3 above with the dramatic increase in screen time and the fact that the brain wires based on experience and things get interesting.

Critical for parents to be intentional about their parenting - and in order to be intentional, parents need to be informed.