This is your brain. This is your brain on NPR

There were two interesting stories on NPR this morning, one about the brain of the teenager and young adult, and the other about the brain of those of more advanced years. In other words, something for everyone.

I thought there were several interesting things to remember from the broadcasts.

1. The nerve cells in a teenager's frontal lobe are not fully developed, leading to difficulty in creating the association between actions and consequences. 
2. Young adults can learn easily and quickly, since their chemistry is tuned to be responsive to their environment because the cells are so easily excitable. This also makes them more easily susceptible to addictive drugs, which have a longer impact on them than they do on older adults. Young people perform poorly on tasks long after the actual drug experience is past.
3. You can learn while you sleep. Rather than cramming all night for a test or staying up to prepare a presentation, it is better to read the material, then get a good sleep. The brain will process the material and you will wake up knowing it better than when you went to sleep.
4. Aging causes that frontal lobe to slow down, making it harder to retrieve information and slower to respond to it.
5. However, aging also improves the analytical ability of the mind, allowing it to engage in much more complex reasoning, as well as the ability to emphasize with others.
6. Brain cells can continue to grow all through one's life. Growth is encouraged by physical exercise and by engaging the mind in challenging work, such as working on puzzles or working with a computer.

I recommend listening or reading both broadcasts from NPR. You will have to excuse me now. I'm going to go exercise my brain and play some computer games.