Our Teen Brains with Shivek Shivek Narang

“It’s OK to be NotOK. You are not alone! You have people around you who care. “

In Season 2, Episode2 of Our Teen Brains with Shivek, we learn these lessons and many more from two amazing adolescents. Charlie and Hannah Lucas, two young entrepreneurs who founded the NotOK app are our guests on today's podcast, and they share their unique advice based on personal experiences of managing adolescence and the multitude of struggles that come during this period.

In our very first episode of season 2, we are in a conversation with Psychologist, Dr Tang. Dr Tang is a co-director of the Oregon Mind Body Institute, a mental health center that offers prevention and treatment using mindfulness based interventions. Just as good nutrition, sleep, and exercise are important for our well-being, knowing how to take care of our mental health is also essential. Dr. Lori Allen and Dr. Tang created the Attune•ED curriculum to bring evidence-based mental health skills to schools at a universal level so all children can learn healthy ways to cope with stress at an early age.

Today Our Teen Brains is in conversation with Dr Tang.

Hi everyone, my name is Shivek Narang and this is the sixth episode of the “Our Teen Brains with Shivek” podcast titled ‘The Teenage Brain: Neuroanatomy!’

In understanding the teenage brain, the hardest part is undoubtedly grasping all the neural changes that take place during this era. The adolescent brain is a time of many, many changes, so let's get started.

With the Coronavirus has taken over the world causing mass lockdowns and completely uprooting our way of life, many of us know someone close to us who has been infected with the virus.

While many of us know the common symptoms of the virus affecting the lungs and breathing and causing fever and shortness of breath, research shows that many of the symptoms of the virus are shown to be harmful to the brain.

In fact, based on the research thus far, researchers believe that there are 4 effects that the virus has on neurological behavior.

Potentially, the virus could enter through the nasal cavity and latch onto the olfactory bulb thus causing the effects of limiting smell while entering into the brain.

Besides infection, the virus also causes the immune system to become hyperactive.

Thirdly, as the body tries to mount a powerful response against the virus, it causes the body to undergo many physiological changes and is thus very chaotic. This leads to fevers and potential organ failures, thus leading to patients hallucinating or causing them to be delirious.

Clots can form in the brain, causing a stroke since blood flow to neural tissue is blocked. Now because of the blood clotting, some of the COVID patients in their 30s and 40s are suffering from strokes, an anomaly as strokes are normally limited to older individuals.

This makes the neural effects of the Coronavirus even more dangerous. Researchers all throughout the world are continuing to study the direct correlations between COVID-19 and its effects on our body and the brain, and as we learn more about its devastating effects, it becomes even more important that we wear a mask and social distance. Stay safe everyone!

Hi everyone, my name is Shivek Narang and this is our episode of the “Our Teen Brains” podcast titled  titled ‘Brain is a Plastic Organ’

The brain is a plastic organ. NO, it is most certainly not made of plastic, that would be certainly troublesome but it is very flexible and easy to change. Everyone has of course seen materials made out of plastic and you will have noticed how easy it is to bend the plastic material, change it around, make a completely different shape. Well the brain is like that; always changing with the neurons constantly rearranging themselves. But think about it, it makes sense right. If the brain wasn’t changing how would we make memories? Feel new emotions? Record our new experiences? This is all because the brain is plastic and always changing.

It is very important that teenagers know about the changes that their brain is going through, since being conscious about these changes will help them be prepared for all the adverse side effects that this development leads to.

For example the dominance of our limbic system, which controls our emotions, tends to develop much faster toward the beginning of adolescence while the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for rational decision making.

This leads to teenagers using their emotions to make decisions, instead of using their head and thinking.

As our brains change and evolve during adolescence, teenagers become increasingly susceptible to mental problems and difficulties.

It is empowering for teenagers to know about the changes that their brains are going through so that they can be best prepared on how to handle the behavioral changes associated with neurodevelopment.

This is the goal of the Teen Brains Initiative. I want to spread knowledge and awareness of the brain to high schoolers all across the world .  give presentations, targeted especially towards parents and teenage audiences, in the hope that I will be able to spread awareness to more and more people and so that they may check themselves after they make a questionable decision. I am always happy to answer any questions and details about  the teenage brain in general, so feel free to message me at ourteenbrains@gmail.com.