This blog is the place to share our news, campaigns, class materials, activities, documentations and all the amazing things that happen in this subject!
(Reuters Health) - Teens who play video games before bedtime go to bed later and those who use online social media take longer to fall asleep, according to a recent study.
As the legal status of marijuana evolves, pediatricians should counsel teenagers and their parents about its potential for harm, write the authors of a new clinical report from the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Repeated binge drinking during adolescence can affect brain functions in future generations, potentially putting offspring at risk for such conditions as depression, anxiety, and metabolic disorders, a study has found.
By Bautista Perez Marti, Francine Schulzen, Laura Werner, Micaela Böge and Manuel Hansen Aguerre
Substance abuse disorders, commonly known as "addictions" (even if there can be also behavioral addicitons that have nothing to do with substances), is a mental disorder unfortunatey not recognized as an illness by most of the people. This causes stigmatization and even criminalization of the patient, when all they need is support, love and patience.
For this project we had three priority questions:
Why do people start using substances more frequently? To forget problems? To feel happy?
What changes in people who consume these substances?
Who is more likely to have this disorder, is there a relation between the sex, age, social ambit or social class?
If you want to find out the answers to these questions and also very interesting results on a survey we did, visit this video:
By Martina Leone Dodero, Agueda Haidbauer, Carolina Fiedler, Magdalena Nudel and María Menoyo Michalowski
Mental health is as important as physical health. There is no shame in talking about mental health issues, however many conditions are still deeply stigmatized
Accordingo to the WHO, 1 in 4 people will be affected by some kind of mental disorder at some moment of their lifes. The estimate is difficult, but between 500 and 800 million people are affected by a mental disorder.
Our aim was to think about a mental health awareness campaign. We worked on three priority quesitons:
Why is mental health as important as physical health?
Which are the signs and symptoms of someone struggling with mental health that we have to pay attention to?
How can we help people around us that are struggling with mental issues?
Not being too invasive but still supporting someone that isn’t at his best is something to think about. Acting too fast can make the person uncomfortable or even guilty. Trying to motivate them and showing your love often helps a lot.
Digging deeper into our question "how to help" and "how to recognize if someone is struggling" we came along many videos and articles that helped us to find the key message of our campaign.
We are all living an unique moment in our lifes, a pandemic that keeps us distanced from our beloved ones. Many teenagers are increasingly suffering stress, sleeping and appetite alterations, increased feelings of sadness, anxiety or anger. Those who were already having some kind of mental vulnerability are dealing with even more extreme situations. So we came to the idea that our campaign could be focused on mental health during social isolation.
By Mila Tirini, Delfina Rey, Emiliano Benedini, Camila Meyer, Mia Tamaro
In this project, we tried to find out if and how creativity is linked to what normally is called "madness", redefine "madness", find out what creativity really is about and how a different perspective of reality could have an influence of creativity, but also how mental illness is neither necessary nor sufficient for creativity
We did a survey asking about creativity, "madness" and their link to more than 80 people.
See at the video to see our results:
We also asked ourselves, and did a research in order to find out if people with mental illness do see the world differently. Here are our findings:
By Hanna S., Sol H., Tobi R., Tobi E. and Fiona R. | Students
Schizophrenia is a serious disorder which affects how a person thinks, feels and acts. It often begins in late adolescence or early adulthood. People with schizophrenia may seem like they have lost touch with reality, which causes significant distress for the individual, their family members, and friends. If left untreated, the symptoms of schizophrenia can be persistent and disabling.
Unfortunately, it is a disease that is highly stigmatized.
For the research we started working on three priority questions we chose in order to gain further insight into schizophrenia:
What is it like to live with schizophrenia? (What is it like to live with the stigma created about schizophrenia? What do people who live with schizophrenia see?)
We think that living with schizophrenia must be really difficult, because, from what we know, they tend to see and hear things that are not in reality, but in their own minds. We don't know exactly what visions they may have… but we assume that they can see from simple things to things that really terrify them. Even hearing voices that haunt them in various ways. In addition to these issues, there are different stigmas against persons with this disease that also harm them socially. An example of a stigma could be: “all people with schizophrenia are aggressive and dangerous”, among others.
This can make them tend to be more excluded or judged. How they cope with all these issues is something we plan to investigate, but we know that they have various treatments that help them a lot in their lives.
Which region of the brain does this illness affect and what happens exactly?
As we do not know a lot about the brain itself and its different regions and functions, it is very hard to make a hypothesis right now. We are willing to learn a lot about the brain throughout this project and we certainly think that it affects a part of the brain that creates images or controls what we see or sense because that is what schizophrenia is about, seeing or hearing stuff that is not there.
What causes it and how can it be prevented?
We think that this disease can be prevented by having a healthy life. For example doing sport, not consuming alcohol or drugs, trying not to be stressed, sleeping well and the necessary hours and having routines. We think that another way to prevent this and other diseases is to see a neurologist and have brain studies. We do not know the cause very well and that is what interests us most about this project. We think that it may have to do with the past lived by the person or with genetics.
If you want to find out what people with schizophrenia live and experience, and know more about this disorder and the social perception of it, see our video and know the story of Tobi:
By Carolina Rauert, Constanza Grulich, Valerie Córdoba, Lucía Couto and Eloisa Ostrogovich
In order to understand Bipolar Disorder, we made a brainstorming session writing down all the questions about this disease that came to our mind. Finally, we decided to go for three priority questions:
Why and how does the phase change occur? The disorder changes something in your brain while you are having a phase? And if it does, what is changed?Hypothesis: The phase change occurs because they are going through a stressful or difficult time. In our opinion something in the frontal lobe changes. In a phase some neurons are "activated" and when the phase changes these are "deactivated" and those of the other phase are "activated".
Are there different levels of bipolarity, which ones? Can bipolar be worsened or improved? Hypothesis: Yes, we believe that there are different levels of bipolarity. The level changes depending on how developed your brain is. Also, we believe that the disease can get worse if it is not treated, and there is also the possibility of improvement if it is treated.
What is the difference between a child and an adult who has bipolar disorder? Which is more dangerous? Hypothesis: The difference would be that it is more difficult to control the child than the adult because the child does not fully understand what is happening to him. We believe that in adults it is more dangerous because it is more developed than the child.
The students of 4th year have been working on several aspects of an integral mental health project, asking their own questions, proposing hypothesis and making both internet and field research in order to find answers and spread the word.
The first step was to find out how society, particularly our most intimate circles of friends and family perceive mental health. The students conducted surveys, interviewing between 80 and 100 participants, and collecting statistically significant and relevant data.
One conclusion of one of the groups: "Adults and adolescents perceive mental health and its disorders in a very similar way. Although in some questions there are differences, in the majority we agree. So it might be the time to start getting more information about these types of topics, since it would be nice to find a way to a better society, one that is fair for everyone."
I have a student that drinks coffee. A lot. The group expresses concerns about this apparently excessive coffee consumption, but what do we really know about the effects of caffeine on teenagers?
How much coffee is too much?
According to the Mayo Clinic
If you rely on caffeine to wake you up and keep you going, you aren't alone. Caffeine is used daily by millions of people to increase wakefulness, alleviate fatigue, and improve concentration and focus.
How much is too much?
Up to 400 milligrams (mg) of caffeine a day appears to be safe for most healthy adults. That's roughly the amount of caffeine in four cups of brewed coffee, 10 cans of cola or two "energy shot" drinks. Keep in mind that the actual caffeine content in beverages varies widely, especially among energy drinks.(we will talk about energy drinks in another blogpost)
Although caffeine use may be safe for adults, it's not a good idea for children. Adolescents should limit caffeine consumption. Avoid mixing caffeine with other substances, such as alcohol. .For adolescents, the maximum amount should not exceed 100 mg per day. This means, one cup of brewed coffee.
How does it affect brain development?
A new study in the journal PLOS ONE concerns caffeine consumption in pubescent lab rats. Researchers found that young rats who consumed the rat-sized equivalent of the caffeine in three or four cups of coffee daily experienced reduced deep sleep and delayed brain development.
Caffeine impacts development by disrupting the formation of key connections in the brain, said study author Dr. Reto Huber, a sleep expert at the University of Zurich, and others at the University of Zurich Children’s Hospital. During adolescence, your brain has the most neural connections it will ever have during your lifetime.
“The brain of children is extremely plastic due to the many connections,” Huber said in a statement accompanying the research. “This optimization presumably occurs during deep sleep. Key synapses extend, others are reduced; this makes the network more efficient and the brain more powerful."
Still have doubts? Ask your doctor. Psychotropic substances DEFINITIVELY have an effect on the brain. Science demonstrates it.
