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After taking into consideration both the articles, our group has found come up with many observations! We found it intriguing that it seemed that students from a stronger and more positive social background tended to take part in more physical activity. Similarly, the fact that the majority of adolescents did not get enough physical activity led to an intriguing contemplation on the sedentary nature of students in relation to social groups in schools! The fact that people are beginning to take longer to reach biological milestones despite the fact that they are developing earlier was another thing connecting to the idea of social struggles in relation possibly with sedentary behaviors. At the same time, we found ourselves intrigued by the connection between the increased sedentary behavior of students with technological introduction early on in their lives as well as the varying statistics between many of the groups. Overall, there seems to be incredibly interesting connections to be had between social groups, mental health, technology, and many more factors that are resulting in the difficulty with reaching adult milestones and the overall lack of physical activity. We are curious about the mental health repercussions that may be able to be related to these causes, and perhaps, with more research. We might be able to find answers not only to that questions but better solutions to tackle the more complex idea of getting people out of a overly sedentary lifestyle.

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After discussing the second article, Molly and I both found the sedentary behavior shown in adolescents especially interesting. They're health is rapidly declining due to time spent sitting and reclining while expanding little energy. It's a risk factor that can be fixed by policies and interventions to promote physical activity. Evidence shows that during the digital revolution, technology is replacing other sedentary behaviors like books, magazines, or newspapers that are more beneficial. Although these do not require physical activity they are still more less physically tasking than screen based behavior.

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We found that social media can be so influential during adolescent years because receptors for "happy hormones" are multiplying in the brain's reward center (ventral striatum) during this time. This increases a teen's sensitivity to attention and admiration. Teens also don't have a mature prefrontal cortex, which regulates emotional responses to social rewards and also regulates sense of identity. Since social media allows for permanent and long-term admiration from a large group of peers, teens are able to base their identities off the social rewards they receive online. Globally 95% of teens have access to internet, and therefore social media, at home. This can lead to a more sedentary lifestyle, which can be harmful because there is a link between physical activity and mental health benefits.

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When traversing the slopes of adolescent development the brain is changing and growing (the grey bits) leading to the essential aspect of developing habits and hobbies that trickle forward and prevent non-communicable diseases is important. This led us to the issue of that risk taking and what that means for the developing person. Conflict arrises here, how do you get someone who is actively trying to seek new experiences and is working with the constant pulls of social stresses to make and create positive and healthy habits that are working towards benefiting physical, social, and mental health? Especially when it seems that every power that is seems intent on profiting off of that exact quirk.

Sally reminded me that it is important to remember is that this risk taking comes with a more flexible mind that it ready and primed to learn, so while it is easy to stand on a soapbox and decry all forms of leisure and waste, an environment where they make their own decisions and take their own risks is essential.

Have a snack, we recommend perfectly hard boiled eggs

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We focused on the ways in which teenagers’ brains are often seen as underdeveloped, which hinders how people view them. Teenagers are often categorized as risk-takers and as unknowledgeable, which is not an accurate representation of adolescence according to new research. If we view them in this manner, then they will not try to be anything else. What may be seen as risky behavior gives adolescents greater flexibility when navigating the world, which my partner and I discussed. We also discussed the emerging voting bloc made up of Gen-Z and young Millennial voters during the latest midterm election, and how powerful and persuasive they were.

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One strong idea we discussed was what a healthy environment looks like in terms of adolescent brain development. We brainstormed some terms that could be used to describe a healthy environment. These terms included the following: Inclusive, accepting, rewarding, respectful, and safe. Some parts of the brain that induce emotional responses in teens include: the subgenual cingulate cortex, the anterior insula, and the amygdala. In an experiment where the adolescent brain was tested in both accepting and rejecting environments, these parts of the brain were most active during the rejective phase. Adolescent brains with more activity during the rejection phase were much more prone to experience depression and suicidality down the line. From this experiment it is clear that inclusive environments are better for adolescent brains than environments that promote rejection and exclusivity. One of the big takeaways from this reading and discussion was the importance of having parents that positively influence the child as “adolescent brain activity tends to mirror parent behavior, especially in emotion-processing regions such as the amygdala and anterior insula.”

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We highlighted that rejection on social media can affect adolescents in development both mentally and physically causing anxiety, depression, high bp, and obesity. The best way to battle this is to limit time on social media, as to lessen the negative affects that interfere with the adolescent stage of life and cause lifelong damage in their body/brain.

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In both of the articles for Week 2, we noticed a common theme of the lack of research being done on the the adolescent brain itself. Both of our questions found little evidence from studies featuring adolescent research subjects--the majority were conducted with adults. When searching for answers on mental health connected to physical activity, we found that most studies were based on adults, and they connected screens and sedentary time to the negative mental health effects experienced by adolescents. One solution presented was increasing the amount of physical activity, especially in schools, in order to improve both physical and mental health. Article number 1 also stressed that the lack of research on the teenage brain causes the general public to misunderstand the teenage brain as a ticking time bomb of poor decision-making, rather than uniquely cognitively flexible and malleable.

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Adolescents are way more sedentary than they used to be. 25% of boys and 24% of girls in 97 countries reported being sedentary for more then 3 hours per day, not including the time they spend sitting in class or doing homework. Since the 70's, the reasons they are sedentary have changed. Before, adolescents were reading books and magazines, but the biggest source of sedentary behavior was watching television. Now, adolescents are more likely to be playing video games or using their phone. Reading and use of other legacy media has decreased in favor of screens.

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When Bella and I discussed these articles, we were both curious about the impact of mental health on adolescents and why physical activity is important to youths. The world health organization recommends young folk get around 1 hour (ish) of physical activity per day, and that number decreases as they get older. This is recommended since there is a strong positive correlation between physical activity and mental health benefits. The importance of this is underlined in the first article since adolescents are in a stage of great neurological development, which causes the emergence of mental health issues in teens, specifically. The intersection of increased technology use, lack of physical exercise, as well as increased mental health issues, demonstrates the importance of providing an accepting, flexible, and welcoming classroom that encourages movement and kinesthetic learning to facilitate development, physically and mentally.

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After discussing both articles we came to a conclusion that it is really important to view physical activity and development in a broader lens. High quality PE programs should be inter-curricular and it is important to remember that making this shift is still feasible due to the malleability of adolescent brains.

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The ventral striatum has heightened sensitivity to behavior like substance use, teen unprotected sex, and can promote giving in to peer pressure, whether good or bad. At this age, teens also like to mimic risky decisions they observe their parents making. Teens also have a larger motive by rewards of recognition and advocacy. In addition, the advent of quickening physical development in adolescence often leads to an increase in autonomy, as caretakers who previously supported the child may feel less of an obligation to do so as the child grows older. This compounds with the changes in neurological development to drastically alter decision-making in adolescence.