Do You Worry Too Little?

February 08, 2012

Many people worry a lot, but do you worry too little? No, I haven’t lost my mind, and in general, I’m not recommending that you worry more. As it turns out, the “don’t worry, be happy” people tend to die earlier.

Conscientious people live longer.

In looking at a group of people that were followed for 80 years, this is the conclusion drawn from the data by Leslie Martin and Howard Friedman, two psychology professors, and discussed in a recent article in The Atlantic and detailed in their book, The Longevity Project.

There are three reasons conscientious people tend to stay healthier and live longer.

1. Conscientious people do more things to protect their health. They engage in fewer risky activities like smoking, drinking to excess, abusing drugs or driving too fast. 
2. Some people actually seem to be biologically predisposed both to have that personality trait and to be healthier. It appears likely that conscientious and unconscientious people have different levels of certain chemicals in their brains, including serotonin, which may be involved. 
3. Having a conscientious personality leads people into healthier situations and relationships. When you care enough to make sure you’re doing the right things – especially as it pertains to health – you’re more likely to live longer. 

Overly optimistic people have a tendency to ignore details, meaning they don't follow doctor's orders correctly or lead themselves into unhealthy situations or addictions. You can’t think yourself thin or wish yourself wealthy, despite claims from silly self-help books. The path to health and vitality is the same as it has always been. It’s taking care of your shiny new toy.

When you get a new car, new house –  new anything, really – it comes with an owner’s manual that provides instructions for how to care for it. If you ignore the information in there, your car or house will fall apart much faster. And it’s no different from your body.

The owner’s manual for the human body details how we need to have something to strive for – something for our will to push against.  If we strive to be more fit and capable, we have ambition for a better experience in our own bodies.  And this leads to choices and behaviors that line up with healthier, longer lives.  Like eating the right foods and engaging in a host of health-promoting behaviors.

I was once exercising on a step-mill next to someone who was leaning over using terrible posture as the only way to keep up with the high intensity setting they were using.  When I offered a better posture to use while on the machine, the reply I got was, “I’ve always felt that if you do things from a positive spirit that everything will work out well.”  This shockingly naïve, child-like approach to life won’t just injure you, it could cost you your life. 

So the next time someone dismisses your efforts at health with, “Eat well, stay fit, and die anyway,” you can ask them, “So what’s your rush?”

More on Health Living:

7 Step Plan for Healthy Living

10 Ways to Eat Healthier

9 Tools for Quitting Smoking

Photo Source: Thinkstock/iStockphoto

The Cycle of Motivation - How to Find and Keep It!

December 01, 2011

Why do people quit an exercise program? The top reason cited is a lack of results.  Interestingly, not having enough time is the most commonly cited reason why people don’t exercise. 

Time Crunch

It is important to note how one often leads to the other. With full-time careers, children to raise, long commutes with long work days (which often don’t stop once people are home) there are many demands on our time and energy. These significant time, family and work commitments can overwhelm your efforts at change, but are less likely to do so if you are getting results from your efforts. 

Results = Continued Motivation

Typically, when you begin to feel better, move more fluidly and enjoy clothes that fit better, the resulting enthusiasm helps to continue your motivation. Conversely, after the initial rush of enthusiasm passes, if you aren’t getting results, the time and energy you devote to the fitness program will seem less worthwhile, and a few missed workouts leads to complete relapse. In a way, this makes sense. No one will typically choose to continually devote time and energy to something that is providing no positive benefit in return. If there is effort without reward, the effort will soon disappear. 

Find the Time - It's Important!

We are typically very resourceful when it comes to fitting in time for things when we see great benefit in that activity. If something isn’t working or isn’t giving you the result it should, it makes sense to stop or find a different way.

Since fitness isn’t really optional, you can’t stop – if you value your health, the way you feel, having a healthy brain and great relationships at work and at home, then fitness is essential.  So if your fitness program isn’t delivering what it should, don’t stop, just change it up. Try a different class, learn a new sport, hire a trainer for a few sessions who can teach you how to exercise (rather than one who creates hard workouts – anyone can do that – but can’t teach you to do it on your own.)

And you’re probably wondering, “Why is Jonathan writing about this now?  It’s the beginning of the holiday season and it will soon be in full swing.  This isn’t the time to focus on fitness!”

Yes, it is!  If you make a renewed effort now, you’ll feel better than you ever have during the holiday season. You will likely make it easier on yourself to avoid the endless stream of holiday cookies, cakes and other treats, and perhaps best of all, if you can do it now, you can do it any time of year! Think of the confidence boost you’d get from that! 

Just try it. This December, make your emphasis getting a little fitter. All the stuff you “have” to do probably contains some things that are really optional, so take a look at cutting back on one or two to focus on you. What’s the worst that could happen?

More Fitness Tips:

How to Find Your Healthy Weight

20 Home Remedies for Weight Loss

How Can I Keep from Regaining Weight?

Photo Source: Thinkstock/Brand X Pictures 

5 Liquid Myths

November 18, 2011

Fortified orange juice is a great source of ___________.

You can fill in the blank with just about whatever you want these days: calcium, vitamin D, fiber, you name it. In an effort to make fruit juice seem healthier, and in particular orange juice, manufacturers are loading it with healthful nutrients to try and hide the simple truth that liquid sugars are never good for you. The human stomach can’t sense calories from liquids so you not only get the damaging sugar hit, but you also don’t feel as full as if you’d eaten an equal amount of calories of real fruit.

You should drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water daily.

Only if you weigh 116 pounds. Our water needs, like our calorie needs, are individual based on weight and activity levels. For active people, the guideline is to drink your weight times 0.55 in ounces each day. For someone 150 pounds, that’s 82.5 ounces. Drink water, but don’t stress too much about drinking the exact amount you need since you get water from other beverages (see the next item here), and from high-water content foods like fruits and vegetables.

Coffee and tea dehydrate you.

No, they don’t. Yes, they contain caffeine which is a diuretic. But they are both made with water. Sure, if you drink eight ounces of coffee, you aren’t going to keep as much of the water as if you drank eight ounces of water. But you aren’t going to lose more than the eight ounces of water consumed with the coffee. Green tea in particular has many healthful properties and many herbal teas are valuable as well.

An alcoholic day or two a day is good for you.

Alcohol is toxic to the brain and is the most simple sugar there is. Sorry, that’s just the way it is. Resveratrol is the compound in wine that has health benefits, but drinking wine to get more resveratrol is like eating an entire ice cream sundae to get one cherry.  You’d have to drink a dangerously large amount of wine to get enough of it to provide significant health benefits.  If you really love your glass of wine, beer, or mixed drink, have it occasionally and enjoy it.  But treat it like what it is…the opposite of a health food.

Diet-sodas and flavored water are a good choice for health-conscious people.

Sweet on the tongue means that your brain thinks you ate a sugar, so it reacts just like you ate one. Even without the calorie coming in, your brain has the same hormonal reaction and neurochemical response as if you ate sugar. And many artificial sweeteners are several times sweeter than sugar, making this negative effect amplified. Two studies in 2010 in The Journal of Neuroscience and the Yale Journal of Biological Medicine showed weight gain when people went on diets with artificial sweeteners.

 

More Diet Myths:

5 Heart Health Myths

5 Acid Reflux Myths

What to Know About Diet Pills

 

Photo Source: Thinkstock

Small Changes Make a Big Impact

October 17, 2011

“I need to make major changes.”  I hear this all the time, and it’s usually wrong. Usually, it’s from someone who is at a low point in fitness and is frustrated/disgusted/tired from wanting to feel and see changes in fitness but never experiencing any.

If you’re out-of-shape, unhealthy or otherwise struggling for fitness, you might think that major changes are in order...and that’s the problem.

In general, we don’t get badly out-of-shape from major changes. After a single weekend of bad choices, we don’t typically pack on a hundred pounds. It’s the small changes we don’t think too much about that have the biggest impact. A few skipped workouts, a few “treats” after a hard day, an evening glass of wine to relax (“after all, wine is good for me” we tell ourselves), a few days of missed sleep or skipping breakfast…and we’re in a pattern of behaviors that lead us away from health. Then “suddenly” we’re living in a body that is evidence of years of little daily mistakes…not a few days of big ones.

We get to the point where we’ve had enough and seek a change. But, if you don’t set the goals just right, you can make the likelihood of success much lower. I call it the “Sundae, Sunday, or Someday” phenomenon.

Sundae:  If you’re feeling overwhelmed by your responsibilities at home and/or work – all the little things that just HAVE to get done every day – the notion of carving out more time to take care of yourself can be enough to push you over the edge. You need a quick hit of feel-good brain chemicals, so you might turn to an ice cream sundae. The combination of fat and sugar floods your body, and you get a quick shot of hormones that elevate your mood. Meanwhile, you send your body’s fat storing ability through the roof so numbing the pain in the moment only makes the problem worse.

Sunday:  You decide that today is the day and you simply start making better, smaller choices.  You have a balanced breakfast and start to think of planning your breakfasts for the week. It continues from there…you look for other ways to make smaller, healthier choices day-by-day.  Before you know it, you’re feeling better. This lets you put more effort into making better food and exercise choices. Your body starts changing. You feel better than you have in some time and are full of motivation to continue. Today is the day you can make the U-turn and reverse the small behaviors that have led to poor health - no drama, just small shifts in behavior.

Someday:  You step on the scale after dragging yourself out of bed feeling exhausted and despair at the number that stares back up at you. All you can feel is the tiredness in your bones and the weight of effort it will take for you to get to healthier. It’s all just too much for you to face today. You’ll lose those pounds someday, but today there’s just too much to do. There’s no time for self-care as you’ve got too much happening. There’s status updates to post, new cell phones to stand in line for and that new gourmet cupcake shop you just have to try. 

You can probably guess which approach will actually work. It’s the “Sunday” one. If the pressures in your life are too great, you’ll just need to escape them with whatever unhealthy food or behavior helps provide relief. If you only focus on how far you are from where you want to be, it will overwhelm you, and you’ll put off changes to some mythical later date of “someday.”

Big changes come from small changes and simple choices that are repeated over time. The fallacy that big results come from making big changes is what often keeps you from taking any real action. If it seems too big for your brain to figure out where to start, then you never will.

Start today – whatever day of the week it is. Just figure out a single behavior you can change that will be easy enough to alter, but big enough to have an impact in your life. 

More on Healthy Living:

7 Step Plan for Healthy Living

5 Tips for Conscious Living

5 Steps to Heart Health

 

Photo Source: Thinkstock/Brand X Pictures

Mind Over Milkshakes: Do We Eat Less If We Indulge?

September 07, 2011

Can your mind determine how many calories are in a food?  Not quite, but close.

The same 46 people were fed the exact same milkshake (340 calories) on two separate occasions one week apart. Each time, it was labeled differently. One time, it was named “Indulgence” (label showed 620 calories, 31g of fat, 56g of sugar) with language like “decadence you deserve.” The other time, it was called the “Sensi-Shake” (label showed 140 calories, 0g fat, 20g of sugar) with “guilt-free satisfaction” on the label. 

The findings blew me away when I read them. Grehlin is a hormone that stimulates appetite. It rises when it is time for us to eat again and drops when we are full. The response of grehlin should be immune to how many calories we “think” are in a food since its levels rise and fall in direct response to how much we eat. 

Shockingly, the grehlin response differed significantly - findings suggest that the psychological mindset of sensibility while eating may actually dampen the effect of ghrelin. After the “indulgent” shake, the grehlin response increasesd significantly an hour after, but by 90 minutes had dropped steeply. After the “sensible” shake, the grehlin response went up slightly, then down slightly and stayed mostly level. 

More simply, when participants drank the “indulgent” shake, they had a significantly steeper decline in ghrelin than when they drank the sensible shake.  (Thinking they indulged led them to feel more satisfied for longer and get hungry later.)

Implications for Food Labeling:  A combination of unhealthy food with healthy claims could be very dangerous. Not only is the product itself unhealthy, but the mindset of sensibility might lead to feeling hungry faster, regardless of the actual fat and calorie content.

There is a lot of good publicity in calling your product healthy, and there are countless examples of foods that are marketed that way but aren’t.  “Low-fat” foods can often have high fat content but still carry less fat than their full fat counterparts. Another product might tout its high fiber content but have far too much sugar in it.

Perhaps if we can begin to approach even the healthiest foods with a mindset of indulgence, we will experience the physiological satisfaction of having had our cake and eaten it too.

To read the full study from the May 2011 Health Psychology visit my website at Aion Fitness.

 

More on Diet and Fitness:

10 Diets That Just Don't Work

The 90/10 Weight Loss Plan

You on a Diet: What You Need to Know

 

Photo Source: Thinkstock/Brand X Pictures

6 Tips for Easy-to-Make Dinners

August 03, 2011

When developing better eating habits, busy people like you often struggle with dinner the most. It comes at the end of the day when the heading out and making your way in the world or taking care of home and family have equally drained your energy and time.

And sometimes the worst happens, and you are already hungry for dinner and start asking each other, “What do you want to do for dinner?” This is when the urgency created by hunger leads to fast food or other quick, convenient and usually unhealthy choices.

And the next day, the cycle continues. However, I’ve figured out how to solve this problem: Get your own cooking show! Treat your dinners like your own cooking show. You’ve seen how easy it looks to prepare meals on a cooking show, right? Everything is laid out in small prep bowls, and the chef already knows the planned dish. 

Why not make your dinners just as easy?  Here’s how to do it:

• Write out a plan for dinner every night of the week (especially weeknights or whatever nights are often a trouble spot for planning). 
 
• Be specific by listing each dish and each component of each dish in the meal. The plan can also include details of who is preparing each meal if your schedule is variable and it will not always be the same person.

• Generate a shopping list of specific items and ingredients to make each meal.

• Go shopping at a time where you aren’t hungry or hurried.

• Pre-prep as much of the food as possible: chop veggies, trim skin/fat from meats, wash lettuce, etc. (Purpose: to make your dinner prep like a cooking show where as much as possible is done ahead of time).

• (Optional) Organize and store all the ingredients for each dinner with color-coded lids by buying different sets and choosing a day of the week for each color.

By pretending your dinners are a cooking show, you’ll be able to streamline the process of getting dinner ready by having a plan and executing the plan in step-by-step fashion. Breaking up anything seemingly complicated into a series of smaller, easy-to-follow steps “shrinks the change” and makes it seem less intimidating and more realistic to achieve.

 

More Busy Lifestyle Tips:

7 Step Plan for Healthy Living

6 Lifestyle Tips for Parents of Teenage Girls

Start a Family Food Journal in 3 Easy Steps

 

Photo Source: Thinkstock

Electrolytes – A Summertime Fairy Tale

July 18, 2011

Inevitably, as the temperature increases, so do the constant reminders to replace electrolytes after exercising in the heat. For most people, all you really need to do is to eat a few salted nuts. Really.

 

Make Your Workout Salty

The ONLY mineral that you need to take during prolonged exercise is sodium. And even this is only true if you exercise regularly at a fairly decent intensity for more than an hour, particularly in hot weather. If this is true, you probably need extra salt. 

You don’t need fancy sports drinks, electrolyte gels or tablets…not that there’s anything wrong with them if you (1) enjoy them, and (2) don’t mind spending money you don’t need to on them. If you believe the marketing, any level of physical activity of any duration in the heat can only be safely done if you’re taking in sports drinks before, during and after. That's great for sales but not necessarily true.

Truthfully, you do not need extra potassium, magnesium or calcium during exercise. Athletes do lose minerals through increased sweating, but compared to blood, sweat is very dilute in minerals, so they can get all the minerals they need from food before or after a workout.

Salt + Water = Performance

If you don't take salt and fluids during extended exercise in hot weather, you will tire earlier and increase your risk for heat stroke, dehydration and cramps. You can also retain less water if you don’t take in salt while exercising.

You can use a sports drink if you like, but all you really need to do is to eat some salty food after exercising in the heat. Of course, it may not be preferable to eat solids while continuing to exercise, but you don’t need to spend extra on fancy electrolyte formulas – all you need is extra sodium in the beverage. 

The Cramps

In June 2011, a study from the British Journal of Sports Medicine is the most recent study of many to show that the most likely cause of muscle cramps in conditioned athletes is muscle damage. The most likely causes of muscle cramps in out-of-shape exercisers are lack of salt or water. So if you’re a well-conditioned athlete, the cramps you might experience during prolonged exercise are more likely to be due the intensity of your effort rather than a sodium deficiency. 

 

Answers to Other Workout Questions:

How Electrolytes Work

Why Do I Sweat So Much?

What Causes Muscle Cramps?

 

Photo Source: Thinkstock/Hemera

5 Tips for Mental Fitness

May 18, 2011

The mind is a terrible thing to waste.  But it’s also a terrible thing to let get out of control.  We all have our challenges in life, but we can also look those challenges in the face, see them for what they are and do something about it.  Here are 5 tips for doing just that.

1.       Outrun Fear with Exercise

In neurological terms, fear is the memory of danger.  Simply by taking action and exercising you’re circumventing the mechanism for the fear memory. 

Here’s how exercise helps you outrun fear:

 - It provides distraction
 - It reduces muscle tension
 - It builds brain resources
 - It teaches a different outcome
 - It reroutes your circuits (use sympathetic nervous system to move instead of wait and worry)
 - It improves resilience (learn to control anxiety and not let it become a panic)
 - It sets you free (literally…if you’re locked down, you’ll feel more anxious)

2.       Become Your Own Mind-Control Freak

I know it sounds ridiculous, but it’s true.  Exercise is being used to treat depression – and often more effectively than commonly prescribed drugs.  Depression isn’t just all in your head.  It is a re-wiring of the physical and chemical structure of your brain.

About 17 million American adults experience depression at some point, to the tune of $26.1 billion in health care costs each year.  A 1999 Duke University showed that every 50 minutes of exercise conducted weekly is correlated to a 50% reduction in the odds of being depressed.

Humans are social animals, so if you’re depressed, it would be ideal to choose a form of exercise that encourages making connections and that can take place outside or in some environment that stimulates the senses.  This will stimulate your brain and make depression less likely.

3.       See What’s Really Going On

Ever notice how when something a little bad happens, we sometimes think it’s worse.  “Why is this happening to ME!?” We sometimes take negatives personally when they rarely are. 

You might hit a traffic jam when you’re already running late for an appointment.  Or perhaps the grocery store is out of the one ingredient you need to make that new recipe you want to try.  Any number of relatively minor frustrations can be made worse or better by your mindset.

At times like this, it’s important to stop and ask yourself “What is really going on and exactly how bad is this situation?”  Is it really the end of your child’s future hopes and dreams if they get a bad grade on a single test?  Or is it an opportunity to identify an area of study or organization that needs either a different approach or more focused effort?  It’s all in how you view it.  (For more info on “mindset,” see Mindset by Carol Dweck.)

4.       Are Your Challenges Making You Better or Just Challenged?

What frustrates you over and over?  And then ask yourself: “Am I learning anything from it?”  We get into patterns of doing things just because we’ve always done them.  If the frustrations make you search for solutions, get better at problem-solving, or cause you to think differently about similar situations moving forward, then there is value in those frustrations.

If all you’re getting is frustrated over and over without any growth or learning, then these are challenges best avoided.

For example, I’ve spoken for a fitness organization several times and have had to consistently fight just to be treated fairly.  Recently, it became apparent that they weren’t going to change the way they do things, so I’m not going to lend my talents and ideas to that organization.  I’m no longer expecting them to change, but instead I’m directing my energies where they will be fully appreciated. 

If you’re not learning or growing from a challenge and just repeating frustrations, then put your energies elsewhere.

5.       Get Away in Body or at Least in Mind

Remind yourself that the world is a very large and complex place.  Either get away from your surroundings by taking a short trip or get away in mind and spirit by connecting with a friend you haven’t spoken with in a while or diving into a cherished hobby or activity that you haven’t enjoyed in a while that will consume your mental energies in a positive enjoyable way to give you a mental holiday. 

For me, I get this either from playing sports that I love or in watching thought-provoking and/or highly entertaining movies where it is possible to lose oneself in the story.  Very soon, I’ll be resuming outdoor volleyball with some friends one night a week.  This is often a highlight of the week because for a couple of hours, my mind is focused only on the momentary needs of the next rally.  Nothing before or after that moment enters the mind.  And it just feels great afterward.

Keep your mind sharp by not using it so much!  It is humanly impossible to truly multi-task well (read the research if you don’t believe me) and our poor over-burdened brains are not meant to be constantly plugged-in and over stimulated by multiple streams of info.  Use these tips to keep your mind right, and you probably noticed while reading them that a lot can be done for the mind by getting the body moving.  If you’d like more details on how activity can benefit the mind, I’d encourage you to read Spark by John Ratey.

All kinds of fitness are mind-body fitness – so get moving for your brain, and enjoy the benefits to your body as a side effect!

Jonathan Ross 
Discovery Fit & Health Fitness Expert

Author, Abs Revealed
Everyday Fitness videos
 www.AionFitness.com
Everyday Fitness on Facebook

Sweet Spot of Stress

April 13, 2011

April is Stress Awareness Month.  It’s a good thing too since I’m sure you had no idea that chronic stress can take a real toll on you…right? It’s a common misperception that we need to eliminate stress. The truth is that struggling in life isn’t an option, it’s a requirement.

The good stress – “eustress” – keeps you focused, on your game, and doing things that matter to you.  The bad stress – “distress” – is inevitable at some point for all of us. 

Ideally, we periodically get hit with some negative stress, we handle it, recover to normal, manageable levels of stress, and life hums along.  Increasingly, life is less than ideal.

Stress used to be in the form of immediate threats to our survival.  (“Is that saber-toothed tiger going to eat me?”)  But now, the stresses are vague, long-term, and can’t be handled by a physical response.  (“My retirement fund is doing terribly.”  “How will I pay for college for my kids?”)

But the brain and the body only know one response to stress – the “fight or flight” response you’re likely familiar with. 

Your body gets pumped for action, and your brain starts alerting the attention and memory centers of the brain to heighten awareness of the stress. 

Acute stress is something we deal with in a relatively short period of time – hours or days at the most.  Chronic stress is anything that creates a stress response in your body for an extended period of time – weeks or months. 

The problem is when stress becomes chronic. Scientists don’t know exactly when the transition occurs from stress that builds up to stress that tears down, but they sure do know the effects when they see them.

Stress hormones (adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol) really like your hippocampus – a part of your brain that, among other things, plays a big role in memory.  If stress hormones get high enough for long enough, they can take over your memories, encoding even non-stressful events as stressful.  (Think of the war veteran who hears a firecracker and experiences a stress response like he was still in combat.)

Even worse, in excess amounts, stress hormones, can kill off the proteins that are designed to protect your brain from damage.  And with no nerve endings in your brain, you can’t feel the damage like you feel a sprained ankle.

The “feeling” of stress you experience is essentially the emotional echo of the underlying stress on your brain cells.  With chronic stress, the brain gets locked into the same pattern – typically one marked by pessimism, fear, and retreat from life. 

Normal events start to be perceived as stressful.  And the overabundance of stress can start to block access to existing memories.  (Think of stories you’ve heard about someone who panics while driving and steps on the gas instead of the brake pedal.)

Effective stress management does not involve eliminating stress.  It involves two components:

1.        Reducing the stress to eustress levels and acute distress events (like your car breaking down.)

2.        Re-taking control of your body’s response to stress.

The second one is best done with, you guessed it, exercise.  It provides a distraction, reduces muscle tension, builds brain resources, teaches you a different outcome to a stressor, reroutes your brain circuits to take action when stressed instead of “wait and worry,” and it sets you free (if you’re locked into a chronic stress pattern you feel anxious and restricted.)

One caveat though:  If you’re dealing with an excessive chronic stress load, your exercise efforts should not be at high intensity as very challenging workouts are another form of stress on the body so you don’t want to have workouts that “tear you down.”

Hitting the “sweet spot of stress” involves allowing enough stress into your life to give you purpose, meaning, and direction for your energies and efforts while avoiding getting locked into a chronic pattern of chronic stress that will tear down both your brain and your body.

My Teen’s a Nightmare – or Maybe Just Not Myelinated Yet

March 26, 2011

Ah, teenagers. Been there, done that. Do you remember being a teenager? Do you now have one of your own? Everyone falls into at least one of those two categories.It’s a universal truth that most teens are bad at decision-making. And anyone who has witnessed the “so-bad-it’s-hilarious” song and video “Friday” by Rebecca Black (getting over 55 million hits on You Tube at this writing) knows that teenage bad decisions keep coming.

On 3/28 at 10pm ET, Discovery Fit & Health will premiere My Teen's a Nightmare

Loud music, shouting, swearing, smoking and drinking -- these are just some teenage behaviors that are every parent's nightmare. But suppose you could just pack your bags and let someone else pick up the pieces? My Teen's a Nightmare gives overwrought parents the chance to do just that. Terrible teenagers are in for the shock of their lives -- their parents have left home and they're about to meet their match, teen expert Sarah Newton. Newton's moving in for four days to sort them out once and for all.

Ms. Newton has her hands full. But why?

The Prefrontal Cortex (PFC) – home of our “executive decisions” like impulse control – doesn’t fully develop until we are well into our 20’s. So teenagers are governed more by the urges and impulses of a primitive “me first” reward system that isn’t yet kept in check by the PFC.

It’s not so much that teens make bad choices as they fail to inhibit behavior that has become reflexive. They have nearly adult bodies, but not adult brains. And their brains are close enough to being developed that it can get them into a whole lot of trouble.

Why do young people make bad decisions? All the circuits are there in their brains, but they have little myelin. Think of it like this…their brains are just about ready to go, a lot of the circuitry is connected, but their brains don’t yet know which circuits to treat as more important than the others.

When we repeat something often and learn it, those circuits in the brain get covered with more and more myelin. In essence, myelin is like insulation that wraps the circuit to protect it, keep it strong, and help it fire more readily. In terms of our discussion about teenagers, myelin = wisdom.

(For more details on the brain differences between teenagers and adults, see this excellent article from "How Stuff Works." )

But there is hope. In the book The Talent Code there is a reference to research from Marvin Eisenstadt who looked into the background of great historical or famous figures. There is a long and distinguished list of high achievers in history that lost a parent when they were young.

It sends a primal cue that "you are not safe."

This heightens the focus in a teenage brain at a time when the brain is most receptive to learning and mastering new skills. It provides a focus and direction for all the (commonly misspent) energy of youth.

When the proper motivation is there to focus the energy, teens can learn the skills and coping mechanisms necessary to achieve greatness later on in life.