Ryan Kacey G.

Tolentino
E11D

How does understanding of brain functions help an adolescent to cope with

stress, maintain mental health, and express emotion appropriately?

Brain is an integral part of our body. It is complex and accounts for almost all our
activities. This is the reason why researchers do their best to understand how our brain works and
how it functions. Their findings help us to understand our brain more and learn knowledge about
its functions. With their efforts, we have found that the brain is a complicated organ that governs
every action in our body, including cognition, recollection, mood, sensation, motor coordination,
eyesight, respiration, heat, and appetite. Aside from merely being knowledgeable about our
brain functions, learning about brain functions is important as this could help an adolescent
to cope with stress, maintain mental health, and express emotion appropriately.

An understanding of brain functions would let the adolescent know that brain functions
could be affected by stress which will make them realize that they have the responsibility to
mitigate and cope with stress to not further affect their brain. In fact, according to Harvard
Medical School (2021), not only can stress damage memory and a variety of other brain
processes, such as mood and anxiety, but it also causes inflammation, which has a negative
impact on heart health. As a result, stress has been linked to a variety of brain and heart illnesses.
With this knowledge, adolescents would realize that it is important to cope with their stress so
that they would not get chronic illnesses. That’s why it is important to avoid stress.

Aside from coping with stress, understanding brain functions would help adolescents to
maintain their mental health since the understanding could make them learn that the brain is
responsible for mental health problems. Many mental diseases, according to researchers, are
caused by anomalies in how certain brain circuits operate. Brain connections between nerve cells
along particular routes or circuits can cause issues with how the brain functions, resulting in
altered emotion, reasoning, cognition, or behavior (Casarella, 2021). With this learning, they
would realize that it is important that they maintain their mental health to avoid future mental
health problems. This could be done through keeping positive all the time and surrounding
oneself with psychosocial support. With the knowledge, they would do their best to maintain
their mental health and make sure that their brain functions would not be affected. A persistently
negative response to challenges can have an adverse effect on health and happiness.
 Lastly, understanding brain functions could help adolescents to express their emotion
appropriately since they would know that what they are feeling is just normal and that it is their
brain that controls their emotion. For example, if an adolescent is getting angry even with small
things, that adolescent might think that he/she is insane. But then, with understanding of brain
functions, that adolescent would understand that what he/she is feeling is just normal. Aside from
this, adolescents could express their emotion appropriately as they know that it is their brain that
is responsible for what they are feeling, thus, they could control it. Stress symptoms can affect
our body, our thoughts and feelings, and our behavior. For example, if an adolescent is infuriated
and in rage, it might result in shouting or even in physical violence, but with the knowledge that
it is the brain function to make this emotion, an adolescent would just choose to calm down and
not act within that emotion to avoid regret in the end.

In conclusion, stress should be temporary. Once you’ve passed the fight-or-flight

moment, your heart rate and breathing should slow down and your muscles should relax. In a
short time, your body should return to its natural state without any lasting negative effects.
Understanding brain functions is important, especially for adolescents. Their understanding of
the brain functions could help them understand how to cope with stress, maintain their mental
health, and express their emotion appropriately. Evidently, by understanding brain functions, one
would have a peaceful and positive life.

References:

Casarella, J. 2021. The Brain and Mental Illness. https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/brain-

mental-illness
Harvard Medical School. 2021. Protect your brain from stress.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/protect-your-brain-from-stress

Felman, A. (n.d.). Stress: Why does it happen and how can we manage it? Medical and health
information.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/145855#physical-effects

What is it and what does it do to our bodies? (2016, December 13). WebMD.
https://www.webmd.com/balance/stress-management/what-is-stress

The Healthline Editorial Team. (n.d.). The basics of stress. Healthline.

https://www.healthline.com/health/stress