Forever young

Could this be the strangest time in history to be a teenager? No other young generation in recent memory has had to spend two years shut up inside, learning alone from a screen, rarely able to see friends or extended family.

So it is no wonder that mental health problems have hit an all-time high among the young. New NHS research shows that one in six 5 to16-year-olds reported a probable mental health disorder last year - up from one in nine in 2017.

But experts are keen to stress that young people's brains can bounce back even from extreme pressures like the pandemic, because when we are young, our brains are at their quickest and most flexible.

Humans evolved to be adaptable creatures, and we have used this skill to spread ourselves into all of the world's diverse environments: grasslands, forests, mountains, deserts, even ice sheets.

Unlike other species, we have created our own environments to live in: cities and towns, ships, space stations and perhaps in the near future, settlements on other planets.

But to do this, we had to evolve extremely malleable brains that develop during our childhood to adapt to the environment that we find ourselves in. That is why the brain takes much longer to develop than any other organ.

And during this lengthy development time, the young brain has extraordinary abilities. Teenagers have more brain cells and synapses than adults do, meaning that their memories are better and they can make more connections between different things.

This all means that teenagers are more creative and imaginative than adults, and it is much easier to learn new languages, talents and skills when we are young. Adults above the age of forty tend to find that their most vivid memories are from their teenage years: a phenomenon known as the "reminiscence bump".

But teenage years also come with pressures that young brains are not well suited to managing. The limbic system, the part of the brain that is involved in taking risks, has more connections when we are teenagers. The prefrontal cortex, on the other hand, which handles decision-making, is much less developed in our early years.

That means teenagers are more likely to make reckless decisions. And it gives them addictive personalities: without a fully developed sense of delayed gratification, teenagers are more likely to indulge in things that they enjoy, but that are harmful to them in the long run.

It also makes them more susceptible to peer pressure.

Teenagers are more dependent than adults on the respect of other people, which means they are easily persuaded to do rash things that they later come to regret. Experts have even suggested that the adolescent brain's dependence on validation explains why young people are more likely to join violent extremist groups.

Should adults be more like teenagers?

Yes, say some. Adults too easily let their experience of the world turn a dull grey. Trying to think more like teenagers, appreciating the wild ups and downs of a life lived in the moment, could help inject some more joy into their daily routines. And it would help them come up with more imaginative, inventive solutions to the problems that life poses.

Not at all, say others. Adults should stop looking so wistfully back at their teenage years: their brains are entirely capable of learning new things, enjoying new experiences and living in the moment. And being an adult comes with other advantages: self-confidence, maturity, level-headedness. Instead of trying to become more like kids themselves, adults should help their children grow.