This is how frequent consultation of social networks affects the adolescent brain

• Mental health A study reveals how anxiety among young people skyrockets when they stop using their mobile phones: "It calmed me down just by having it close"

• Health Three out of four children under the age of 12 hate their bodies due to the influence of social networks

Analyzing and verifying the influence that

exert on the daily life of adolescents, with special interest in the effects on

and especially on their

, is an aspect that many research teams have already been concerned about and dealt with. in recent years.

New data indicate that

and daily checking of social networks -Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, among others-, in

, between 12 and 13 years of age, could be associated with

to rewards and social punishment is concerned.

This relationship emerges from a longitudinal study published by

in which the association of habitual verification behaviors in social networks with the

has been analyzed and in which 169 sixth and seventh grade students whose ages have participated They range from 12 to 13 years old.

Reinforcement and punishment of networks

The preadolescents were studied using

through which the response of different brain regions was analyzed in

that young people face when they consult social networks.

According to

, lead author of the study, coordinated by

, both from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the data suggest that social media checking behaviors in early adolescence may be associated with

to social rewards and punishments.

However, the author stresses that "more research examining

between social media use, adolescent neural development, and psychological adjustment is needed to

on behavioral development. "

teens today."

According to

, Professor of Psychobiology at the Institute of Neurosciences of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, ​​this is a longitudinal study that explores how different frequencies of daily consultations on social networks

of young adolescents. to reward and punishment social stimuli.

"The results show that, indeed, as observed in the activation changes of different brain regions, particularly the

, the activity of young people in social networks can change their social sensitivity over time." points to SMC Spain.

However, and although he considers that the study is methodologically correct, "the conclusions would probably need a

to be generalized, especially due to the variations that are observed according to the frequency of consultations that the subjects have on the Internet."

Exercise against depression in the youngest

On the other hand, and without losing sight of children and adolescents, another work, also published in

, indicates the benefits that

provides in this population group to alleviate their

.

This is a new study that reinforces the consideration that physical activity can be an important factor in

in children, but also in adults.

"Physical activity interventions were associated with

in depressive symptoms in children and adolescents compared to a control condition. The

in these symptoms were recorded in children

," says

, from the School of Public Health of the University of Hong Kong, in China, and

of the article, referring to this systematic review and meta-analysis that included

.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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