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Asked by 07gillardjen to David, Helen, Ian, rhysphillips, Sarah on 23 Jun 2011.
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Helen Fletcher answered on 22 Jun 2011:
It’s generally thought to be to do with hormones, though there’s not much solid evidence around. When children hit puberty, chemicals called hormones are released by their cells and these send messages to other cells telling them to do things which change your body into a sexually-mature adult. Sudden rises and fluctuations in these hormones can affect your mood. It’s a difficult time with all the physical changes to your body and everything else that comes with becoming an adult, so it’s no surprise that teenagers can feel emotionally all over the place!
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Rhys Phillips answered on 22 Jun 2011:
Because teenagers are stroppy! It’s usually blamed on hormones which send messages to the brain making them grumpy. These hormones aren’t so active in little children.
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David Corne answered on 22 Jun 2011:
teenager’s brains are, basically, fairly unstable dynamical systems. In mathematics, a dynamical system is something that has all kinds of bits and pieces interacting with each other, and which, much of the time, is in some kind of ‘stable’ state. That is, although there is a lot going on, things are kind of settled. Imagine you are doing synchronised swimming with lots of other students – if you do it properly, there is a lot going on, but it is ordered and stable. But, as Helen says, hormones go nuts in teenaged brains, and this tips the brain into a less stable state – some of the swimmers do different things and bump into others. The system *tries* to settle down, but in doing so it could go either way, i.e. move into a happy state or a grumpy state,
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Ian van der Linde answered on 23 Jun 2011:
There is a theory that teenagers are overstimulated because their brain cells haven’t yet been properly “pruned” (like cutting a hedge to remove the useless bit that spoil the overall design). Little children do have mood swings too, but perhaps for teenagers, the combination of puberty hormones, an increasingly stressful life (trouble with girlfriends/boyfriends, school exams, getting spotty, etc), and the lack of a good pruning all contribute to making them extra awkward.
Comments
Moderator - Sophia commented on :
Although I think maybe if you talk to parents with toddlers, they would say that little children DO have mood swings…
gigi123 commented on :
Hormones make teenagers have mood swings. Because teenagers bodies are changing, hormones send messages to the brain to change the body.
hiilikeeggsx commented on :
It is usually hormones but thats just growing up! In fact, the teenage brain is in progress and going through some changes on the way to adulthood so mood swings are normal.