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This term Year 9 Home Economics students have been learning how to develop menus for Banquet –style meals. This has involved learning about menu design, developing main and dessert course
meals, practising food presentation techniques and working successfully as team members. In our final assessment task, these skills were put to the test in the preparation of a two course banquet meal to celebrate a special cultural event. With everything from Risotto, Sweet & Sour Chicken, Pesto Polenta, Mini Tacos and Roo Stew to Lemon Myrtle Cheesecake, Tiramisu, Cannoli and Deep Fried Ice Cream, the meals served were delicious and showcased a wide variety of cooking skills.
Well done Year 9 on a very tasty and successful end to the term!
Chris’ Weekly Spot
Alcohol and the Teenage Brain: Ever played Chinese
whispers? Well your brain does every day, getting messages from
your nerve cells to your body. It needs to send the correct messages
throughout your body so it is able to function properly.
What if we add alcohol to the mix? Alcohol acts as a depressant (slows down the central
nervous system). It does this by acting on the nerve cells (neurons) of the brain and disrupts
the communication between nerve cells and other cells of the body. Alcohol does this by
altering the actions of two major neurotransmitters in the brain. Neurotransmitters are
chemical messages, which enable nerve cells to talk to each other and to other cells in the
body. The 2 major neurotransmitters affected are GABA and Glutamate. As these are found
throughout the brain, alcohol has widespread effects on the drinker. For example, when you
drink alcohol the cerebellum is affected, causing changes to balance and movement, and
changes to the frontal lobe that can cause your speech to become slurred.
In adulthood, as the brain has fully developed, the effects of moderate alcohol drinking are not
usually permanent, but this is not the case during adolescence. During adolescence the brain
undergoes many changes. Full brain development does not occur until the mid-20s. As the
brain is still developing, it is more vulnerable to damage. Two parts of the brain are
particularly vulnerable to the effects of alcohol during this period: the prefrontal cortex and
the hippocampus. The hippocampus is responsible for learning and memory. The prefrontal
cortex is the final part of the brain to fully mature and it plays an important role in planning,
judgement, decision making, impulse control, problem solving and reasoning.
In these two particular areas, brain development has three stages:
Proliferation of pathways – this is where the brain is creating many new neurons and
synapses (gaps between nerve cells). Neurotransmitters enable the neurons to still be able to
talk with each other and transmit these messages over the gaps. The brain creates lots of
neuron pathways to increase adaptability to a wider range of environments that it may be
exposed to.
Chris’ Weekly Spot (Cont)
Pruning of these pathways – the brain does not need to keep all of these pathways produced
and so, with experience, the unused pathways are eliminated.
Myelination – a process where a fatty layer called myelin accumulates around neurons, enabling
them to transmit information faster and more effectively.
Drinking alcohol during adolescence affects two of these vital stages. Firstly, it inhibits the
growth of neurons and secondly, it decreases the process of myelination. Therefore, alcohol
consumption whilst the brain is still developing can inhibit the number of neural pathways
created, and affect the speed and efficiency of the messages transmitted.
Studies have shown physical changes in the brain resulting from young people’s alcohol use.
Heavy and extended alcohol use is associated with a 10% reduction in the size of the
hippocampus. It has also been identified that adolescents who consume alcohol regularly, have
smaller prefrontal cortexes than those of the same age who do not drink. As a result, there is
evidence of impaired learning, judgement, memory retention and problem solving that may
continue through into adulthood.
Alcohol, even in small doses, is associated with a reduction in the activity of the normal
inhibitory brain processes in young and old alike. Given that such processes are less developed in
adolescents, alcohol use is likely to be associated with greater levels of risk-taking behaviour
than that seen in adults. A loss of inhibitions and decision making skills can leave adolescents
vulnerable to accidents, violence and sexual coercion.
Drinking alcohol at a young age may increase their risk of developing mental health problems
such as depression and anxiety later in life. The risk of alcohol dependence also increases
significantly.
Evidence tells us alcohol CAN damage the developing brain, increase risky behaviours and affect
the mental health and wellbeing of young people. There are no clear guidelines as to the amount
of alcohol required to impart such detrimental effects. For these reasons, it is recommended
that for under 18’s NO alcohol is the safest choice and that the initiation of drinking is delayed
for as long as possible!!!
STAY SAFE, STAY RESPONSIBLE…..HAPPY HOLIDAYS