Brain Health: Brain Development (Ages 0–25)

Support for the developing brain during pregnancy is important to lifelong brain health. Regular health checkups, good nutrition, and plenty of rest for the pregnant person can have a positive impact on the health of the baby's developing brain.

Resources

• National Center for Biotechnology Information—The Development and Shaping of the Brain
• Wisconsin Department of Health Services—Prenatal Care Coordination

Once a child is born, the experiences they have as they grow continue to affect the development of their brains. Both adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and positive childhood experiences (PCEs) have lasting impacts on health and behavior. This is why it is important to do everything we can to prevent and address ACEs early in life.

Resources

• Wisconsin Department of Health Services—Childhood Experiences in Wisconsin
• PMC—Adverse Childhood Experiences and the Consequences on Neurobiological, Psychosocial, and Somatic Conditions Across the Lifespan

Brain development is encouraged through learning new things and has been shown to be beneficial to brain health across the lifespan. Formal education is only one way to learn new things. Learning a new skill or further developing a hobby or interest, meeting new people, and going to new places are all ways to learn new things.

Resources

• PMC—Growing Brains, Nurturing Minds—Neuroscience as an Educational Tool to Support Students’ Development as Life-Long Learners
• PMC—The Role of Education and Intellectual Activity on Cognition

Regular health checkups are important throughout the lifespan but are critical in identifying possible brain health problems that could be fixed if recognized early in life. A variety of physical health conditions and illnesses can affect brain development.

Resources

• CDC—Early Brain Development and Health
• American SPCC—The Impact of Healthcare Access on Child Development

The overall physical health of our bodies has an impact on the health of our brains. The fuel we use to power our bodies also powers our brains, so good nutrition is important for brain development. The brain also has a vast connection of blood vessels that provide it with energy and oxygen. Good cardiovascular health through regular exercise plays a large role in brain development.

Resources

• PMC—The Role of Nutrition in Brain Development: The Golden Opportunity of the “First 1000 Days”
• PubMed—Physical activity and brain development

Damage to any part of the body will have a bad effect on the ability of that body part of do what it needs to do. The brain is not different from other parts of the body. Injury will affect how well it can function. That's why injury prevention is an important part of brain health.

Resources

• CDC HEADS UP—Preventing Concussion
• PMC—The effect of pediatric traumatic brain injury on behavioral outcomes: a systematic review

Human brains continue to develop over the first 25 years of life. Use of alcohol and tobacco at any time of life, but especially during childhood and adolescence, has a negative impact on brain development as well as to brain health across the lifespan.

Resources

• PMC—Nicotine on the developing brain
• National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism—Alcohol and the Adolescent Brain

The word "tobacco" on this page refers to commercial tobacco, not traditional Native American tobacco.