Can you hurt or break your brain?

One of our readers asked this question.

First, let’s put everyone’s mind at ease by pointing out that you can’t hurt your brain by thinking too hard!  The brain loves to learn new things, even if they’re initially hard to learn or to understand! So never be worried about giving your brain a new challenge – whether it’s a new math problem to think about or a new dance move to learn.

     Sometimes, when you attempt that learning, it may feel like you’ve broken your brain - you’re just not getting better at the thing you’re attempting to learn!  This often happens for reasons we’ve written about in past blog posts: you may be stressed, or tired, or you may be trying to cram knowledge into your brain without taking the time to draw connections and to think about the information from different perspectives.  So if you feel like you’re having trouble learning, try to take a nap or get a good night’s sleep, or try something calming that you enjoy for a few minutes to help you relax. If you still feel like you’re having trouble learning, talk with a teacher or another trusted adult to get their advice.

There can be many things that happen to cause brain injury or damage. 

     The most likely type of brain injury that a child or teenager might experience is a concussion. A concussion results when the brain moves around violently within the skull, resulting in stretching and damaging of some of the brain tissue. This can lead to a variety of symptoms, including headaches, sensitivity to light, slowed thinking, and confusion. If you might have suffered a concussion, it’s really important to speak with a doctor and to follow their recommendations for how to let your brain heal. 

     Larger injuries to the brain can happen in a car accident, or in a bike or skiing accident. Wearing your seatbelt in a car and wearing a helmet while doing activities like biking, skiing, skating, or skateboarding, are ways to protect your brain.

     Beyond injuries, there are some types of viruses that (very rarely) can infect the brain and hurt its cells.  Fortunately there are vaccinations for many of the illnesses that are likely to have this effect, such as meningitis and polio.

     The brain can also be damaged when there is internal bleeding in the brain (called a hemorrhage) or when blood flow gets cut off from the brain (called a stroke).  It is very uncommon for a child or young adult to experience these causes of brain damage. The risk of these sorts of occurrences increases as adults get older, and fortunately, there are medications that can reduce the risk.