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The Neuroscience on How to Motivate a Teenager
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The Neuroscience on How to Motivate a Teenager

Jen Hyatt
World Economic Forum, 2017
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Every generation faces its own set of challenges, and for Generation Z, the struggle is mostly health-related. Why would teens choose a healthy run in the sunshine when they could stay at home playing Minecraft or an equally addictive game? Jen Hyatt, the founder and CEO of Troo Life Coaching, suggests the key to young people’s health may be the very screens that ail them. getAbstract recommends this summary to parents, educators, policy makers and health professionals who want the next generation to be a healthy one.

Summary

The World Health Organization reports that 81% of modern youths aren’t exercising enough and that 18% are obese. When high-sugar, ultra-processed convenience foods are ubiquitous and screen time is the preferred pastime, it is difficult to motivate teenagers to make healthy choices. Past interventions have focused on educating adolescents about the future repercussions of their eating habits and then attempted to build cognitive skills that would help teens achieve health goals. These programs, however, were operating under the impression that teens are already motivated to...

About the Author

Jen Hyatt sits on the board for the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Health and Healthcare. She is also the founder and chief executive officer of Troo Life Coach.

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    P. B. getAbstract 6 years ago
    The title of this summary was very inspiring. However, then all that comes out of it is that we should put gamification into apps. Really, anything new???? <br>I would like to get more concrete advice how to motivate teenagers AWAY from the screens.