The brain and the body development of children
At four years old we are still helpless creatures compared to other species, even those closest to us. Why is our childhood so long? One of the reasons why the childhood of humans is so long compared to that of other mammals is that the development of brain consumes so much energy that it delays the physical and maturational development of the kids.
The study conducted by anthropologists of the Northwestern University, in the United States, shows through the study with brain scans, that the human metabolism slows down to concentrate all its energy in feed the brain during its development.
"As human beings, we have a lot to learn, and learning requires a complex and energy-hungry brain" adds Christopher Kuzawa, Professor of Anthropology at the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences of Northwestern.
Brain development in children
The study measured glucose uptake and brain volume at different ages. And so they could determine that, after four years of age, the child's brain absorbs twice the glucose, the gasoline of the brain, that an adult and therefore the growth of the rest of the body is slower and physical activity is reduced.
When is the child more capable of learning?
The study showed that in the period between four and five years of age, the brain of the child is at its peak and learns voraciously everything that is put in front.
In this stage, body growth decreases, since the brain burns 66 percent of the energy who owns the little one To compensate for these great demands of brain energy, children grow slower and are less active physically during these ages. We evolved towards a slower physical growth to leave the necessary fuel to our brain.
Between four and five years is when more synapses occur, connections in the brain. "It's also when we learn many of the things we need to know to be human," concludes Kuzawa.
Noelia de Santiago Monteserín
