Concussions and Their Effect on The Teenage Brain

Concussions are minor brain injuries caused by a movement that makes the brain move back and forth fast, causing the brain to bounce or twist around. This can cause chemical changes in the brain and sometimes make brain cells stretch, which greatly damages them. Concussions are known to cause short-term deficits, and the long-term implications are less defined but still present. This injury can affect how people think, learn, feel, act, and even sleep. It is very important to get checked out by a healthcare provider if you get a concussion. It can help speed up a recovery process that would otherwise last two to four weeks (1).

Mild brain injuries during teenage years can disrupt ongoing brain maturation, which is the process where the human brain continues to develop and refine its neural networks, and result in major long-term complications, including academic and social challenges that can have major impacts on a person’s life. Evidence has shown that adolescent athlete concussion outcomes are significantly poorer compared to older athlete outcomes (2).

In a study, 11-29% of patients reported persistent symptoms, including sleep deregulation, cognitive defects, and emotional disturbances, up to one month after the concussion occurred (2). Another study showed that 25% of adolescents still experienced post-concussion symptoms a year after the initial injury (3). Some were asymptomatic for the first few weeks after the injury but reported challenges months later.

Repetitive brain trauma, such as concussions, is also associated with diseases like Alzheimer's-like dementia, Parkinsonism, and motor neuron disease, including Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or ALS (4). Rodent models used in a study suggested that the immature brain, found in teenagers and children, is much more susceptible to apoptosis, or the process of programmed cell death, after a mild traumatic brain injury. Traumatic brain injury to the immature brain can result in a prolonged period of pathogenesis in both cortical (the outermost layer of an organ) and subcortical (a group of diverse neural formations deep within the brain) structures, leading to progressive neurodegeneration, hyperactivity, and sustained cognitive impairments (4).

Overall, concussions and mild traumatic brain injuries in teenagers may not cause immediate effects but can have major long-term complications. These include academic and social challenges, sleep deregulation, cognitive defects, motor neuron diseases, apoptosis, and many other serious issues that can be avoided if the right action is taken to prevent these mild injuries from affecting a person for the rest of their life.

References

1. CDC. “Concussion Basics.” HEADS UP, 7 Jan. 2025, https://www.cdc.gov/heads-up/about/index.html.

2. Semple, Bridgette D., et al. “Repetitive Concussions in Adolescent Athletes – Translating Clinical and Experimental Research into Perspectives on Rehabilitation Strategies.” Frontiers in Neurology, vol. 6, Apr. 2015, p. 69. PubMed Central, https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2015.00069.

3. Understanding the Long-Term Effects of Concussions in Adolescents | Duke Government Relations.

4. Understanding the Long-Term Effects of Concussions in Adolescents | Duke Government Relations. https://govrelations.duke.edu/index.php/node/387. Accessed 13 May 2026.

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