Featuring Dr. Brad Hallam, PhD, R. Psych

Duration: 1 minute, 30 seconds

Traumatic brain injury is the number one cause of death and disability for people under the age of 45, and in fact, under the age of 35, men are twice as likely as women to have a traumatic brain injury.

And the factors related to this are not completely understood, but some of the factors that are interesting to point out is that the brain doesn't actually fully mature until the age of 25, and the part of the brain that is last to mature is responsible for things like judgement, insight and decision making.

Therefore, people in this age range are more at risk in terms of making poor judgments and poor decisions. Another factor related to that is that this is typically an age group where people are experimenting with the limits of drugs and alcohol. And that can sometimes be a factor as well.

And then third there's also a subculture of people who are involved in extreme sports, pushing the boundaries and sometimes putting themselves at risk.

One of the exciting things about traumatic brain injury is the fact that it's so preventable. It's estimated that eight to nine out of every ten traumatic brain injuries could actually have been prevented.

And there's very practical things that can be done. These are wearing a helmet if you're skateboarding or snowboarding, wearing your seat belt, knowing your own limits for alcohol, and wearing your seat belt in the car, very practical things that can prevent traumatic brain injury.

Presenter: Dr. Brad Hallam, Psychologist, Vancouver, BC

Local Practitioners: Psychologist