Healthy Lifestyle For Teens

As teenagers grow closer to adulthood, it is important for them to focus on their eating and living habits. In this article, we will discuss some healthy lifestyle habits for teenagers to stay healthy and incorporate healthy options.

Healthy eating habits for teens
Proper food is important for the growth and development of the body especially during teenage. They should take variety of fresh food, vegetables, proteins and whole grains. Following are some healthy food habits for teens:

• Breakfast is an essential meal of the day and teenagers tend to skip this meal. It is the first meal of the day and provides energy to the body and mind. A breakfast should include milk, eggs, fruits, oatmeal, fruit or fruit juices, bread, etc. Beginning a day with healthy breakfast helps you to concentrate on your studies/work.
• Dinner should be taken earlier so that some calories could be burnt off.
• Junk food should be avoided as it is low in nutrition or does not have any nutrition. Junk food like pizza, burger, noodles, french fries, etc., are not healthy. It is better to have healthy food that has high nutrition value like nuts, salads, dried fruit, etc.
• Replace unhealthy food with healthy food. For instance if you feel hungry instead of having a packet of chips have an apple or any fruit.

Healthy living habits for teens

• Enough sleep can increase your alertness throughout the day. 7-8 hours of sleep is very important for mental and physical health. Lack of sleep will decrease your performance level. Teens are recommended to sleep 8-9 hours. Make sure that you sleep the same time every night so that quality of sleep improves.
• Washing your face every morning and before going to bed keeps your skin clean and healthy. Stick to the habit of brushing twice or thrice a day for keeping your mouth fresh and clean. Moreover appearance should be looked after as this can make you feel better about yourself.
• Exercising for a couple of minutes before going to school improves blood circulation and helps the teen be more focused and concentrated during the day. Aerobic activity like cycling, dancing, running, etc., should be encouraged.

Why are Disposable Lenses a Good Choice for Teenagers?

Many teenagers find it difficult and even awkward to wear eyeglasses and prefer to use contact lenses. However, as a parent, you may be concerned if they are able to handle and maintain contact lenses. Disposable lenses avoid your worries and are perfect choice for your teens.

Disposable contact lenses are those which are meant for use for a short period of time. After their use they can be thrown out and replaced with new ones. They are worn for only a shorter duration and hence, need only few cleaning and sanitizing steps. Even the products for cleaning disposable contact lenses are lesser when compared to those for conventional contact lenses.

Disposable lenses are even available in accessible spare parts. If your teen is new to the lenses he finds it difficult to handle them on a daily basis without tearing or losing them, then the spare pairs are very much helpful. As the lenses are worn only for a short period of time, there is a reduced chance of protein deposition on the lenses. This helps in minimizing the eye irritation and discomfort. It also reduces the risk of development of any sort of eye infections. They even maintain the eye health when used properly as per the instructions of eye practitioner. It should be ensured that your teens clean the lens carefully with the lens care solution. They should also store the lens in a clean case with fresh solution.

However, the only necessary thing to be considered with respect to disposable lenses is the price. Contact lenses are generally highly expensive when compared to eyeglasses. It is mere waste to purchase the expensive lenses and discard them often. However, they are cheaper than conventional contact lenses and also need fewer cleaning products that are less expensive.

How is Yoga Helpful for Teenagers

Teenage is full of uncontrolled emotions. In fact it is not the mistake of the teenagers or the youngsters as it is due to the imbalances of certain hormones in the body. The person who can control all the emotions and don't get attracted to any kind of emotional weaknesses will definitely lead a successful life and will have a bright career. So, whats the solution for controlling emotions. Are there any medicines and treatments? The answer is undoubtedly, no. There are no such medications for treating any emotional disorders. The only thing which is natural and found effective in controlling emotions is practicing yoga.

Yoga as we all know is an ancient form of fitness program which in turn keeps the mind healthy and in self controlled state. If one can control his mind he is successful in controlling his senses and there by emotions. Control over the mind makes an individual to detect what is good and what is bad and by this way they can control their emotions for wrong things and use the energy effectively for necessary things only.

Apart from emotions there is a lot of on the minds of the teenagers regarding their studies and future. Due to the increased competition in each and every field the teenagers needs to show expertise in their respective platforms then only they can achieve a successful career. So during this process they undergo a lot of stress and strain. These things should be eliminated completely to get proper results. Yoga exercises and meditation is useful to make the mind calm and quiet and hence improves blood circulation to the mind.

Many breathing techniques in yoga helps the teenagers to attain complete control over their breath. Once this is achieved they can easily control their breathes during tension and stress which helps them to relieve from those conditions very easily.

The body of the teenagers is still in growing stage. By getting used to certain poses makes their muscles well toned and helps them to strengthen their bones. This makes them physically fit. In this way yoga helps in the overall development of a youngster.

What are the Reasons for Substance Abuse in Teens

Substance abuse also called as drug abuse is a process which involves excessive use of the substance which leads to significant problems or distress. The person abusing drugs neglects his responsibilities at school, work, or home. Weight changes or unusual eating patterns, change in normal sleep patterns, frequent infections or infections which don't heal, memory lapses, frequent minor illnesses like headaches, nausea etc. are the physical signs and symptoms of a person who is abusing drugs. Anxiety, depression, mood swings and impaired judgment etc., are the psychological symptoms.

Emotional factors:
Many researchers have found that many students experience emotional turmoil and depression due to the compounded stress of developing new relationships, responsibilities and there is also force on them to perform well academically.

Genetics:
Genetics also plays a very important role in developing substance abuse in teens. Teens may also develop drug addiction in them, if any of their family members are abusing the drugs.

Protective Factors:
Students who actively participate in sports, school extracurricular activities, church and/or service work to theirhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif school, community and government are less likely to abuse drugs or alcohol when compared to the students those who don't do the above activities.

Transition:
During the transition state, students generally leave home, move in with strangers, and form new friends and social groups which are all may be the reasons for developing alcohol abuse in children.

The above are the various reasons of substance abuse in teens.

Cocaine's Effect on Young Brains

Majority of the people who are getting affected by these kind of drugs are teenagers and young adults. Teens are very active and they have got special interest in experiencing and experimenting things which attract them most. Among the things they get attracted the most are the drugs. The small excitement and anxiety the drug offers gives them immense pleasure for that particular period of time. Since the consequences are in the later stages they were not bothered about the adverse effects.

Cocaine is one of the most dangerous drugs available for the teenagers, which is addictive and harms one's life very badly. Especially when taken by teens it shows even more adverse effects when compared to other set of people. The following are few effects of Cocaine on teenagers

• Intense feelings of euphoria
• high energy
• distorted sensory perception
• shaking
• high heart rates
• high body temperatures etc.,

These are some of the short term effects which a drug addict can experience in his early stages. Due to these effects the teens cannot concentrate on their studies, which affects their performance. These short term problems also lead to some other problems which will show their effects for a longer period. Cocaine can also cause sudden death when taken in high doses and for a long time. The following are the long term effects of Cocaine on teenagers.

• respiratory problems
• heart Attacks
• brain damage
• violent behavior
• infections due to needles
• seizures and strokes

Teenage is the most wonderful part of life. It is influenced by many expectations and experiences. One who learns from the experience of others will definitely lead a successful life. Teenage should be like a sweet memory in everybody's life but not like a sad memory. So, teens its in your hands to make it sweet or sad.

Club Drug Usage Among Teens

It is surprising to hear that the main users of these club drugs are school going kids, who are studying in the 8th grade. These children are in a myth that drug abusing is very common thing. The reports from NIDA during the year 2010, Monitoring The Future Survey raises concerns about increase in drug uses among the nations teens, particularly the youngest. This kind of report is like a caution to the parents of the children who are getting addicted to illicit drugs.

Let us have a look on the statistics of drug addicts from 2009-2010.

• There has been a decline in the use of Ecstasy from several years. But from 2009 – 2010, life time use of Ecstasy among the 8th graders increased from 2.2% to 3.3.%.
• The life time use of Illicit drugs among the 8th graders increased from 19.9%-21.4%, among 10th graders it increased from 36% to 37%, and in 12th graders it is from 46.7% to 48.2%.
• The life time use of Ecstasy among the 8th graders increased from 2.2% to 3.3%, among 10th graders it is from 5.5% to 6.4%, and in 12th graders it increased from 6.5% to 7.3%.
• The use of Methamphetamine among 8th graders increased from 1.6-1.8%, among 10th graders there is a decrease from 2.8-2.5%, and among 12th graders also there is a decrease from 2.4 – 2.3%.
• During the year 2006, among the cases joined as emergency in the hospital, 31% were involved in illicit drugs only. That number might be increased in the next years.

These reports are clear evidences of the influence of drugs on the upcoming generations. Every child thinks that these kind of drug abuse is very common among all the children and take it very commonly. But they are not aware of the consequences they are going to face in their future. Awareness should be given among the children about the adverse effects of drugs and parents have to be more responsible towards their children.

Effects of Club Drugs on Teenagers

Teenage is more about excitement and experiments. The little anxiety of knowing about new things and experiencing them can be considered as reason for drug abuse in teens. We have people of different age groups in the society, but why are we talking in particular about teens? I have a reason for that. The recent statistics are the main things which made me talk about teenage drug abusers. They show that drug abusing is a major growing problem among the teens.

Drug abuse is dangerous to all the people of any age group but teens are at high risk for its negative effects. They will affect them both physically and mentally. Even the behavior of drug abused teens varies from the normal teens. They do have some emotional problems, which include anxiety, depression, frequent mood swings, suicidal thoughts etc., the higher the drug abuse the greater will be the problems.

There will be a drastic change in their behavior under the influence of drugs. It increases the risk of social problems. They develop a kind of fighting and violent behaviors which results in illegal activities. Risky sex, is also proven to be a common thing in drug abusers. Recent studies have shown that teens who use drugs are five times more likely to have unprotected sex that teens who don't use drugs.


Addiction is also a major problem seen in these drug abusers. They may become complete dependents, which may affect them in their later life. Drug abuse leads to short and long term memory problems since it affects the nerve cells and thus, drug addicts find difficulty in learning and remembering things. The syringes used for injecting drugs may result in the increased risk of blood borne diseases like HIV,AIDS and hepatitis.

Apart from this health issues the other common things that happen under the influence of these club drugs are road accidents. Since, these drugs majorly effects the nervous system and make them numb and unresponsive, the chances are higher for accidental deaths.

The bottom line of all these affects is, a drug may spoil health, or it may spoil the society, or it may cost ones life. Teenagers are like flower buds, who will blossom like lovely flowers, if they are in a right path. Addiction to such kind of illegal things destroys the flower in its budding stage. Keep these things in mind and lead your life in a proper way, which is beneficial to both, to you and the society.

Alcohol and Its Influence on Teenagers

The main set of people who get highly effected by the use of legal and illegal drugs are the teenagers. Teenage is more in to getting influenced and getting attracted. The things which they get attracted, might be good or bad, it doesn’t matter. The only thing is that, they not only get influenced by them quickly but also got affected by them badly. The things they get mainly attracted in their teenage are alcohol and drugs. According to YRBS results on alcohol consumption in US, the prevalence of binge drinking among high school students was 60.9%, among which 64.1% are boys and 57.5% among girls.

Alcohol is the main factor for causing three leading causes of death in teens. They are the suicides, homicides and accidents caused due to drunken driving. Alcohol intake may also become the cause for sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancy. Any thing beyond the limits may cause death is obvious in case of alcohol. The death to alcohol addicted teens might be of any form, it might be either intentional or unintentional, either knowingly or with out any knowledge.

Effects of excessive alcohol intake badly effects the young minds and hearts. Immature organs may get poisoned by alcohol. The liver gets damaged , breathing and heart rate becomes shallow and slow. Even though it is illegal to take alcohol for the people below the age group of 21, teenagers are breaking the laws by violating them and there by spoiling their own healths.

Parents should be very conscious about the habits and behaviors of their children. They have to keep an eye on every activity of the child and try to make them aware of the adverse effects of alcohol on their health. They have to tell them that even alcohol is not less dangerous than drugs. They have to teach them the values of life and tell them how they get affected if they don’t follow those ethical values.