Archive Posts

A new study says allowing them to sleep in a little on school days may improve their mood, overall health and performance in school. High school students look forward to summer time for many reasons, but the main one is usually that they get to sleep in. And while some parents may think it's because their teens are lazy, it turns out there's a biological explanation.

"When they are in their highest growth surge in their entire life is when they are preteens and teenagers, and at that time, they need more sleep," said pediatrician specialist, Dr. Kaye sykes. Teens need about 10 to 11 hours of sleep per night. Not only that, Dr. Sykes says teens are biologically programmed to stay up later and sleep in.

In the Rhode Island study when teens were allowed to sleep in an extra half hour, students overwhelmingly said they were more motivated and less depressed. Students in Bakersfield said with the start time as it is, they're always tired and don't usually have time to eat breakfast before class.

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Delaying the start of school by mere 30 minutes, from 8:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., may appear inconsequential, but such postponement does wonders when it comes to a teen’s alertness and motivation in class. Findings of a new study suggest that this extra half hour results in more attentiveness in class, better moods, less lethargy, less depression and even healthier breakfasts for the teens.

Deepest sleep around dawn The study was conducted at the Rhode Island boarding school by Judith Owens, Katherine Belon, and Patricia Moss of Hasbro Children's Hospital. "The results were stunning. There's no other word to use. We didn't think we'd get that much bang for the buck," noted Patricia Moss, academic dean at the boarding school.

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A good job is hard to find, especially for teenagers looking for summer work. As area schools empty for the summer, the cruelties of an economy with an unemployment rate of about 10 percent are looming large for young people who want to work. Even subsidized programs that rely on government funding to place needy youths in jobs have been cut back.

“It's been hard to find a job. Wicked hard,” said Katrina M. Laythe, 17, of Worcester. “I've been looking for a year. The economy's horrible.” Teen employment rates have been falling for years, thanks to a mix of forces, including greater enrollment in summer school and longer school years, leaving fewer weeks available during the summer for work. Young people have also increasingly taken unpaid summer internships, and many are competing for jobs during the recession with adults, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

From 1948 to 1989, about 46.3 percent to 58 percent of teens age 16 to 19 were employed, the BLS reported. The employment rate was down to 48 percent in 2000, then fell again during recessions that started in 2001 and 2008. By last summer, the teen employment rate was 32.9 percent. In May, the national unemployment rate for all workers was 9.7 percent, but for teens ages 16 to 19, it soared to 26.4 percent.

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Being a physically fit teen may increase your chances of becoming a mentally fit senior. A new study in the Journal of.

The American Geriatrics Society found that older women who had exercised consistently (at least one period of moderate.

Physical activity– jogging, tennis, etc. a week) during their teen years were sharper mentally than women who got less than that exercise in their youth.

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Exercise has previously been linked to possible benefits in staving off dementia, but a new look at the topic suggests the earlier the better. The prevalence of cognitive impairment was significantly lower in women aged 65 and older who reported they were physically active as teens than in those who were inactive in their teen years, the study found.

If we want to optimally prevent dementia, it's important to start physical activity as early in life as possible," said principal investigator Laura Middleton of the Heart and Stroke Foundation Centre for Stroke Recovery at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto.

"More and more people are starting to recognize physical activity as one of the most promising means to prevent cognitive impairment and dementia. And what this study adds is that it's not only important in mid and late life — that we really have to start as early as possible."

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Canadian teens are waiting longer and having safer sex than previous generations, a B.C. researcher says. Elizabeth Saewyc of the University of British Columbia told about 100 academics, students, sex therapists and health-care workers at last week's University of Guelph 32nd annual Sexuality Conference: "When it comes to teen sex, there's a lot of buzz out there.

"But the reality is that most teens today are sexually healthier than teens of a decade ago." Drawing on national, provincial and municipal surveys of teen sexual behaviour in Canada over the past 18 years, Saewyc said about 25 per cent of adolescents in high school have had sex -- down from the 1992 rate and about the same as 1998.

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Experimentation with drugs and alcohol is on the increase among TEENs. While the experimental stage might just be a phase for some there are those who develop a dependency upon alcohol and drugs. While drug experimentation for a short period of time may not lead to long-term damaging effects, drug use for a longer period of time does have far reaching effects on the.

TEEN and may lead to other problems down the line. Long-lasting use of alcohol and drugs in TEENagers can lead to significant problems down the road.Just being in high school is a risk factor for TEENs when it comes to alcohol and drug use. Alcohol consumption and marijuana or "weed" usage are two of the most common drugs in high school, and studies indicate that nearly every TEEN has tried these at least once.

The average age for trying alcohol is 12, while the average age for trying marijuana is 14. Among teens, the use of illegal drugs is increasing. The most popular illegal drug includes cocaine. Risk factors that can lead to a serious teenage alcohol or drug problem include: Low self-esteem.

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As summer officially starts today, teenage drivers across the USA are poised to enjoy school-free days, summer jobs and youthful frolics.Their parents might be less eager. Automobile crashes are the leading cause of death for teenagers in the USA, and the period between Memorial Day and Labor Day is the deadliest for drivers ages 15-20, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Traffic safety experts attribute the higher fatality rate to youths having more free time under less parental supervision, more opportunities to drive at night, when road risks are higher, and relaxed curfews."For many kids, every day in the summer is a weekend day," says Justin McNaull, state relations director for auto club AAA. "There's less parental supervision in the daytime because Mom and Dad are at work.

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In a recent study, it has been revealed that teenagers crashing while driving are affected by the timing of their school and the amount of sleep they get.

This finding was concluded after Dr. Robert Verona, who examined DMV records of the teens. During the study, it was found that Chesapeake teens started for school at 8:40 in the morning and Virginia Beach teens started at 7:20 a. m. Chesapeake teens, it was observed, suffered lesser accidents as compared to their Virginia Beach counterparts.

Dr. Robert Vorona is an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk and this study was presented in San Antonio, at the 24th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.

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Of US males and females ages 15-19 who have ever had sex, 95 percent had used a condom at least once, according to the latest National Survey of Family Growth conducted by CDC's National Center for Health Statistics. However, fear of pregnancy is declining among youth, the report noted. Data were collected through in-person interviews from July 2006 to December 2008 and included responses from 2,767 teens.

Among those who have never married, about 42 percent of females and 43 percent of males reported sexual intercourse at least once, a figure that has not changed significantly since 2002, the report said. After condom use, the withdrawal method (58 percent) was second-most commonly reported, followed by the pill (55 percent).

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