Teen Health...

Around 1 in 6 persons in the world is an adolescent: that is between the ages of 10 to 19years (WHO). This is the age group that is least catered for medically.… 

Promoting healthy practices during adolescence, and taking steps to better protect young people from health risks are critical for the prevention of health problems in adulthood.

Parents tend to have a high level of involvement in managing the health of babies and young children. As their children become teens and young adults, however, we often see a decline in regular, proactive health care visits and a gap in health-oriented discussions. Also, this age group are becoming more aware of themselves and often find it difficult to discuss what is troubling them or what they are passing through. They find themselves turning to the internet or their fellow age-mates. This way they can get so many misguided information.

Some health issues of this group includes but not limited to-

-Early pregnancy and complications. This involves early childbirth and abortions and the complications that can arise from both. Better access to contraceptive information and services can reduce the number of girls becoming pregnant and giving birth at too young an age.

-HIV. Young people need to know how to protect themselves and have the means to do so.

-Substance abuse. Harmful drinking and use of illegal drugs among adolescents is a major concern in many countries. It reduces self-control and increases risky behaviours, such as unsafe sex. It is a primary cause of injuries (including those due to road traffic accidents), violence (among themselves) and premature deaths. It also can lead to health problems in later life and affect life expectancy.  

-Violence. This is mainly as a result of substance abuse/influence, access to firearms, lack or diminishing nurturing relationship with parents and peer-group influence.

-Mental health. Depression is the top cause of illness and disability among adolescents and suicide is the third cause of death (WHO). Violence, poverty, humiliation and feeling devalued can increase the risk of developing mental health problems.

-Malnutrition. Obesity and excess weight loss (Cachexia) as well as being a health condition on their own can also make people more vulnerable to disease and early death. Plus, this age group are exercising less and spending more time in front of the television, computers and their phones.

As mentioned earlier, most adolescents are healthy, but there is still significant death, illness and diseases among adolescents. Illnesses can limit their ability to grow and develop to their full potential.

Move Your Body. It's All Gain........And Loss Too

Most of us, are so busy with our lives running around, working and have little time for our health and exercise especially. We live our lives busy without moving our muscles… wake up early with little amount of sleep, join the stress of traffic, stress at work, eat unhealthy diets while most of the time gulping it all down because we are in a hurry, spend little time to relax with our family and end the day very tired. On top of all that we do, to add exercise to it would be expecting too much.

Research shows that physical activity can boost self-esteem, mood, brain function, sleep quality and energy, as well as reducing your risk of stress, depression, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

It can also reduce your risk of major illnesses, such as heart disease, high blood cholesterol levels, stroke, type 2 diabetes and cancer by up to 50% and lower your risk of early death by up to 30%.

On the loss part, exercise can help prevent excess weight gain or help maintain weight loss. When you engage in physical activity, you burn calories. The more intense the activity, the more calories you burn thus the more weight you lose.

To stay healthy, adults should try to be active daily and aim to achieve at least 150 minutes of physical activity over a week through a variety of activities.

The secret is to up your movement, add activities that suit our lifestyle and can easily be included in our day. You can add any of these to your routine or tweak it to suit you…..just get moving!

•  -Do the activities you enjoy
• - Park a little bit farther from work and walk the remainder of the way.
• - Take a little walk during lunch break.
• - Stand up to take phone calls.
• -Take the stairs instead of the lift, or get out of the lift a few floors early and use the stairs.
• - Set targets daily- use a pedometer to keep track of how many steps you take.
• - Stand up to drink water from another floor, use the printer from another floor. Find reasons to walk around at work every hour.
• - Do leg stretches, butt and abdominal crunches while at your desk.
• - If time is short, any exercise, even ten minutes, is better than none.
• - Split activity throughout the day…in bouts of about 10mins.
• - Walk over to someone's desk at work rather than calling them on the phone or sending an  e-mail.