Have you seen this commercial? I think I’ve been in this store twice, but I love this commercial because it shows that getting exercise is hard and takes dedication, but is possible. You don’t need special clothes or equipment-just the will to get up and get moving.
I know some young men who don’t know how to put on a condom. Here’s a video from Planned Parenthood that can help.
The University of Minnesota head football coach Jerry Kill has a seizure disorder and has commented on how lack of sleep and an unhealthy eating contributed to poor control of his seizures. He advised his college players to not follow his lead—he told them to get their sleep and eat right. This is great advice and, in my experience, too often not followed by college students. I bet that any college student’s grades will improve if they work on eating healthy and getting 8 hours of sleep every night. What do you think?
Here’s a video that explains asthma and how to be active with asthma.
We were witness to another traumatic event today, bombings at the Boston Marathon. The National Child Traumatic Stress Network has resources to help children and youth deal with this and similar events. Here’s the site, http://www.nctsn.org/.
I had to pick up a condolence card today for a young person I know. Her brother, who was in his 20’s, was murdered recently. An appropriate condolence card would read like this, “My deepest condolences for another young life needlessly ended. I pray for your family and wish that this never happens to another young person or their family. But, sadly it will and much too soon.”
Have you ever heard of the website everyone is gay? It’s an advice website by Kristin Russo and Dannielle Owens-Reid (that’s them above) for everyone, but has an emphasis on LGBTQ youth. Russo and Owens-Reid also travel around the country promoting equality. Here’s more about everyone is gay:
There was a recent article about head lice treatment which I think is helpful, because you never know when you might get head lice. Getting head lice has nothing to do with being clean or lucky-it can happened to any one who might share a hat or something like that which would bring your head close to someone else’s head lice. The article lists one treatment-picking the nits or lice eggs off the hair. This can be time-consuming, so many people choose topical an anti lice treatment which can be found without a prescription at the pharmacy. Learn more here http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/06/01/new-tactics-for-battling-head-lice/?hpw&rref=health&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well.
There was a recent article in the New York Times about the increase in anxious college students. Sounds like there are several reasons for the increase, but more importantly, colleges have health and mental health services that can help students with anxiety. So, if you are a college student with anxiety or other mental health issue, help is available-contact a healthcare provider at your college or elsewhere for help.
Transitions can be challenging even when they’re a result of an accomplishment like graduating from college. It can be tough thinking about next steps like a job or graduate school. But, many people have had the same experience, so you can learn from them. Here’s an article from Go Ask Alice that may help your transition, http://goaskalice.columbia.edu/scared-about-graduation. Good luck and congratulations.
Someone sent me some great videos of young people from the Atlantic. Here’s the link to one that shows them saying what they want to be when they grow up. http://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/392021/ask-a-tween-what-do-you-want-to-be-when-you-grow-up/. I’m so inspired by these young people!
Have you seen this beautiful video of love and caring? What’s amazing is that it’s a Thai commercial. Whatever, it’s just heartwarming.
Well, now it’s just ridiculous-middle school and high school e-cigarette use tripled in from 2013-2014. More students use e-cigarettes than other tobacco products. And this is the key-e-cigarettes are tobacco! I used to think that e-cigarettes could be used to help people stop smoking, but it looks like they are just another way to hook people on tobacco. E-cigarettes need to be regulated like other tobacco products so that we can try to keep everyone, especially young people, from using them. Learn more about tobacco and how prevent or stop smoking here, http://betobaccofree.hhs.gov.
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
Winston Churchill
Someone sent me this picture. I like it because it captures how the importance of hard work.
Here’s the link to a talk on helping teens with decision-making that I’m giving today. I tried a new presentation format-fingers crossed, I hope it works!
https://prezi.com/embed/kmoj_r922upq/?bgcolor=ffffff&lock_to_path=0&autoplay=0&autohide_ctrls=0#
I was sent this today-I love this quote because most of us fail more times than we can count before we succeed.
Facebook has added some suicide prevention features such as resources, advice, and support to anyone who may be struggling with suicidal thoughts. They also provide help for friends of someone who may express suicidal thoughts. Learn more about these features here, https://www.yahoo.com/health/what-facebooks-doing-to-help-prevent-suicide-112143733727.html?src=rss.
A recent study showed that since the school lunch nutritional guidelines changed in 2012 in order to encourage students to eat more fruit, children have been choosing more fruit. Two thirds of students surveyed choose fruit, up from about half in 2012. Also, students eat most of the healthy food offered which means there is less waste. I’m not surprised. If children and young people are offered healthy food, why wouldn’t they eat it? Maybe not away, but with time they’ll develop the taste for healthy foods-we just have to keep the junk food away from them.
“But meet them halfway with love, peace and persuasion
And expect them to rise for the occasion”
From Glad Tidings by the singer Van Morrison
I visited the original Muscle Beach today and was inspired by all of the people who stop by to work out for free. There were people who looked like tourists working out, alongside people who looked like they stopped by after work and school. The thought that kept running through my mind was how if you build it, they will come. By that I mean that it’s hard to keep people from using exercise equipment that’s free and accessible. There may be places in your community where you can exercise for free-use it and make it your own Muscle Beach.
I saw this list on the wall where I work. The formula for success doesn’t get any simpler than this.
This year’s Super Bowl was great. It was suspenseful and featured a great play by a young person, Malcolm Butler, who has had a difficult life. Here’s what his college coach had to say about him.
“He’s never had anything given to him,” Hall said. “Anything he’s got in his life, he’s had to work for and get for himself. You see a lot of guys that are in that situation, and they go the other way. Malcolm realized early on no matter what hand you’re dealt, you’re responsible for your success and failures. Just like all of us, as he grew and got older, he realized what mattered.”
What really matters to you?
You may have heard that there are a number of cases of measles around the US. Yes, measles! Why are we seeing cases of measles? Because many people aren’t vaccinated which means that they could get and spread measles. Why don’t people get vaccinated? Because people believe the myth that vaccines are harmful. Yes, there are very, very rare cases of vaccine reactions, but most people who get vaccinated do well. Why don’t people believe this? Who knows.
What is FFVP? The Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) Nutrition Services explains:
“The Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP) is a federal grant program that provides a fresh fruit or vegetable snack to all students in qualifying elementary schools. It’s a great way to get students excited about eating healthy and trying new fruits and vegetables!”
Here’s information from MPS about clementines offered by this program-yum!
I was talking to a young person who didn’t do as well on an exam as they wished when someone else in the conversation remembered a quote from J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books. In her 2008 commencement address at Harvard she spoke about failure and how it helped her. Here is a part of that great speech,
“Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above the price of rubies.
The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more than any qualification I ever earned.”
Here’s a list from Planned Parenthood of emergency contraception. Which one is right for you?
Those e-cigarette manufacturers say they aren’t trying to get young people to use their products, but this doesn’t seem to be true. These companies work to get as many people as possible to use their products and that includes young people. So, don’t believe them when they say they are only advertising to adults-don’t believe the hype.
Did you hear the Golden Globe acceptance speech that the performer Common gave last night? It was beautiful. Here it is.
This year I hope that you resolve to make the small changes that have a big impact. An example of a small change that has a big impact is when someone chooses to drink a little more water and a little less soda. This change can improve your weight, not right away-but keep it up and you will notice a difference.
Another New Year’s resolution I offer to you-eat more fiber and drink more water, so that you can poop more. I know some may be surprised that I’m suggesting you make a New Year’s resolution of pooping, but those people would be surprised at how many young people don’t eat enough fiber, drink enough water and end up with constipation. It’s also important to give yourself time to poop. Most young people may feel like they need to poop at school, but don’t feel comfortable doing that, so it’s really important that they take the time to poop at home. After dinner is a good time.
So, maybe this is a bit of a strange resolution, but do as I recommend and you’ll feel a lot better this whole year.
Over the next few days I’m going to list my New Year’s resolutions. Not my New Year’s resolutions, but my New Year’s resolutions for all of you. First, I resolve that all of you will get enough sleep. I have written over and over again about the importance of sleep on health and academic performance. Teens need 8.5 to 9 hours of sleep each night but so few get this amount. I know that school starts too early for most teens, but help your sleep health by putting away the computer and all screens early enough at night so that you can wind down.
The great author Walter Dean Myers died this year. He wrote more than 100 books for young people, including Monster and Bad Boy. Four months before he died Myers wrote an essay, “Where Are the Children of Color in Children’s Books” for the New York Times. Here is a quote from that essay that comments not only on the lack of diversity in literature, but speaks to larger issues of racism and disenfranchisement of so many young people in our increasingly diverse nation.
“I realized that this was exactly what I wanted to do when I wrote about poor inner-city children — to make them human in the eyes of readers and, especially, in their own eyes. I need to make them feel as if they are part of America’s dream, that all the rhetoric is meant for them, and that they are wanted in this country.”
Walter Dean Meyers, age 11
It can be really hard to eat healthy at a fast food restaurant and, unfortunately, it’s easy to eat poorly. In fact, it can be easy to eat all of the calories you should eat in a day in just one meal. Here’s an article from the New York Times that shows what 2,000 calories or a day’s calories looks like http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/12/22/upshot/what-2000-calories-looks-like.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=mini-moth®ion=top-stories-below&WT.nav=top-stories-below&abt=0002&abg=1.
I saw this quote at the gym while I was exercising today, “7 days without exercise equals 1 weak.” I prefer to be strong, how about you?
A recent study has shown that more and more young people are smoking e-cigarettes. Now, this may not be leading more young people to start smoking regular cigarettes or stop smoking regular cigarettes, but generally we know that smoking e-cigarettes is not healthy. If you don’t smoke, please don’t start smoking. If you do smoke cigarettes or e-cigarettes, talk to your healthcare provider about how to quit.
“There is no more neutrality in the world. You either have to be part of the solution, or you’re going to be part of the problem.”
Eldridge Cleaver, b. 1935 d.1998, Black Panther Party leader, author.
“Freedom is hammered out on the anvil of discussion, dissent, and debate.”
Hubert Humphrey, b.1911, d.1978, 38th Vice President of the United States
Flu season has begun and some of the cases of the flu are types of flu not covered by this year’s flu vaccine. However, the flu vaccine does provide protection against some flu strains that could cause illness and, if you are unlucky enough to get the flu despite the flu vaccine, the vaccine may help keep your illness mild. So, get your flu vaccine even though it may not keep you from getting the flu.
I love these types of inspirational sayings.
It is really cold here in Minnesota now, but many people like to exercise outside even in this weather. But, remember that you have to dress properly-with layers of warm clothes, insulated shoes and the right socks. I wore cotton socks in runny shoes when outside exercising recently-what a mistake. I should have worn synthetic socks that pulled sweat away from my skin and if I had enough space in my shoes I could have added a pair of wool socks on top. I learned my lesson-one of my toes hurt for a couple of days from the cold damage. Ow!
This dog is more appropriately dressed for his weather than I was for my weather.
I heard someone say the other day that the opposite of poverty is not wealth, it’s justice. Today, on Thanksgiving, I’m thankful for all people working for justice, and I’m thankful for those who serve those in need.
What a bummer! Cigarette smoking by teens in my state of Minnesota has declined, but almost 13% of high schoolers have tried e-cigarettes. Now, if you’re like me you are hoping that the rate of adolescent e-cigarette use is high because teens are using e-cigarettes to quit smoking. But, no such luck-many students who tried e-cigarettes never used any tobacco product before.
It is illegal in Minnesota to sell e-cigarettes to minors, but that hasn’t kept e-cigarette companies from marketing e-cigarettes to teens. Let’s push for more control of e-cigarette advertising to adolescents. It would have been great if e-cigarette companies used their product for good and not evil-no such luck.
I recently found out that people don’t move as much when it’s really warm or cold. It would be great if the temperature was always perfect, but it isn’t. For your health, you need to get out and move. On my way to work today, a cold day, I saw a young man who seemed to be heading to school. Not only was he getting exercise by walking to school, he was bouncing a basketball at the same time. What a good example for all of us.
Energy drinks are not poison, but a recent study found that more than half of calls to U.S. poison centers are about children who have drunk them. Some of these children have had suffered heart problems or had seizures after having an energy drink-young people of all ages have had problems with energy drinks because they have so much caffeine in them. It’s best to be careful and not risk your health with these drinks. They may not be poison, but you could end up in the hospital because of them.
From Choose My Plate, information about whole grains and how to eat more of them.
I’ve written about the Circle of 6 app before, but more young people need to use this anti-violence app, so here’s more about it.
Almost 100 percent of people agree that texting while driving is dangerous, but 75 percent of drivers say that they read or compose a text, or they check a phone for messages while driving. This does not compute. What also doesn’t compute-that a 15 month-old suffered a traumatic brain injury when the car he was in was hit by a car driven by a 17 year-old who was texting. You know texting while driving is dangerous for you and those around you-don’t do it.
There are many reasons why young people should think hard before having sex including those listed above. There is little to lose by waiting to have sex, but lots to lose if you have sex too early. Take your time, there’s no rush.
There was a recent article in the Atlantic on-line that had advice about the risks of heavy drinking from recent female college graduates to current students. Here’s one quote:
I’ve written about the importance of sleep for athletes and today I read another article about this. Here it is and I hope it will convince all of you, athletes or not, to get the sleep you need.
I’ve written previously about Cookie Cart a youth organization in Minneapolis that makes and sells cookies, and tonight I met many of those involved with this great group. Cookie Cart is gearing up for the upcoming holiday orders which made me think about what great gifts cookies from Cookie Cart would make. Learn more about ordering cookies from Cookie Cart here, http://shop.cookiecart.org. Yum!
“Sleep is the best meditation.”
Dalai Lama
Here’s a question for you-when should a young person start on birth control, before or after they first have sex? So, this isn’t really a hard question, but it’s amazing how often I have to discuss this with young people. We talk about how it’s okay to begin contraception even if they are only sort of thinking about having sex. It’s better to be safe, then pregnant and sorry.
For all students studying for the big test and all athlete’s going to practice for the umpteenth time-here some inspiration for you:
“I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion’.”
Muhammad Ali
There has been a lot written about Ebola, but just in case here is an article about it, http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/03/ebola-ask-well-spread-public-transit/?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=b-lede-package-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news. It’s a deadly infection that has killed many people in several African countries, but for most of the rest of the world the risk of getting Ebola is low. If you haven’t travelled to Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea recently, you are luckily at low risk.
Ebola really is an ugly virus.
It takes only 5 steps to reach and maintain a healthy weight. Curious? Find out more at http://teenshealth.org/teen/food_fitness/dieting/weight_tips.html.
There was a great article in the New York Times recently about the importance of sleep for teens. Did you know that 2 out of 3 teens are sleep deprived? I’ve written previously about the effect of sleep deprivation on IQ and grades, but if you don’t get enough sleep you are at higher risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and obesity. It is also linked to depression, suicidal ideation, and car accidents. Small changes can help with this. For example, starting school a half-hour later allowed a group of students in Minnesota to get more sleep, better grades and better standardized test scores. I may irritate young people when I stress the importance of sleep, but getting enough sleep is so important to success and health.
“All the secrets of the world are contained in books. Read at your own risk.”
Lemony Snicket
The other day someone told that Planned Parenthood of Minnesota and Washington state has an app that is like a “nurse in your purse”. With this app and $45 you can have a video visit with a Planned Parenthood provider and then get the birth control pill, patch, or ring in the mail. This is amazingly simple and convenient. Now that you have a “nurse in your purse” there is no reason that young women in Minnesota and Washington state who could get pregnant but wouldn’t want to, should get pregnant.
I was reading a newspaper article and saw a picture of something wearing a Girls Inc. t-shirt. Here’s a video about this wonderful organization.
The Ebola epidemic in Africa is concerning, as are the isolated other cases around the world. Wow, the amount of media coverage of the two Ebola cases in the US is amazing. I know we will be able to contain this Ebola problem because we are going to do what is needed to keep people safe and limit the spread of Ebola. But, I wonder why we can’t do something to address a more serious problem-the gun violence problem in the US? Did you know that everyday 32 people are murdered with guns and 51 people kill themselves with guns? If you’re worried about Ebola, you should be absolutely terrified of gun violence.
I literally saw someone drive up onto the curb and almost hit a pole today while going 40 mph because they were doing something with their phone while they were driving. The person with me said that it was a good thing that no one was in the bike lane because the texting driver would have plowed into them. I wonder what was so important on the phone?
I meet young people with asthma who have trouble with their breathing because someone smokes around them or because they themselves smoke. It can be hard to stop smoking, but help is out there. Smokefree TXT is a mobile text messaging program that sends you tips all day along with advice and encouragement. I don’t smoke, so I can’t tell you whether Smokefree TXT works, but I know it can’t hurt. Plus, since it can be hard to quit smoking-it makes sense to get all the help you can.
“. . . gentleness is stronger than severity, water is stronger than rock, love is stronger than force.”
Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha
My neighbor generously gave me some pumpkins from his garden today. Now I feel like fall is here and that Halloween in around the corner (which it is). Here an infographic from the Children’s Safety Network about Halloween safety which includes some things to think about when you buy your costume.
A couple of days ago I wrote that I got my flu vaccine, but I didn’t write about the experience. It was a pretty easy experience. I’m lucky because I was able to go down to a clinic where I work for the vaccine. After I signed in, the nurse took me back pretty quickly and I as I rolled up my sleeve the nurse told me to relax and not tense my arm. That’s when I realized my arm was tense and as I relaxed I tried to remember whether the flu shot hurts. For various reasons I can’t get the flu mist which is the nasal form of the flu vaccine, so I have to get a shot. Just as I was thinking about my previous experience with the flu shot, the nurse gave me the shot and guess what? I barely felt it! My arm was a little sore the next day, but that’s about all. The smallest amount of pain for a huge gain-I’m ready for flu season.
Yeah! I got my flu vaccine today. I always feel good when I get my flu vaccine because I know I’m doing what’s needed to keep myself healthy.
It is so sad to hear of young people injured or killed by gun violence. There is so much we need to do to fix this problem, but one thing that would help would be for parents to make sure that their child has no access to guns. I know that parents can’t watch young people every moment, but parents do need to know who their child’s friends are, who the parents are, and whether these are people who are good influences or are they ones who will lead a young person into trouble-maybe death.
See how much more processing (the red, yellow, green colors) your brain is able to do if you have regular exercise. Studies are showing that young people who exercise do better academically than those who don’t exercise. Exercising students have better math test scores, reading test scores, and they can more easily sit in class without getting distracted. Exercise has also been shown to make it easier for someone with ADHD to do well in school. So, this is your brain on exercise-ready to do really well in school.
I saw someone today that I hadn’t seen for a couple of years. She looked completely different-better. I asked her if she had lost weight and she told me she had; she has lost 60! pounds. She said that she lost weight by primarily cutting out sugary drinks. What she did proves that it is possible to lose a lot of weight. It also shows how bad sugary drinks are. I suppose if you are really thirsty and there is nothing else to drink, than drinking a sugary drink makes sense. But how often does something like that happen?
It really is true-if you push yourself to exercise even when you’re tired you do feel better, energized. In my experience, I often don’t want to exercise after a busy day, but when I do exercise I feel good and proud of myself. It helps to have an exercise partner because it’s hard to say that you won’t exercise when you’ve arranged to do it in advance with someone. You should try it yourself. Arrange a schedule of exercising with someone and see if this helps you exercise more often and if you feel better.
I don’t want to keep talking over and over again about the effects of drugs of abuse, like marijuana, on the brain-but it’s a concern. As I wrote about yesterday, the brain keeps developing until someone is in their late 20s. This means that the brain can be more easily affected than it would be when it is older. The brain changes from being like plastic to being fixed like stone as it ages. So, you don’t want to do anything that could harm your developing brain-and really, you don’t want to harm it at any time in your life. Protect your developing brain by staying away from drugs.
Our brains develop until our mid to late 20’s. This means that young people should engage in new experiences, experiment but remember to not take too many risks. For example, see the world, meet new people, and try new things-but don’t do things like experimenting with drugs. I guess what I’m trying to say is that when you’re young you should be daring, but not reckless.
I can’t emphasize enough how important it is that someone with asthma not be exposed to tobacco smoke of any kind. This means that they shouldn’t smoke, shouldn’t be around someone who is smoking, or even be around someone who has been smoking. People sometimes think that if someone smokes in another room or outside than their asthma won’t be affected. The truth is that smoke stays on clothes. So, what’s the solution if someone with asthma lives with someone who smokes? The best solution is for the smoker to get help to quit. It’s the healthiest way for everyone involved.
The Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline offers crisis intervention resources, information and referrals to help for anyone. Call 1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453) to prevent or get treatment for child abuse. They are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Congratulations Americorps on your 20th anniversary. It has been 20 years and over 900,000 volunteers #gettingthingsdone. Here’s the Americorps pledge-inspiring and invigorating.
drj4teenhealth 