By Taylor LaTray Posted February 15, 2012
Teens and their parents these days should be aware of possible health issues that kids are facing. Teenage years are the most crucial years in a person’s life. They determine what groups someone will enter, who they will be, and how successful they will be in the future. Many beliefs and habits are impulsive decisions based on their peers, environment and friends, which is not always healthy.
There is a happy medium between letting your children run free and giving them limits without being too strict. Health problems that usually develop at a teenage stage are drug and alcohol abuse, emotional health issues, teen pregnancy, diseases, weight problems and more. These are of course drastic results to parents simply doing their job too well, or not doing their job, but it happens.
“I believe the majority of health issues are caused by the way kids eat or how they treat their body from drinking or smoking,” said Rikki Hamilton. “If kids have problems with their body image it’s most likely because they got bullied about that aspect of their body. If you’re healthy, you should be happier with who you are”
Causes are not completely blamed on parents, teens have their own image and at one point you can’t control anything that happens. Other causes of unhealthy choices and conditions are puberty-related. When going through puberty you get urges and feelings to experience different things you never did before.
Fitness and nutrition do have a huge impact on your future, when you look better, you typically feel better. The necessary steps to having good hygiene and being healthy need to be taken, by everyone. If you do not take care of yourself, you will not be seen in such a good way. If you can’t take care of your own self, what can you take care of?
Ignoring drug and alcohol abuse can lead to many other issues besides problems with your body. Abuse of such substances can cause death to someone around you or your own. It affects your whole future; one mistake can lead to a lifetime of mistakes. Even being turned away because of your own choices can cause problems for the rest of your life, derailing your decisions into a further wrong path. Abuse of drugs and alcohol is risky, and it’s honestly just not worth the risk to hurt yourself or others. Be responsible.
When talking about teen pregnancy, it’s not just directed towards the ladies. A girl and a boy are responsible for a pregnancy. Pregnancies usually come from irresponsible urges and choices. Not using protection can pose problems to your future life and also you can receive and spread sexually transmitted diseases. Once again, it’s not worth the risk. When participating in these events you’re dangling your own future in front of you; you’re hurting yourself.
Basically, whether they care to admit it or not, teenagers are mental roller coasters. If your mental stage gets too out of control and you can not handle it yourself, you can always talk to someone. If you refuse to talk to someone you can develop rage, aggression, stress, eating disorders, etc. Not everyone overcomes the large amounts of the setbacks adolescents experience in their lives. Signs of mental disorders that should be immediately treated, these disorders can not be passed from one peer to another. So if a teen has a disorder such as being bipolar, autism, depression, or anxiety; they should be treated just like everyone else.
Teenagers need to pay attention to all parts of their health. If you take care of yourself, a brighter future will come for you. Being healthy in these aspects can lead to a better mentality towards life for an all-around better society.
