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10 things to do before summer ends!

This thought sent me straight into list mode, noting down things that I want to do before the days start to get shorter and cooler. (Daylight savings ends this year on Sunday November 2nd.)

Caffeine and Teens' Sleep: An Eye-Opening Study

You may have spotted your teen staying up later than he used to. Activities that could be filling his late hours might include computer games, TV shows, phone calls, or music. Have you ever thought about caffeine intake as one of the reasons your teen is a night owl?

According to a recent study, eating foods, drinking beverages, or taking medications that have caffeine may lead to daytime sleepiness and breaks in sleep at night. Almost 200 high school students took part in this 14-day study. They reported on the time they went to bed and woke up, any caffeine intake, and any naps they took. At the end of the study, the researchers found that teens with higher caffeine intake slept fewer hours at night and took more naps during the day than those who had less caffeine.¹

New Study Reveals More Than 3 Million Adolescents and Young Adults Have Used Non-Prescription Cough and Cold Medicines to Get High at Least Once in Their Lifetimes

Date: 1/10/2008
Media Contact: SAMHSA Press Office
Telephone: 240-276-2130

The level is comparable to LSD, and more than the reported use of methamphetamines, among those aged 12 to 25. White youths were more than three times as likely as Black youths to have misused these drugs during the past year.

Know the Warning Signs—Prevent Suicide in Young People

Suicide is a serious problem among young people. You may be surprised to learn that it is the third leading cause of death for 15- to 19-year-olds in the United States. Only accidents and homicide are more common causes of death for this age group¹. A far greater number of youths attempt suicide each year. Suicide attempts are not easy to count because many may not be treated in a hospital or may not be recorded as self-inflicted injuries. Survey data from 2005 show that 17 percent of high school students had seriously thought about suicide, 13 percent had made plans to attempt suicide, and more than 8 percent had made a suicide attempt during the year before the survey.²

Build It and They Will Come!!

A Family that lives on the outskirts of Anchorage, Alaska decided to build a sturdy, colorful playground for their 3 and 4 year old sons. They lined the bottoms with smooth-stone gravel all the way around to avoid knee scrapes and other injuries. They finished building it one Friday evening and were very pleased with the end product. The following morning, the mom was about to wake up the boys and have them go out to play in their new play center. This is what she saw from the upstairs window on the way to the boys room:

13 things to keep in your 'everyday' bag

These are things that are useful and that may help keep any children entertained if you get held up, or are at an adult focused activity. In no particular order they are:

Food Advertising and Junk Food

When was the last time you saw junk food advertised on TV? How about veggies? For junk food(1), you probably answered, “The last time I watched TV with my child.” For veggies, most likely you said, “Never.”

Food Pyramid: “Junk food” is a term that refers to foods with high fat and/or sugar and few nutrients. However, healthy eating includes all foods in proportion to what you eat overall, not at any one meal or snack. http://www.mypyramid.gov/

Setting Heathy Goals

For many of us, New Year’s resolutions are grandly made and easily broken. Why? Because a resolution is just that—a decision. To make a life change, you need more than a decision. You need a plan. The plan is the guide to put your decision into action so that you can reach your goal. It’s up to you to take steps to get closer to your goal. Learning how to set goals takes practice.

Energy Drinks: Power Boosts or Empty Boasts?

Slick packaging, edgy themes, exotic ingredients, and special formulas are all part of the hype about energy drinks. A growing number of beverages promise quick energy as well as performance and nutritional benefits to athletes, students, partygoers—anyone who wants a pick-me-up. Yet, claims about these products often are inflated while health risks such as dehydration, overstimulation, and the double danger of combining energy drinks with alcohol receive little attention.

Do you know what your child drinks between meals and when he works out or plays sports? Make sure both of you understand which ingredients energy drinks contain and the effects they produce.

Sleepy Teens at Schools and Behind the Wheel

"Kids have so much energy!" is not true for many American teens, who actually require more sleep than they did as children. A poll by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) shows that most teens are not getting the 9.25 hours of sleep they need each night.1 One reason is that a teen's biological clock changes during puberty and disrupts their normal sleep-wake cycle. Many teens find it is hard to fall asleep until late at night; then, they want to sleep later in the morning. However, many demands on teens, such as early school times, conflict with their new sleeping pattern. As a result, teens often do not get the sleep they need. They are sleepy when they most need to be alert. Teens can have trouble paying attention and learning in school, especially in the morning. In the NSF poll, 15 percent of teens said they fell asleep at school sometime during the year.(2)