The teen years are a time when eating disorders may emerge. Long periods of time without food can leave blood sugar low, which triggers headaches. Use of laxatives and diuretics as well as purging food by vomiting can lead to a constant state of dehydration and frequent headaches. Excessive consumption of sugary foods can also lead to headaches. It's not always enough to just tell your teen what he or she should be eating and when, although this is a start. Try, whenever possible, to lead by example.
If your teen sees you eating nutritious foods and also eating on a regular basis, this sets the standard for him or her to follow. If your teen has developed a sensitivity or allergy to a certain food, a headache diary may help to pinpoint the offending food. Your teen's doctor may also conduct direct allergy testing to determine if a food is responsible for headaches or migraines.
Stress
Common stresses that happen in a family are marriage problems, separation and divorce. These can be devastating for teens and when a conflict is ongoing, such as frequent fighting in the home, teens may suffer from chronic headaches. If your teen is complaining of frequent headaches and you are aware of family problems, consider counselling. Many schools provide counselling for students free of charge.
Alternately, you may wish to have group counselling where the entire family can share feelings and discuss ways of coping. Communication is key and your teen's headaches aren't likely to disappear if you don't facilitate open communication. Some studies have suggested that teens actually benefit more from alternative approaches to headache treatment than do adults, so this may be a preferable choice for some as opposed to prescription drugs. Teens are often intrigued by alternative approaches and may be willing to try methods such as yoga and acupuncture.
Hormones
Adolescent girls may find that they experience headaches around the time of menstruation. It is thought that the fluctuations in oestrogen levels trigger headaches in women. As menstrual cycles may already be irregular during the teen years when puberty and development are occurring, headaches can strike rather sporadically. Menstrual migraines can also occur just before and after a girl has her period while other non-migraine headaches may attack during menstruation, when oestrogen levels are low. If your teen can identify the early signs of an oncoming headache, he or she can try over-the-counter pain relievers such as acetaminophen to prevent the headache from getting worse.
Migraines
Many people will experience their first migraine during the teenage years. Headaches are common among teens but migraines are different. They are an intense throbbing headache, often accompanied by dizziness, vomiting and the appearance of halos or light spots around objects. During earlier childhood years, migraines generally afflict boys and girls equally but after puberty, women are affected about three times more than men. Migraines can wreck havoc on a teen's ability to function. He or she may frequently miss school, avoid sports and feel unable to socialise with other teens.
Treatment for migraines is often complex and involves identifying personal triggers and may require prescription drugs. Your teen's doctor is the primary person for providing an effective treatment plan.
Illness
Various illnesses that tend to strike during teen years, such as glandular fever and frequent bacterial infections such as strepthroat can result in headaches, either directly from the illness itself or from antibiotics prescribed. Mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression trigger headaches and may also occur from the strain of handling chronic headaches themselves. Immediate relief can be obtained from over-the-counter medications but do check to ensure any prescription drugs don't contraindicate them. You can also have your teen lie down in a dark room and you can place a cool compress on your teen's head to soothe the pain.
Illegal Drugs
The teen years are often a time of experimentation with illegal drugs and many of these cause withdrawal headaches in addition to other more severe effects. Amphetamines and other stimulant drugs can leave users with intense headaches as the drug wears off. If you suspect that your teen is suffering from drug-related headaches, you can try to speak to him or her but it may also be wise to seek advice from your doctor or a school counsellor on how to best approach the subject.
Headaches from Prescription Medications
Your teen's headaches may be triggered by prescription medications. Medications often prescribed to teens are birth control pills and antibiotics such as tetracycline for acne; both of these can trigger headaches. Some girls may find that birth control pills make headaches worse while others will experience significant relief from head pain. Other drugs your teen may be taking include vitamin A based prescription drugs for acne, such as isotretinoin. Although isotretinoin is effective for severe acne, it does have many side effects such as headaches.
The adolescent years can be a complicated and stressful time, but can also be full of exciting changes, new experiences and friendships. Headaches may be infrequent or chronic but fortunately, they are rarely caused by a serious disorder. By addressing headaches and their sources now, your teen can spend more time enjoying the adolescent years.
Unfortunately, a lot of these overweight kids are victims of a lack of balanced home prepared meals due to the busy lifestyles of parents, whom are probably not eating wisely themselves.
Fast food style restaurants are more concerned with their bottom line rather than feeding the consumer with an inexpensive, healthy, low calorie tasty meal. Kids and parents keep going back for more since it fills you up, taste good and it's affordable.
Fast food is a poor persons worst enemy when it comes to a healthy daily meal, since a persons hunger pangs can be relieved for under five bucks.
The adolescence of today are facing the perfect storm for becoming overweight or obese with the poor eating habits and the absence of daily vigorous activity. Parents need to prevent their kids from ever needing to lose weight so they aren't faced with health and social problems later on in adulthood.
The chances of kids growing up with good eating habits and embracing exercise and physical activity as a way of life are not to good if the parents aren't setting a good example with better eating and lifestyle choices themselves.
When the babyboomer generation was growing up, extracarricular activity generally involved some sort of athletic, vigorous calorie burning sport, now it's TV, computers and video games. And the generations before were out in the fields, growing and harvesting the food for their families, or working usually at a physically demanding job. Obesity was not a problem.
50% of American families today don't have a sit down meal together, allowing kids to make their own food choices or given an allowance for a pizza or you guessed it(fast food). Kids that have a parent at home have a better chance at the rewards of balanced meals.
Schools have finally jumped on the nutritional bandwagon and have added more balanced food products while reducing or elliminating many of the high fat and cholesterol foods, according to a 2006 study by School Health Policies and Programs Study (SHPPS). Parents can rest a little easier knowing that the school system is making great strides in educating and offering healthier foods.
The foods parents provide at home can echo what the schools are offering with more fruits and vegetables, more whole grain products and less high fat foods and soda pop. Also, only 18.8% of schools offer deep-fried potatoes, down dramatically from 40.0% in 2000.
Tips: Prepare healthy meals ahead of the school week that are full of the daily needed nutrients and elliminate all the bad food stuff such as deep fried potatoes and other high fat products. Cold whole grain cereal or oatmeal for breakfast and large salads sprinkled with whole grain and protein rich meat for dinner is one easy method and have delicious fruit for dessert. Reduce or eliminate cookies, candy cola, cake and chips, or be creative and find a recipe for whole grain desserts.
The formula for maintaining a healthy weight is no different for children than it is for adults. Burn more calories than you take in and you have the best chance possible for weight control. School sports or sports outside the class room is one surefire fat burning activity, but if this isn't feesible encourage the kids to start the day with some aerobics and stretching that will counteract all the TV and computer sitting, or 10 minutes of exercise for every hour they sit.
The children of today are at the mercy of the parents and adults to show them the dangers of eating poorly and all the health issues that can arise at an early age of adulthood, including heart disease, diabetes, cancer and even premature death.
Some Studies: Overweight children and adolescents are more likely to become obese as adults. One study found that approximately 80% of children who were overweight at aged 10-15 years were obese adults at age 25. Source: Centers For Disease Control (CDC)
Another study concluded that if a women was overweight before she became pregnant, her child was nearly three times more likely to be overweight by age 7 compared to a child whose mother was not overweight or obese. Source: National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Balancing the calories from foods and beverages and the calories being used everyday is paramount for health and wellness.
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