Smoking addiction in teenage obese girls (KEYWORD: Teenage emotional support) Teenagers live an edgy life and often

succumb to various addictions to find a recluse. Smoking in teenagers is a well known phenomenon; it s just that latest researches have discovered a significant fact in smoking patterns of teenage girls. According to results of a survey study reported in June 2011 in the Journal of Adolescent Health, obese adolescent girls have more than twice the risk for high-level nicotine addiction as compared with nonobese adolescent girls. This finding bears enormous potential in the spectrum of teenagers smoking patterns, and has opened the gates of a new kind of debate. The lack of adequate teenage emotional support and extreme peer pressure are two closest causes of teenage smoking. The school-based and in-home survey consisted of more than 4000 respondents and the relationship between nicotine addiction and obesity was evaluated with multivariate linear and logistic regression analyses. The alarming pattern of nicotine addiction in obese teenagers may represent a confluence of factors including lack of self confidence, social marginalization, poor self esteem, strained relationships, depression, poor academic performances etc. By this study, it was noted that obesity might not be a stand-alone risk factor for high-level nicotine addiction; similar psychological vulnerable factors might result in a battery of problem behaviors that includes obesity as well as heavy smoking. Teenage emotional support is very important to keep such addictive behavior and associated problems at bay. It was found that the strongest predictor of nicotine addiction was family smoking. In the families where smoking was a taboo, or simply not encouraged and practiced due to cultural or health reasons, the ratio of nonobese teenage girls succumbing to smoking was less when compared to the families where smoking was present. Thus the alarming figures can be reduced if adequate health education is imparted to the families and teenage emotional support is rendered with full gusto. It is important to prevent poor medical outcomes in context with obesity, and smoking patterns in teenage girls stand a high importance. There is a compelling need of taking the psychological issues of obese teenagers with extreme preference and in totality so that the menace is stemmed at the grass root level. Stressed teens stand high likelihood of succumbing to addictions to divert their attention; we need to focus on the root area of the problem so that its extent and effects can be well minimized in time. Obese teenagers should be given well equipped, practical and simulating counseling sessions to rejuvenate their self esteem and interest in life. Indulging in addictions is an escapist route and we must strive hard to make our teenagers responsible enough to understand the ways of life and deal with them with a positive and resourceful mind. Teenage emotional support is the key in thwarting such health menace and to ensure optimum mental state of our teenagers. It is hoped that future works to better elucidate the process by which obese teenagers become highly addicted to smoking will open gates for specific interventions for this population at substantial health risks. Teenage emotional support should be practiced by every responsible member of the society to give our adolescents a strong foundation. At this stage it seems imperative for parents to model positive

behaviors by abstaining from smoking and consuming alcohol, carrying out a healthy life style and encouraging commitment to moral values, academics and an overall good health.

The negative impact of different types of media on adolescents sleep (KEYWORD: Teenage emotional support) Teenage emotional support is an important means of keeping the teenagers content and healthy. Latest scientific researches have shown that watching television and indulging in computer entertainment and video games puts a negative effect on the quality and quantity of adolescents sleep. Teenagers face a lot of challenges when it comes to sleeping tight; the real culprits include high level of anxiety and associating late night waking with social maturity, browsing internet late at night and overindulgence in various social networking sites, late night communication to friends by texting and watching television till the wee hours. Teenage emotional support at home can produce radical changes in such conditions. Most common disturbing patterns in sleep behavior of teenagers were difficulty in sleep initiation and sleep fragmentation. One of the most interesting findings was that only about 10% of the teenagers slept within the recommended sleep time, which is about 9 hours. Teenagers sleeping less than 7 hours per night were more likely to be involved with a heavy internet use and/or video game activity. There are serious speculations that the rays of light emanating from the LCD screens of TV, computer or mobile phone affect the circadian rhythm of the teenagers, leading to the altered sleeping pattern. Late to bed and late to rise has become the new age dictum for majority of teenagers and lack of enough teenage emotional support is one major factor to blame in such settings. The stimulus of light might prevent the pineal body s action which regulates the sleep cycle and circadian rhythm. The data was analyzed by Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) to form valid associations between media exposure, physical activity and self-reported sleep time in teenagers. The report was presented at American Psychiatric Association 2011 Annual Meeting and findings were based on a sample size of more than 16,000 teenagers with average age of about 16 years. As of now it seems that more data is needed to strengthen the association, however the data suggest that the type of impact different media exposures have on sleep may vary according to the source. Gaming and internet have been ascertained to be greater culprits than television. Lack of adequate teenage emotional support causes heavy indulgence in television and internet. The mind stimulation during such activities is also responsible for interfering with onset and maintenance of sound sleep; greater level of adrenergic rush seen with gaming, chatting and social networking explains well the insomniac spells of teenagers. Television, on the other hand, is not considered that bad for a teenager s sleeping habits when compared with other media counterparts notably internet and video games. It might be due to that fact that while watching

television the teenager is in a passive mode of brain s activity, hence sleep cycle is not affected as much as it gets when engaged in active brain stimulation. This loss of adequate sleep can be a powerful determinant for failing school performances, adverse impacts on overall health and emotional well-being of the adolescents. Teenage emotional support should be actively practiced by parents and care takers. Parents should exercise caution in letting their teenagers indulge in such entertainment activities; there should be moderate parental control over the sleep timings and internet surfing behavior to ensure adequate sleep in night.

Impact of physicians over adolescent smoking behavior (KEYWORD: Teenage emotional support) The problem of smoking in teenagers is a ubiquitous one with spreading tentacles. Lack of effective teenage emotional support can be blamed for this problem, which has been growing day by day. Teenagers love to emulate their smoking seniors and to find a temporary relief from the stressed and confused state of minds, succumb to smoking. According to the results of a retrospective observational study reported in May 2011, physician tobacco related interactions with adolescents may positively affect their outlooks, interest in smoking, in-depth knowledge and quitting behaviors, thereby reducing the prevalence and incidence of smoking in teenagers. Thus physicians hold the key in turning a lot of troubled teenagers to a healthy life style with reduced risk of smoking related disorders. Parents can, at their best, provide paramount teenage emotional support to make their adolescents practice healthy habits. The goal of the study was to assess the association between recalled physician communication and adolescents self-rated attitudes regarding smoking, knowledge concerning smoking, intentions to smoke and quitting behaviors in general. Early reports have been very positive and expectedly a decent physician advice increases quit rates 1% to 3% above unassisted quit rates. Physician advice was associated with increased knowledge about the mal-effects of smoking and increase compliance to abstinence from smoking. Limitations of this study included inconsistent sample populations, correlational design and measure of physician communication based on student recall. It seems rational to think that the novice minds of teenagers may be guided to the light of knowledge by an expert s counseling. A physician is the master in health related subjects; this can be the prime factor holding belief in the teenager s mind about what the physician has to say. The combination of screening and advice was found to be associated with healthier attitudes towards smoking and precise knowledge regarding ill health effects that smoking is known to cause. It also provided the teenagers a choice to have asked their doubts and beliefs about smoking to the physician and be assured of precise answer. There are a lot of lessons to take home in the light of this study. Though importance of excellent teenage emotional support can not be underestimated; there should be large scale, necessary programs

in schools that ensure physician to teenager interaction. This would be helpful in clearing the smoking related concepts from the nave minds of teenagers. It is all about informed choice; adolescents can t be forced to quit smoking if they don t want to, but they can be imparted the health related facts associated with smoking so that they can rethink with enlightened minds. At present, physicians are not actively advising adolescents to quit smoking at desirable levels, but researches have shown that they value being associated as partners in providing teenage emotional support and helping adolescents quit the habit. Efforts should be taken to involve the physicians into the core efforts dedicated to help adolescents quit the puff.

Too much internet leads to depression in teenagers (KEYWORD: Teenage emotional support) The scientific findings reported in January 2011 in Journal of Pediatrics reveal that spending too much time might be related with depression in adolescents. The researchers opined that both heavy internet users, and non-users are thought to be having a stressed mental state and troubled times. Heavy internet use was indicated by more than 2 hours of internet activity per day; the study surveyed about 7,000 teenagers. It clearly shows the importance of teenage emotional support in the wide spectrum of teen health. The teenagers were also asked a battery of questions pertaining to health related topics to judge their knowledge of warning signs of depression and other adolescent mental disorders. The study could clearly make out that compared with regular users, teenagers who were heavy users or non-users were more likely to be depressed or very depressed. Among male teenagers, heavy users and non-users were about 33% more likely to have symptoms associated with depressive illness. Among girls, heavy internet users risked an 86% greater chance of depression in contrast to non-users who were associated with 46% increase. As teenagers more often use internet to connect with friends and manage their social networks, its speculated that those who were non-users of internet were socially more isolated, hence vulnerable to succumb to depression. Ineffective teenage emotional support is the most important predisposing factor in such conditions. A different study from Switzerland published in 2010 asked pediatricians to estimate the rates of mental health disorders in the teenagers and the response for depression was a whopping 1.4%. That shows the magnitude of the problem that the teenagers are facing these days and if the experts are to be believed, the figures just represent the tip of

an iceberg. We must understand the importance of teenage emotional support to improve the mental health of our teenagers. A heavy dose of internet leads the exposure of teenager to a variety of contents that may be disturbing in nature. Though most parents use the safe browsing practices for their teenagers, there may be occasional slips. Teenager s mind can easily be distracted by the aggression in today s video games with assortment of rapidly flashing visual schemes causing occult stress to the mind and increasing the chances of depression and other adolescent mental disorders. It s very common to find the cases of internet addiction these days; many a teenagers check their social network updates the first thing after waking up in the morning. Such behavior is widely prevalent but more common in the adolescents who are deprived of necessary teenage emotional support. To maintain a healthy body and mind, one has to nourish both. A healthy mind develops by rational thinking, learning, analyzing and observing; an adolescent with heavy internet usage rarely gets time to appreciate the real things in life. The habit of living in the virtual world soon takes a toll and depressive features start appearing; it s the direct result of inadequate teenage emotional support. It is important for the parents to allot a fixed number of hours per week to their teenager for internet activities and to monitor the sessions by banning restricted sites. Parents should make efforts to cultivate good habits in their adolescents and keep them involved in the real world rather than the virtual life of internet. The use of internet for teenagers should be limited to gathering required knowledge; for entertainment and social purposes more emphasis should be placed on games, extra curricular activities and meeting up friends and relatives. Teenage emotional support should never be compromised by the parents, care takers and teachers. Many a times teenagers tend to emulate the adult behavior about internet activities and end up spending more than the required time in such activities. To motivate the teenager to keep the internet surfing sessions in check with regards to quality and quantity, the family members must discipline themselves as well. Positive reinforcement techniques work best in such settings and efforts should be taken to make the adolescent understand the good internet-user behavior.