Tag: teenagers

It never ceases to amaze me how life changing a simple moment can be—and, if you visit Monterey, you’ll know why.

Things like waking up to the smell of clean, ocean air. Knowing, when you wake up, the world's greatest tasting breakfast is on its way. The joy of knowing my teenage children are just a few feet away and all the miracles we discover in the coming hours will be shared by all of us.

The research is in: most teens get 25-33 percent less sleep than they need. Anyone not getting enough sleep has difficulty focusing, reasoning, driving safely, learning and working. As a parent, it's important that you and your spouse are educated about this topic to help establish healthy habits in your teen who can go on to achieve their full potential.

Most researchers agree that many of the common traits of adolescence—moodiness, impulsiveness, disengagement and depression, even obesity—are symptoms of chronic sleep deprivation.

In Part 1, we discussed why it’s important to talk to your teenagers about sex, and for good reason. Recent studies by the Center for Disease Control and Stanford University predict that up to 50 percent of today’s college-aged young adults are destined to get an sexually transmitted disease (STD) by the age of 25, and the United States still has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the developed world, accounting for 10 percent of live births in 2010. The most important bottom line of all these recent studies is that these eye-opening statistics are a direct result of a lack of basic sex education. Face it, no one is in this country is comfortable when talking about sex… especially to your children.

For couples between the ages of mid-30s and late-50s with kids, chances are your children fall somewhere in or near their tumultuous teenage years. Along with the disrespectful back talk, breaking curfews, texting in a language that you do not understand, and possibly smoking and drinking, there is another 800-pound gorilla in the room—the fact that your babies are becoming sexual beings.

After marijuana was legalized for adults in the U.S. state of Washington, younger teens there perceived it to be less harmful and reported using it more, a new study found.

States should consider developing evidence-based prevention programs aimed at adolescents before they legalize the recreational use of marijuana, the researchers say.

"Across the country there has been a decreased perception of risk," said lead author Magdalena Cerda, of the University of California, Davis School of Medicine in Sacramento.

She told Reuters Health that trying marijuana at a young age is tied to an increased risk of regular use later on. Chronic use of marijuana may be tied to negative outcomes, such as psychosis and poor financial status.