The Health-Conscious Teenager

As a teenager, you are the bridge between childhood and adulthood and it comes with a lot of physical, mental, social, emotional, spiritual, etc, pressures. Whether at home, in school, or at the work place, you are so fully occupied that establishing and maintaining a healthy lifestyle can be really hard. But you need to note that you are at a critical growth stage and whatever habits you espouse now will, most likely, be with you for the rest of your life.

It is therefore, important that you form and keep good and healthy habits in taking care of your spirit, soul and body. The health-conscious teen should be focused on all-round good health long-term – physical, mental, spiritual, and social.

Michelle Zehr shares the following in her article, “A Healthy Lifestyle for Teens”;

Exercise: To remain healthy as a teen, maintain a healthy weight. Regular exercise and good eating habits are crucial to your health and well-being. Teens should get 60 minutes of physical activity each day. Exercise can include aerobics, flexibility exercises and strength training. It is important to find an activity or multiple activities you enjoy. Consider sports, weight lifting, aerobics class, swimming, walking or running. If 60 minutes seems like a lot of exercise to commit to at one time, it's okay to break up your exercise sessions throughout the day.

Healthy Eating: Good eating habits are also important in maintaining a healthy weight. Eat a variety of foods, and remember that it is okay to have an occasional treat. Consider eliminating soda pop from your diet, eating at least five servings of fruits and vegetables each day, eating foods from all the different food groups, choosing healthy snacks, always eating breakfast and avoiding eating just because you are bored.

Bad Habits: Avoid bad habits -- including tobacco, drug and alcohol use. These products can have long-term effects on your health. Tobacco not only smells bad and affected the people around you, but can lead to serious conditions including lung and heart disease.

Another concern for teenagers is the pressure to try alcohol. KidsHealth.org indicates that 80 percent of teenagers have given alcohol a try. Alcohol impairs your judgment, adds calories to your diet, can destroy relationships and can lead to liver problems.

Drugs are another temptation. Drugs problems can come in the form of inhalants, marijuana use or the abuse of prescription drugs. Drugs abuse is dangerous for your mind and body, and overdosing on drugs can cause long-term health effects or even death. If you think you have a substance or alcohol abuse problem, talk to a trusted adult, parent or counselor.

Sexual Health: If you have made the decision to have sex as a teenager, make wise decisions regarding your health. To avoid pregnancy and getting a sexually transmitted disease, use protection in the form of condoms, birth control pills, shots, rings and patches, IUDs, diaphragms, spermicide or cervical caps. Remember that prescription birth control methods do not protect you from sexually transmitted diseases. Talk to your doctor about the birth control methods that are right for you. When you become sexually active, make a yearly trip to your doctor for a checkup.

These are very important considerations and I will add some more, mainly, social, emotional and spiritual health.

Social Health: Social development is a very critical growth area for teenagers. Human beings are social mammals and we love to build relationships with others – family, friends, and community. Social health for the teenager involves establishing a good relationship with yourself and with others, including your community.

Teenagers struggle with self-esteem. What is self-esteem? It is simply, the way you feel about yourself. As a teenager, you need to have a positive image of yourself to grow up successfully, into an adult. Encourage yourself daily and celebrate your milestones. It may seem hard with so much pressure and criticism. Pay attention to constructive criticism and avoid the ones that try to ridicule you or make you feel inadequate and worthless. See your mistakes as lessons learned and focus on your strengths which lie in your skills and abilities. Put them to good use to impact lives and your community positively.

Teenagers also battle peer pressure. At this point in their lives, they are will likely spend more time with their friends and less time with their parents, so friends can influence their thinking and behavior. Peer pressure can be a positive influence where, for example, a teenager is motivated to do well in school; and negative where, for example, a teenager is induced to smoke, drink alcohol, use drugs, or to engage in irresponsible sex and other risky behaviour. In order to reduce the influence of dangerous peer pressure, teenagers need positive mentoring relationships to guide them toward making good decisions; to reinforce good values; and to nurture their positive self-esteem.

Teenagers, many times, do not realize how much they contribute to their community, good or bad. Social health also involves that. Are you law abiding, an active participant in the community’s development, and a productive and patriotic citizen? Unruly behaviour, unsanitary conduct and criminal character are examples of social ill-health.

Spiritual Health: Your spiritual health is a great part of living and as a teenager, who is a Christian, you need to give it your utmost attention. Just like your physical wellbeing is accomplished through good hygiene, you can establish and maintain your spiritual health through good spiritual hygiene. Joshua 1:8 gives us one of the recipes – “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall read [and meditate on] it day and night, so that you may be careful to do [everything] in accordance with all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will be successful”.

Pastor Wayne D. Turner lists four practices for good spiritual hygiene;

1)   Read your Bible

2)   Pray

3)   Fellowship with other believers

4)   Share your faith with others

Pastor Turner adds that God wants to see believers living their lives before the world in a manner that glorifies Him through our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. How can you do this? Go to Galatians 5:22-23, “But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely” (MSG).