1. Depression and Teenagers
In accordance with the statistics, girls are twice as likely as boys to suffer from depression; in addition, they are nearly twice as likely as boys to consider suicide. Therefore, typical signs of depression in teenagers are usually not obvious. Anyway, parents should be on the lookout for the following ones:
- Sadness, which lasts for more than two weeks in a row;
- Crying, constant tearfulness;
- Feeling of hopelessness;
- Somewhat decreased interest in all kinds of activities;
- Constant boredom;
- Trying to get isolated from other people;
- Low feeling of self esteem and raised feeling of guilt;
- Somewhat increased irritability;
- Difficulty with keeping relationships;
- Frequent complains headaches and / or stomachaches;
- Expressions or thoughts of suicide or behavior, which seems to be self destructive
In case if one or more symptoms, which are mentioned above, are noticed in any of the teenagers, it would be advisable to talk to the heath care professional as soon as possible.
2. Nutrition and Adolescent Girls
It is not a secret for anyone that girls grow somewhat faster during the adolescence period, than at any other time of their lives. This increased growth requires a huge amount of vitamins and minerals, which are best found in food, totaling an average of 2,200 calories per day. Therefore, it is not very often, that a teenage girl would eat a well – balanced food and get all the nutrients, necessary for her quickly growing and developing organism. For example, girls usually do not get enough calcium, which can become the reason of osteoporosis, or iron, which can become the reason of anemia, etc.
Being a parent of a teenager, it is necessary to refocus on his or her diet in order to include at least five servings of fruits and vegetables and three, eight – ounces glasses of milk every day. It would be good to provide a teenager with such nutritional snacks, as cut up fruit, pretzels, cheese sticks, individual yogurts and butter – free popcorn. Soft drinks should better not be brought into the house. Besides, for every parent it would be perfect to set a good example by eating nutritiously himself / herself at home or while dining out.
3. Exercise and Adolescent Girls
All parents should encourage their children to lead active way of life, and all long – exercise habits are formed during the period of adolescence. And active way of life means some kind of physical activity every day, with somewhat more vigorous activity (which results in a sustained increased heart rate) at least 20 minutes a day three days a week. It can be either on organized teams or through some individual kinds of sports or exercise programs, still, the main idea is the same – this activity should be to get out and have as much movements as possible. For example, it is possible that parents would encourage the interest of their daughter in such challenging physical activities as rock climbing, skiing, snowboarding, cycling, etc. The best decision would be to try to make the exercise an affair of the whole family. It would be perfect to hit trails or go somewhere for a bike ride together; a teenager should be given a pedometer and be challenged to collect at least 11,000 steps a day. This quantity is considered to be the amount, recommended for teenagers. As soon as the girl would hit that figure, she should be challenged to more.
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