My blog for this week will be addressing these questions: How can we encourage adolescents to follow healthy behaviors? What
ideas do you have for parents, healthcare providers, health educators,
media, society, etc?
First of all, people develop healthy behaviors at an early age. This starts by introducing them to a variety of good behaviors such as healthy eating and getting plenty of exercise. Encouraging the teen to have a positive experience and enjoy these healthy habits will help minimize the tendency for unhealthy actions. For parents, this means that they need to be active in their teen's lifestyle.
This could be done in several ways. Exercise should be a minimum of 30 minutes for an activity such as baseball, soccer, jogging or even riding a bicycle.
It is also important to keep teens well informed on how their bodies work and function. Doctor's visits encourage the child to remain healthy and learn more about themselves physically, mentally and even from a social perspectives.
By praising healthy behaviors, we instill the teens capacity to continue helping their bodies grow and strengthen. Here a couple websites I found that might be helpful.
http://www.extension.umn.edu/youth/research/keys-to-quality-youth-development/
http://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/teen/fitness/Pages/How-Teens-Can-Stay-Fit.aspx
Hey Kristen,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your position on health issues concerning adolescents. Many people grow up learning the same behaviors of the family members who are around them and have no control of what types of things they eat until they become older and by that time the damage has already been done because they do not know any other way to live besides what they've been taught. They must be educated early on in life so that they do not end up developing disease.
Kirsten,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you also,eating healthy starts at home. Kids imitate what they see their family members and parents do. Everything starts at home, if parents would instill in their kids the benefits of healthy eating it could decrease the obesity in children. It is good that most schools have started feeding the children more healthier lunches. You have a great post.