At this time in your life there are a lot of new hormones in your body and you probably are curious about sex. This is not unusual but they may make you feel like you are ready to have sex even if you’re not. Make sure you totally understand the consequences before you jump into anything. When the time comes for you to decide if you want to become sexually active, make sure that you consider some very important factors. These factors vary a lot, such as the chances of pregnancy occurring or the chances of getting STD’s. You also need to consider the emotional consequences of having sex.

Sexually transmitted diseases (STD’s) are infectious diseases which are spread from person to person during intimate contact. STD’s are spread when a person has sex with someone you already has an STD. This usually happens to someone who has a lot of sex partners or who is unprotected during sex. For more information on STD’s look here.

Unwanted pregnancy is another consequence of having sex. It’s important to be safe during sex and use proper birth control to prevent this from happening. Birth control can help reduce the chances of pregnancy occurring and even help reduce the chances of getting an STD. It’s important for you to get your information right though. You want to get the facts straight before you have sex so that you and your partner can be safe. For more information about safe sex, look here or here. You can also talk to a doctor or an adult you trust. It’s extremely important to be safe before sex because the consequences can change you life or health forever. If you feel that you are ready, then make sure that you are safe.

Now you need to remember that they only 100% way to avoid pregnancy and STD’s is abstinence. Although birth control can help prevent pregnancy and STD’s, they can fail sometimes. Many teens are choosing not to have sex because they are not ready to face the consequences. A couple can still have a relationship if they are not having sex. Your peers and the media around you may make you feel like you are the only one not having sex, but this is not true. The truth is, most teens are deciding to abstain from sex all together.

If your boyfriend/girlfriend is pressuring you to have sex before you feel like you’re ready, don’t give in. Having sex is a decision that you need to make. If you are having a hard time saying no, check out the “Ways to say, ‘No!’” tab. If the person you are dating thinks that having sex is the only way that you can show that you love them, they are wrong. If someone really loved you, they would respect your choice to wait till you are ready. Don’t let them decide when you are ready.

The subject of eating disorders is one that makes me feel really sad. Just like boys may feel the need to have more muscle, girls often feel the need to be really thin. A lot of this pressure comes from the media around us, but what we don’t realize is that a lot of these images of these perfect looking people are not even real! We need to learn how to deal with these false images and not give into pressure. By giving in and doing harmful things to your body to try to look perfect, it harms our body and our health. This means that we need to abstain from giving into the pressure.

Sometimes when someone tries to improve their image, and they get carried away, they develope what they call an eating disorder. Now an eating disorder is not just trying to lose weight by dieting or trying to get in more excercise, they are extremes in eating behavior. The most common eating disorders are anorexia or bulimia.

People with anorexia have a fear of weight gain and they do not see their bodies the way that other people do. Many people with anorexia restrict the amount of food they eat by dieting, fasting, or they may even exercise a lot. They don’t eat much and the little food they do eat becomes an obsession.

Other people have the eating disorder called bulimia. They do what they call binge eating and purging. This is when they eat a lot of food and then try to get rid of it by throwing it up, using laxatives, or once again exercising a lot. People with bulimia eat a large amount of food at one time, usually in secret. The person sometimes can’t stop eating and only stops when they are too full. This is when the person usually tries to get rid of the food somehow.

Anorexia and bulimia are a lot alike but people with anorexia are usually very thin but those with bulimia may be a normal weight or even overweight.

Some of your peers may try to make an eating disorder sound appealing. They may try to make you believe that you can get your ideal body just by doing this, but its harmful to your health and it’s important for you to say no to these practices.

Some of the effects of Anorexia:

• a drop in blood pressure, pulse, and breathing rate
• hair loss and fingernail breakage
• loss of periods
• lanugo hair — a soft hair that can grow all over the skin
• light-headedness and inability to concentrate
• anemia
• swollen joints
• brittle bones

Some effects from bulimia:

• constant stomach pain
• damage to a person’s stomach and kidneys
• tooth decay (from exposure to stomach acids)
• “chipmunk cheeks,” when the salivary glands permanently expand from throwing up so often
• loss of periods
• loss of the mineral potassium (this can contribute to heart problems and even death)

Everyone sometime or another doesn’t feel good about their body. Its something that we all deal with but its important to deal with these feelings in healthy ways. If you want to change your weight you can participate in a healthy diet. For some tips visit here. If you want more information about eating disorders and why it’s important to abstain, try this site. If you want more information on eating disorders visit this site for more great information.

Steroids are similar to certain hormones in your body that promote growth or development. Anabolic steroids are similar to male androgens like testosterone which produces a lot of male characteristics including how aggressive someone can be. Many athletes take these to improve their athletic abilities.

Anabolic steroids make muscle tissue to grow with excercise and weight lifting by mimicking the effect of natural testosterone in the body. Anabolic steroids can remain in the body a couple of days to a year. Steroids have become popular because they can improve endurance, strength, and muscle mass. However, research has not proved that steroids improve skill, agility, or athletic performance.

Another steroid group are called steroidal supplements. These are illegal or they require a prescription to get them. They are basically a weaker from of the androgens and can cause similar results. Many companies tell false claims about these supplements and they know very little about what the long-term effects of these could be. That is one reason why these are illegal.

Some of the effects of steroids are listed at the Teen Health website like:

And here are some risks for girls:

And for boys:

Steroid use is not something that should be taken likely. It is important for you to abstain from these drugs just as much as any other harmful substances. They are bad for your health and it’s important to say no. To find out more risks of steroid use, check out the link above or look at the NIDA for teens site.

Now a lot of your peers are probably doing drugs and also trying to get you to do them too. The term “drugs” is kind of confusing sometimes because it covers so many different things. A lot of medicine used in everyday life and help people are also called drugs, but these aren’t the drugs that we are talking about in this post. I thought Urban Dictionary gave a good definition of drugs in a way that we can better understand it:

“Drugs are chemicals that alter, block, or mimic chemical reactions in the brain. This causes an alteration of the body’s normal processes, causing physical (Faster heartbeat, deeper respiration etc.), or mental (Elevated mood, new thought processes etc.) changes.

Drugs are used for a myriad of purposes, from anaesthesia, to psychotherapy, to just being able to wake up in the morning (Caffeine).

Drugs that are used for personal pleasure (often illegally) are called Recreational Drugs. Traditional RD’s include marijuana, alcohol (Yes, it is a drug), MDMA (ecstasy), mushrooms, LSD, methamphetamine, heroin, crack/cocaine.”

I thought that this definition gave us a little bit of a spectrum for what the term “drugs” covers today. Many of the dangerous drugs today you usually inhale, swallow, or inject into your body and they go through your bloodstream to the different parts of your body like your brain. Once they reach the brain they work to increase or dull your senses, change your sense of alertness, and sometimes decrease pain.  

Drugs may be helpful but when people take them when they don’t need them and they are not responsible, they can be harmful. The effects of drugs depend on the kind of drug taken, how amount, how often it is taken, how fast it goes to the brain, and what other drugs, food, or substances are taken at the same time. Effects also change with each individual person.

Although doing drugs can feel good and a lot of people you know are doing them, they can do a lot of harm to your body and brain. Many drugs make it difficult for you to make healthy choices and decisions for yourself. When your brain has those substances running through it, you are more likely to get involved in dangerous activities or situations that you usually would not put yourself in. This is why it is important to never get started into drugs and just say no when someone offers them. They can be very addictive and hard to stop once you get started so its easier to just abstain from the start. To learn more about specific drugs and what they do to your body, visit this sight. Another great sight to learn more about drug abuse is “It’s My Life,” so check it out. If you are having trouble saying no to drugs and your peers keep pressuring you, try looking at the “Ways to say, No!” tab.

Alcohol is one of the major pressures for teenagers and young adults, and a lot of the time it can be hard to say no. Unlike cigarettes, the harm of alcohol is not widely known or easily seen BUT there are some serious health consequences that happen from drinking alcohol irresponsibly. This is why it is important to say no to alcohol at least until you are at a legal age or when you, and those around you, are able to drink responsibly.

Alcohol is like any other drug and it has an effect on your brain and body. One of the main affects is intoxication. When you are intoxicated you brain feels foggy, you think and see differently, you react to things slower or become clumsy, and you can become unable to control your emotions. Each type of alcoholic beverage has different amounts of alcohol in it and it takes a different amount of alcohol for each different person to get drunk/intoxicated. Alcohol is a depressant which makes you relaxed, sleepy, and slower than usual. Also, if a person drinks too much, their body will try to get rid of the toxins and they will throw up. Nation wide it is against the law for anyone under the age of 21 to buy alcohol. There are also laws against “driving under the influence” or drinking and driving. It is also illegal for adults to serve alcohol to any underage individual.

Drinking your entire life can really do some harm to your body. Here are some examples:

• Stomach and intestine problems
• Liver damage
• Weight gain
• Nerve and muscle damage
• Heart problems
• Brain damage from blackouts to permanent loss of brain functions and memory.
• Cancer. Long term drinking has been linked to cancer of the throat, mouth, liver, esophagus and larynx.
• Emotional/Psychological Problems like sadness or depression

A popular thing that a lot of teens or college students do today is binge drinking. Binge drinking is when someone consumes a lot of alcohol in a short period of time. This is so harmful to your body and should not be done at any time. When someone drinks a lot of alcohol at once they can get alcohol poisoning. Alcohol poisoning is very harmful to your body and can cause you to go into a coma and sometimes even death. This is why it’s important for you to abstain from binge drinking.

It is also extremely dangerous and illegal to drink alcohol and then drive. Drinking and driving killed over 16,000 Americans in 2004, and almost half of all car crashes involve drunk drivers. This is not only unsafe for you and the passengers in your car, but also to other drivers on the roads who are not drinking. Look at this innocent citizen who was unfortunate enough to get in an accident with a drunk driver.

I know it’s hard to say no to your peers when you are pushing you to drink alcohol. It looks like they are all having an awesome time partying and having fun but it’s dangerous and not as great as it seems. Not only does alcohol cause all the health problems above, but like I said it’s a depressant and it leaves you feeling awful the next day. Have you ever heard someone on TV or something say they have an awful hangover? Well this is what I’m talking about. A hangover leaves you with a headache, nausea, dizziness, and more.

It may seem like all the kids are doing it and that you’ll be unpopular if you don’t, but this is not true. Only 18 out of 100 kids drank in the past month…this means that 82% of them are not! There are ways for you to have fun and keep your friends and not drink and by doing so you will stay safe and healthy. Just abstain from alcohol while you are young. If you would like to see where we got most this information or learn more, visit here or here. For ways to say no to your peers and abstain from alcohol…see the Ways to say ”NO!” tab!

Alright, so if that last post on smoking didn’t convince you to say no and abstain from smoking tobacco…then maybe the 55 reasons kidsgrowth.com will. There are some pretty funny reasons along with some pretty important reasons as well. A few of my favorites are:

• I won’t have to worry about how smoking is ruining my health
• If I do not start smoking, I’ll save around $900 in one year
• I’ll live longer
• My date will not say that kissing me is like kissing an ashtray
• I will not become one of the adults who dies every 13 seconds from a smoking-related disease

This is just the beginning of the long list, so check it out! Also check out the Truth website to play some games that will teach you about addiction!

Did this convince you to start smoking? Well maybe this will convince you to not…

Cigarettes contain harmful chemicals like nicotine and cyanide which are extremely harmful for your body. Over time, smoking can cause a lot of health problems including heart disease, stroke, emphysema , and types of cancer in lungs, throat, stomach, and the bladder. Smoking tobacco can really influence your health and your abilities to do everyday activities like running or playing sports and it also can be fatal. Studies show that every time a person lights a cigarette, it can take of 5 to 20 minutes off their life. That can really add up.  

Smoking not only influences lungs but it can also affect your physical features. Smoking makes your teeth yellow, causes wrinkles to occur faster, and makes things like your nails and skin to become unhealthy. Tobacco smoking also decreases a person’s bone density and can increase the risk of osteoporosis which makes a person’s bones weaker and can cause backs to become hunched over. Fertility can also be affected by smoking cigarettes.

Many of the harmful effects of smoking don’t occur for a long time, but some of the consequences can happen right away to people like you! Some of these things include:

All forms of tobacco are harmful for you and the only way that you can avoid these health risks and consequences is to abstain from tobacco use. Your peers may be pressuring you to smoke and use tobacco but in the long run, abstaining will benefit you and your health. The number of high school students who choose to smoke is decreasing, so you are not alone in your choice to abstain. If you are finding it difficult to say no to your peers, look at the tab for “ways to say no” to get some ideas.

Once you start smoking it is difficult to quit smoking. If you have already started to smoke, it is not to late for you to abstain. Quitting tobacco use at any time will be beneficial to your health. Even though it may be difficult, you can do it. For help with quitting smoking click here for some helpful steps. Also, if you would like to know more about saying no, or you want to go to the website where most of this information and the pictures are from, click here. 

The American Cancer Society comes up with some pretty clever posters and campaigns promoting abstinence from smoking. I thought these were pretty hilarious.