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The teenager who doesn't get enough sleep, there's lots of downstream consequences for that. Some of that is something they see right away. Some of it is something that may show up later especially if they're chronically sleep deprived. It would be things like impairment in concentration, in learning. Moods are changed. They can be irritable and grumpy even maybe more so than normally would have with adolescents. You see more auto accidents, work related injuries, those type of things when they're not getting enough sleep. They want to make sure they get plenty of sleep because it'll affect other aspects of their life.

Signs that a parent can watch for to help determine if their child is not getting enough sleep are similar to a lot of the signs that adolescents exhibit anyhow so sometimes can be hard to sort out. What is normal teenager behavior and what is sleep deprivation? Things such as being irritable and grumpy all the time, changing grades especially if grades are going down, the kids are not focused, if they're falling asleep at family events, or you notice that every time they get in the car if they're the passenger they're dosing off or worse yet that they're having trouble staying awake when they're driving. Those are signs that they can recognize it.

Sleep is important for teenagers, as well as anybody else for that matter, that it helps them with their brain function because sleep is really brain food. Your brain needs that food in order to be able to function well. It will affect every other aspect of their life if they're not getting enough sleep.

Teenagers run the risk of being sleep deprived multiple ways. I think social media is probably one of the ones that gets the most attention and well deservedly so because it is one of the common reasons for that.

It's not just social media. Part of it is their need to be connected at all times to their cell phones or their iPads or whatever it is that they got. They feel that they need to respond to everything right away which is different than the way that previous generations were raised. They feel like they need to keep that with them and be in touch all the time. There's a syndrome known as Fear of Missing Out, FOMO, where they don't want to be left out on anything. The phone is one of the best ways for them to keep in the loop if you will, so they're not left out.

The teenager who doesn't get enough sleep, there's lots of downstream consequences for that. Some of that is something they see right away. Some of it is something that may show up later especially if they're chronically sleep deprived. It would be things like impairment in concentration, in learning. Moods are changed. They can be irritable and grumpy even maybe more so than normally would have with adolescents. You see more auto accidents, work related injuries, those type of things when they're not getting enough sleep. They want to make sure they get plenty of sleep because it'll affect other aspects of their life.

Signs that a parent can watch for to help determine if their child is not getting enough sleep are similar to a lot of the signs that adolescents exhibit anyhow so sometimes can be hard to sort out. What is normal teenager behavior and what is sleep deprivation? Things such as being irritable and grumpy all the time, changing grades especially if grades are going down, the kids are not focused, if they're falling asleep at family events, or you notice that every time they get in the car if they're the passenger they're dosing off or worse yet that they're having trouble staying awake when they're driving. Those are signs that they can recognize it.

Schools make certain that equipment is properly working in a variety of ways. A lot of that really falls to the coaches of the particular sport to know what their equipment is, and how it should look, and how it should fit. And then if they have questions, they can take care of getting the athletic trainers or the AD or the equipment representative to come in and look at it.

Probably one of the best examples are the football helmets, and those are evaluated by the athletic trainers as well as by coaches that have been trained on how to fit those. Now, that doesn't mean that every coach that puts on a helmet is automatically an expert on putting on helmets, but there's going to be someone on the staff that knows how to assess if they fit well. If there's any concern then, you need to get to either the athletic trainer or the athletic director or have one of the company reps look at it and see if everything is appropriate.

Schools should really have an AED on site because that can be a life-saving piece of equipment. And we know now that the time to electricity, that is the time from when somebody starts to have a cardiac event until we can deliver the shock, if they need a shock, is what often times determines what the outcome is going to be. So the faster we can get the electricity to the heart, that is the AED, the better off they're going to be.

So most schools have AEDs somewhere on the campus. You just want to make sure that they're in a place that they can be accessed and they're going to be by where the people are that are going to need it. For example, having it in the school clinic is not particularly helpful when you're on the football stadium. If it's in the football field, or on the football field, but it's locked in a case nobody has a key to, again, it's not going to be particularly helpful. So those are some things that you look at sometimes in your Emergency Action Plans, and think, "Okay, guys, I could get the AED, but it was locked." So what do we do to make sure that we can get it to the patient in times of need? Often times, too, the AED is really most helpful for the crowds or for the faculty and staff of the school or the officials, as opposed to the students. But nevertheless, having one can be life-saving.

The training that coaches and other athletic staff should have if they're working with athletes is basically to recognize emergency situations and activate an Emergency Medical System if that's necessary, as well as render the First Aid and first steps if somebody's having an emergency. We don't expect them to be doctors, we don't expect them to be nurses or paramedics. But we do expect them to learn, okay, these are the signs and symptoms of a concussion, or heat stroke or major hemorrhage. And so we teach them that in classes that are offered through the OHSAA as well as some of the hospitals and sports medicine centers. They're called Coaches' Clinics, for lack of a better term, that teaches them the emergency things that they need know as far as identifying who's been hurt, who might be seriously hurt and need to be squadded out, and that type of thing. That's done on a regular basis. They also include CPR as a part of that now, so all of our coaches are routinely getting certified in this Coaches' Clinic as well as in CPR.

Seasonal allergies in kids presents a lot like adult allergies, so they have a lot of runny noses, clear drainage, sneezing. Kids oftentimes though, have other physical things that you can see: Underneath their eyes you can see a little bluish discoloration, which we call allergic shiners and a kid who has a continuous runny nose typically rubs their hand here and you will see a little crease on top their nose, kind of an allergic salute, so a little crease here. Also, I would keep allergies in mind if any of the parents of the children have allergies. So, if one parent has allergies, your chance of your child having allergies is about 50%. If both parents have allergies, the chance is about 75%.

Seasonal allergies are not usually cured, but certainly we can take care of the majority of the symptoms through medications. A lot of these medications are actually over-the-counter, but there are some medications that can be prescribed by your doctor. If you can't control your symptoms with medications, the doctor could send you to an allergist or even an ear, nose and throat specialist, who can do some allergy testing and get you on allergy shots.

Stress can definitely trigger asthma. Asthma can have many triggers and so people should become aware of what their triggers are. Triggers can be anywhere from cold air, allergies can be a trigger for asthma, certain smells, exercise, emotional distress or physical stress.