Videos
Physicians from Premier Health Family Care – North answer frequently asked health questions.
Why is sleep important for teenagers?
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Why is sleep important for teenagers?
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.
How much sleep should a teenager get?
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How much sleep should a teenager get?
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.
What are the health consequences to teens who do not get enough sleep?
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What are the health consequences to teens who do not get enough sleep?
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.
How do schools ensure that safety equipment is working properly?
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How do schools ensure that safety equipment is working properly?
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.
Should all schools have an AED onsite? Why is its presence important?
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Should all schools have an AED onsite? Why is its presence important?
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.
What training and credentials should coaches and staff working with athletes have?
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What training and credentials should coaches and staff working with athletes have?
How can I tell if my child has seasonal allergies?
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How can I tell if my child has seasonal allergies?
Can seasonal allergies be cured?
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Can seasonal allergies be cured?
Does stress trigger asthma?
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Does stress trigger asthma?