WOMEN’S BODIES: HEALTH RISKS DURING PUBERTY

March 11th, 2009

Adolescence is a time of discovering new aspects of life that you never thought of when you were a child. It can be thrilling (and sometimes a bit scary) to realize that so many new possibilities are open to you. Many teenagers want to have a go at everything: to test the limits of their ability and their new-found freedom.

The process of growing up includes! some experimenting and risk-taking to I find out what life has to offer and what is safe, good and right for you. If you didn’t take some chances you’d never grow up. Many of your new experiences will be wonderful and enrich your adult life. Unfortunately a few new adolescent activities bring risks to health and life.

Accidents

It’s a great day when you get your driving licence. What an exhilarating feeling of freedom and power to be in charge of a; car or motorbike. But whoa! It’s also a great responsibility. Are you ready for it? It takes time and practice to develop prudence and caution needed for safe driving.

I think the P-plate system helps young people learn to drive carefully. Most so keen to retain their licence that the] take all precautions during the provisions period. Still, road accidents seriously injure and kill more young people than any other cause. In more than half of the accidents, the driver is under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Even a blood alcohol level of 0.05 doubles the accident risk; at 0.15 a crash is 25 times more likely.

Never, never take a chance with drugs or alcohol on the road. Don’t drive yourself, and don’t be a passenger if the driver’s alertness and co-ordination could be affected by drinking (or anything else) This may sometimes mean that you must take public transport or a taxi home and collect the car next day. A nuisance? Yes, but it’s never worth risking serious injury or death.

Teenagers and alcohol

A survey of New South Wales school students that’s been going on since 1971 shows that they now drink twice as much as they did 15 years ago. Many are drinking regularly at the age of 14, with the heaviest drinking occurring among the 16-17-year-olds. Girls now drink as much as boys, so it seems that the old attitude that it was manly but unladylike to drink has disappeared in Australia. Boys tend to stick with beer, while girls prefer more sophisticated mixed drinks like rum and Coke (which don’t taste like booze but make you drank very quickly). Meanwhile health authorities continue to hammer away about the dangers of alcohol: its association with road accidents, domestic violence and increased risk of heart disease, liver disease, brain damage and all the social evils of alcoholism. You wonder why anyone drinks! Why do teenagers start drinking? And why so young? Teenagers see drinking as a thing adults do and seem to enjoy, so they want to try it. Often they see no harm come from it. They may doubt the message of the health authorities when they see no ill effects from Mum and Dad having a drink after work and a glass or two of wine with dinner, though the teenager whose home life is wrecked by a drunken parent may have a different opinion.

The fact is that alcoholic drinks are part of our way of life. Drinking is part of most of our social rituals. Australians swallow more alcohol per head than any other country in the Western world. It would be hypocritical to advise young people not to drink at all when they see their parents and other adults drinking all around them; alcohol is advertised everywhere and many big sporting contests are sponsored by breweries.

The credible message for young people is moderation, know your limits, don’t get drunk and, of course, never drink any alcohol if you’re going to drive. Still, a lot will get drunk once, just to see what it’s like. Let’s hope that most of them will decide in the misery of the next morning that they’ll never do it again.

*55/31/5*