Help Your Child Achieve a Healthy Lifestyle HEALTHY LIVING

 Nutrition  Physical Activity  Emotional/Mental Wellness 3 IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE FOR ADOLESCENCE

 Nutrition is the supply of materials - food - required by organisms and cells to stay alive. In science and human medicine, nutrition is the science or practice of consuming and utilizing foods.  Nutrition also focuses on how diseases, conditions and problems can be prevented or lessened with a healthy diet.  Many studies have shown that eating habits are established early in the life cycle and tend to carry through to adulthood. WHAT IS NUTRITION?

 Why is healthy eating so important?  18 percent of adolescents from the ages of 12 to 19 are obese.  Being overweight poses a risk to physical and mental health  Poor nutrition in children contributes to weight gain  Consuming too many trans fat can have up to a 40 percent increase for risk of depression  If students do not have healthy diets, they face an increased risk of chronic diseases, including cancer, heart disease and diabetes NUTRITION IN STUDENTS

 Watch your child’s portion size!  Portion sizes in restaurants seem to grow larger over time. Make meals at home and watch portions in restaurants. PARENTS, WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Unhealthy Choices  Potato Chips  Candy Pieces  Ice Cream  Donut  Fried ANYTHING  Sugar filled Sodas Healthy Alternative  Chex Mix  Grapes  Yogurt or Frozen Yogurt  Apple  BAKE it!  Naturally Sweetened (no added sugar) drinks SWITCH ONE SNACK A DAY WITH A SLIGHTLY HEALTHIER CHOICE!

WHAT IS PHYSICAL HEALTH?  Physical health is the overall condition of a living organism at a given time, the soundness of the body, freedom from diseases or abnormality and the condition of optimal well being. People want to function as designed but environmental forces can attack the body or the person may have genetic malfunctions.  Important aspects of maintaining physical health are a beneficial diet and exercise.  Physical activity produces overall physical, psychological and social benefits. Inactive children are likely to become inactive adults.

 Physically Active Students  Achieve higher scores in different areas of education  Are much more calm in class and more likely to pay attention and be alert  Less likely to be absent from school  Sedentary Students  Have lower scores on Standardized Tests  More likely to become sick and miss class  Fall behind in school  Don’t have very well developed attention spans Research Suggests that children should “get up and play for an hour a day” THE LINK BETWEEN LEARNING AND PHYSICAL HEALTH

Current Trend!  Average child watches approximatley 3.5 hours of TV per day.  Average child spends about 6 hours on media  Constant elimination of PE/recess in schools What to do?  Limit TV time for children to one hour per day  Limit use of media for purposes other than educational to minutes per day  Health advocacy in schools. Promote health and physical activity CURRENT TRENDS VS. WHAT CAN BE DONE TO STOP CURRENT TREND

STUDENTS’ IDEAL ACTIVE LIFESTYLE

 Emotional health is defined by the degree to which you feel emotionally secure and relaxed in everyday life. An emotionally healthy person has a relaxed body, an open mind and an open heart.  The more emotional health you have, the more self esteem you have  How children manage their feelings, follow directions, concentrate, relate to other children and to teachers, and approach learning—will enable them to succeed as they transition from grade to grade. WHAT IS EMOTIONAL HEALTH

 Most common Emotional Health problems in adolescence.  Depression  Anxiety Disorders  Substance abuse problems  Conduct Disorders  Eating Disorders  Learning Disabilities (ADHD)  Cutting  Social Phobia  While it’s not a mental health problem, Suicide risk is increased in adolescent’s with these emotional problems or a combination of them.  Suicide is the third leading cause of adolescence mortality. EMOTIONAL HEALTH

 If you have an emotionally disturbed child:  Seek appropriate diagnosis of disturbance  Find a treatment and stick to it  Work with therapist or at home to set appropriate boundaries  Be involved in how your student is doing in school  Most importantly, make use of mental health services PARENTS, WHAT CAN YOU DO?

 Healthy LIFEstyle  All three aspects of a healthy lifestyle start out in young adolescence and carry on throughout life  What children learn today about eating healthy, being active and having a healthy emotional state of mind will be with them throughout life and contribute to what type of person they will become. NUTRITIONAL, PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL WELLNESS