Dying to be Beautiful 2014
Please share this poster.
Please come: Be informed, get involved.
For more information click & go to the conference site.
myspot.mona.uwi.edu/dtbb
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Sleep and your Teen
Sleep is as valuable in the teen years as in younger childhood. Too little sleep decreases cognitive function, and a teens ability to remember what they have learned.
Take the time to read the link below and talk to you teen about planning and committing to a good night sleep.
Making sleep a priority is a lifestyle choice that quickly pays off. Better sleep helps young people learn more efficiently and improves their mood and athletic performance.
Making sleep a priority is a decision that every member of the family will benefit from.
Teens may model themselves on their sleep-deprived parents and peers and think they are supposed to get less sleep as they mature.
Weekend “catch -up” and sleeping in may be an occasional treat, but for a teen who is sleep deprived during the week sleeping isn’t usually enough to catch up on lost sleep-time and waking up more than an hour after regular waking time an actually make Monday mornings worse for everyone.
Sleeping in on weekends may be one of life’s small luxuries, and for many adults it is. However, when it comes to teenagers, sleeping in on weekends may be the first sign of an emerging sleep problem.
How can parents help their teens improve their sleep patterns?
- Talk about sleep, wake up time and bedtime with your teen.
- Don’t sleep in beyond an hour on the weekends.
- Separate “Social” from “Homework” and encourage your teen to focus on the work at hand (fixed half hour periods with quick 10 minute breaks might be helpful)
- Set a good example, make sleep a priority for yourself!
- Work together and live the Dream 🙂
Back to School Is a Great Time for Teens to Sleep | Stanford Center for Sleep Sciences and Medicine.
Learn MoreBARBADOS: Climate Change and Health Risk- DEAL With it! KUWTJ Edutainment
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5xM1fsngX0?rel=0&w=853&h=480]Even if you have never watched Keeping up with the Joneses KUWTJ before now (are you under a rock?!) you will LOVE this message on climate change and health risk. Dengue, Gastro…. no mo’!
Learn MoreJAMAICA: Free public forum dedicated to children and their well-being.
Knowledge is power! Come, learn, share.
Learn MoreHealthy Holiday Beverages
IT’S CHRISTMAS AGAIN… and Christmas time represents family, fellowship, food and fun. This year will be no different for many of us, and of course, there is always the temptation to over indulge. Children are always a big part of Christmas festivities and while we want them to have a Merry Christmas and make many memories we also want them to stay healthy. Depending on your family favourites and your holiday traditions the drinks our children will consume this Christmas will range from sorrel to hot cocoa with marshmallows, ‘chawkit’ tea and everything in between.
SORREL is a good source of Vitamin C & flavonoids, provide powerful antioxidants that helps to improve the body’s immune system
COCOA is also high in antioxidants and provides important vitamins & minerals, so drink up & enjoy.
Keep in mind the importance of good nutrition along with portion control. There is always the temptation to over- indulge when celebrating, especially with children who are free and happy. Parents need to be aware of this and make adjustments to some of our traditional recipes, for example use:
- low-fat milk or nut milk in place of whole milk in Eggnog; Ponche Creme or Cocoa Tea
- fresh fruits in place of can or bottle juices.
Portion control is also important. Use a smaller “Christmas” cup so that your child will not feel cheated. Try this trick on yourself! Offer a serving of
- 4 ozs or 1/2 cup of hot cocoa and
- 6 oz – 8 oz of sorrel
during the day depending on the age of the child.
Start a new Christmas tradition in your kitchen. Let your child help to make these two fruit smoothies It will be FUN and they will also enjoy drinking them.
Cherry Banana Smoothie
1 ripe Banana
1 cup low-fat milk or nut milk
2 maraschino cherries ( to give color & taste)
Blend, serve with crushed ice.
Sparkling Pineapple Yoghurt Smoothie
2 slices pineapple
1 cup low-fat milk
1/2 cup Cherry yoghurt or ice-cream
Blend, then
Add sparking water and serve cold.
MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY HOLIDAYS
From your Nutritionists: Enid & Kerry
Learn MoreEnding our Relationship with Tobacco
~ Alexis Goffe, Counselling Psychologist
On February 16 2012, I attended the Jamaica Cancer Society’s Anti-Tobacco Forum that was attended by over two hundred high school students. While much information was presented, three main facts stood out for me:
1) Tobacco is a serial killer – In the 20th century, tobacco killed 100 million people worldwide. If the current trend continues, by the end of the 21st century, tobacco will kill 1 billion people worldwide. In Jamaica, reports show an increase in the number of tobacco-related chronic illness cases with Government hospitals reporting 2,255 cases in 2006 and 3,893 in 2008. Extrapolations based on data from the U.S.A estimate that of the 3,200 Jamaicans who die from cancer yearly, 960 are tobacco related.
2) Tobacco is a gold digger –The cost of a pack of cigarettes typically ranges from $550 to $700. If a Jamaican smokes one pack a day, they can easily spend over $200,000 a year. That is not an inconsequential amount of money. How many trips to the grocery store does that cover? How many gas tanks can that fill? How many university credits could be bought? Tobacco not only breaks individuals’ pockets, but it targets the country’s pocket as well. Jamaican health care institutions have spent an estimated US$4 billion since 1980 on tobacco-related illness.
Tobacco wants a high maintenance
abusive
potentially deadly relationship with us
yet 1 in 5 Jamaicans have used tobacco in their lifetime
and over 80,000 youth in Jamaica smoke cigarettes.
Why?
There are the common reasons given: peer pressure, to be cool and learned behaviour from family members. However, in my work counselling adolescents there is a major reason that requires attention; it is one of the most common ways youth have found to cope with the immense challenges of modern times. As a result, telling someone to stop smoking can be the equivalent to telling them to stop a relationship with their best friend.
This leads me to the third fact:
3) Tobacco control is a must –
- On a macro level, Jamaica signed the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2005 and there is a bill waiting to be passed in Parliament. This bill includes measures such as banning smoking in public places, banning the sales of tobacco to minors, stricter regulations on advertising and sales and placing graphic health warnings on packs of cigarettes. If passed, this will make Jamaica the third smoke-free CARICOM country along with Barbados and Trinidad.
- On an individual level, we must provide our children and adolescents with healthy coping strategies. Get them involved in church activities, sports, reading and artistic and creative outlets. Help our children and adolescents develop healthy relationships with peers and positive role models. We must ensure that they have people and activities that support them in their good and bad moments.
On February 16 2012, I joined the movement to help
Jamaicans say NO to tobacco
and
YES to a better and more fulfilling life.
Will you?
Alexis Goffe is a counselling psychologist at Caribbean Tots to Teens. He can be reached at alexis@caribbeantotstoteens.com
Learn MorePolicy Statement—Media Education ~American Academy of Pediatrics Sept 2010
There are numerous studies that demonstrate the dangers of over exposure to media for children. In this revised document from the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) new research is brought o bear on the rapidly expanding problem of electronic media and child development.
Language delay, Obesity and Aggression are only a few of the developmental problems directly related to excessive exposure to media in childhood and adolescence.
Policy Statement—Media Education.
IMPORTANT TAKE HOME TIPS for parents include
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Toddlers under age 2 years SHOULD NOT Be using electronic media AT ALL. (special report)
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NO television, video games or electronic play (ePlay) devices should be in the child’s bedroom.
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Limit and focus time spent with electronic media: No more than 2 hours a day should be spent in ePlay; electronic entertainment for any child between 2 years and 16 years old. The TV should never be a babysitter.
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Be a good example to your children: let them see you engaging in other forms of entertainment. Make it a point for family discussion adventure.
Change involves the whole family and creative, consistent thought, but it doesn’t have to be expensive. Healthy Lifestyle choices today build a Healthy Future for tomorrow.
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