By Damon Raskin, M.D. | Special to the Palisadian-Post
Q: Judging by the positive Palisades Charter High School turnout for the walkout honoring Parkland, our teens are doing great. Have we worried too much about them, giving them too many pills and shrinks and too much homework? Or has all that care paid off? How healthy are our kids, anyway, compared to previous generations?
As a father to two kids myself, the question about the health of our children is close to my heart. We all want our kids to be as healthy as possible, and hope that the health of our children continues to improve generation after generation. With modern science and technology, you would think that this is, in fact, the case. The reality of this situation is more complicated.
In some areas, like infectious diseases, we are making great strides. With the advent of vaccines for routine childhood diseases, there are only rare cases of measles, mumps or even chicken pox.
It wasn’t that long ago when kids would get together for “chicken pox parties” so everyone could get the disease at the same time and be done with it. Now, we hardly see a case at all. Furthermore, we are reducing the rates of bacterial meningitis, and the HPV vaccine has the potential to markedly reduce the rates of cervical cancer.
In other areas, there is also marked improvement in dental care, and this, plus fluoride in our water, has reduced cavities in our kids immensely. Fewer teens are smoking cigarettes, and teen pregnancies are on the decline. Both of these are encouraging statistics.
Yet, we as a society are spending the majority of our healthcare dollars on costly medical treatments rather than on the prevention of disease. Those who have access to good medical care will benefit from this, while those who don’t have this same access will suffer.
Unfortunately, we are looking for pills and convenient solutions to our problems. Our kids are playing video games and using their electronic devices instead of going outside and riding bikes or running around. These behaviors, together with poor eating habits, are leading to the increase in childhood obesity, and the rates of diabetes in kids and teenagers are staggering.
There needs to be more focus on proper diet, exercise, getting enough sleep and socialization in our kids to start reversing this trend.
The reliance on technology has also led to more difficulties with interpersonal relationships, and our kids are not learning the importance of eye contact and normal social skills. This can lead to more difficulties with dating or getting jobs.
Furthermore, in prior generations, peer pressure led to the higher use of drinking beer and smoking cigarettes. Today, we are dealing with much more dangerous drugs like Xanax and opiates, which are killing more young people than car accidents.
Almost every day in my office, young people or their parents are asking me for medicines for “attention deficit disorder” or social anxiety. Although some may benefit from medications, these kids need to be properly assessed and it should not be the default of “give meds and ask questions later.” This problem may be rooted in the pressure we as a society are putting on our youth with getting ahead and being “the best.”
As you can see, our kids are living in a different world than the prior generation. There have been so many medical advances, yet we still need to focus on the basics: education and prevention, rather than treatments and medications. This approach will go a long way in keeping the next generation healthier than the last.
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