Energy Drinks and Kids

You've seen the ads for Red Bull.. it gives you wings! Then there is Rosk Star and Amp. Lots of energy in a can being pushed on us to get us through the day on less sleep and less food. If you have kids you may wnat to know about a way these drinks are being used that could cause serious consequences for kids. Energy drinks contain a host of ingredienst ,like caffeine, sugar, taurine, ginseng, and more. Alcohol is a depressant, this we know. So we have two contrary messages being sent to your body at the same time. The idea is to keep you alert and not sleepy so you can party longer. Some kids think they are less impaired because they don't feel as sleepy or lethargic. Alcohol still impaired no matter what. Now you add a huge dose of cardiac boosters to an impaired kid. Plus alcohol dehydreates the body, hence the hangover. Eneregy drinks further dehydrate. Serious hangover potential plus possible damage to the system. Some people maybe able to handle this combination, but in a kid, we really don't know what medical issues may be just under the surface. Sudden heart failure is a definite possibility when using this combination. Consider the dangers of taking ecstacy and drinking. This is similar but much easier to get.
As a nurse, I do not recommend the use of any energy drink. The body sends us very definite messages about what it needs and when it needs it. We as resonsible adults need to let kids know they should respect their bodies and not gamble with it. It is afterall the only one they will have.
For more info on energy drinks, please visit the following sites www.webmd.com, "http://http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/11/011116065754.htm">

Pleasure Now but None Later

If you are about my age...let's say 50 something, you probably remember the advent of the war against drugs. If you were really into the subculture of the 60's and 70's you may remember some of the anti drug slogans and those attention grabbing PSA's from Partnership for a Drug Free America starring a frying pan and two eggs...any questions?
Due to medical research and a desire to know more about the brain, we have a lot more sophisticated information to get the word out about drug use. We have MRI scans of brains before and after drugs. We have EEG's of brain activity and how certain drugs impact the impulses in our brain. We even have a study that shows the long term impact of a club drug called Ecstasy on hormone receptors and our ability to experience pleasure. This is what I want to tell you about. A study shows that even after on dose of Ecstasy, the brain shows a definite lack of the ability to respond to dopamine and serotonin for as long as 15-20 years. Endorphins ability to make us feel better, feel a natural "high" is reduced significantly with one dose. So does that mean that if we choose to have an experience with Ecstasy as a teen we are trading our ability to experience pleasure the rest of our life? Maybe not totally, but this study from the University of Michigan does point to that prospect. Additionally, it shows that contrary to popular belief, smoking cannabis raises you blood pressure and heart rate, which could result in sudden heart attacks in kid who don't know they have a heart issue.
That is significant, but the information about Ecstasy and it robbing a kid of their pleasure pathways should send an alarm through every school in this country. After all we are all about feeling good, experiencing every possible shred of exhilaration and joy we can. Now we find out that something that supposedly increased sexual pleasure may very well take away that same pleasure for the rest of our lives. Just once and we are pleasure pathway challenged! So far, we think it can't be fixed. Once the damage is done it can't be undone. I have had kids tell me that they have taken drugs and then taken them again the very next day and felt nothing. They thought they had been burned, and gotten a placebo or fake drug. Maybe they are instead just experiencing the price they paid unknowingly. Does continued use increase the damage? My guess would be yes. But we really don't know for sure. The more studies are done, the more we will surely know. Question is, with all this new information can we convince a new generation of the dangers of substance abuse?

Drinking, Mental Health, and Violence

We all know that drinking and kids is a bad mix. We all hear about the dangers of binge drinking in the Freshman year of College. Something we may not be as aware that the incidents of mental health issues in kids who drink dramatically increases the more often they drink. Diagnoses like depression,anxiety disorder and even bipolar disorder can be seen at higher rates in kids who drink. The more they drink, the higher the possibility of a diagnosis. Bring suicide into the picture and the rates go up drastically in the kids that drink or smoke pot. Alcohol is a depressant. We know this. We also know that the more we drink the less impulse control we have. Add lowered impulse control to an already impulsive adolescent brain and is it any wonder kids have such a high death rate? Add a motor vehicle in the picture and I truly am surprised there are any teens still alive and well. If you take a look at brain studies done at Washington State University, you can see the long term effects of alcohol use on the brain. What is even more impressive is the effects of alcohol on the body. Did you know that if you blow a .3 on a Breathalyzer at Midnight it takes until 3 pm the next day to blow 0. This is pure math and physiology. Our bodies can only process so much alcohol an hour.. no matter what. This explains why a kid can still be drunk legally long after stopping drinking. This is why so many kids get in fights long after the drinking has stopped. Violence travels right along with booze and kids. Add marijuana and it may also carry absolute paranoia as well due to the effects on the brain and genetics which is too deep a line to follow here. So use of alcohol can predispose a kiddo to a mental health diagnosis later in life and can also heighten the possibility of incarceration based on violence. It takes an instant to pull a trigger and a second to plunge a knife into someone. Alcohol makes it easier to take that step. Any young people reading this post, don't take my word for it, do some research on the net about the effects of alcohol on your body. The world is yours to do with as you please and a bunch of you are looking at environmental history with disgust. Take a look at your own environment, your body and really pay attention to what you expose it to. There are a lot of things you can't control but there are amny more you can. Parents, stop lecturing your kids. They stopped listening to you bitch at them years ago. Just talk with them...listen to what they are telling you and be straight with them. When a kid their age dies or gets admitted for a mental health issue, ask them about it. Let them talk about their views and their fears. They do have them you know.