Latest news with #YouthRiskBehaviorSurvey
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Teens Aren't Getting Enough Sleep — & This High School Has a Plan to Fix It
Algebra, history, sleep training — it's all part of your regular school day if you attend Mansfield Senior High School in Ohio. Educators there are hosting a 'sleep intervention' for their students to help them re-learn how to sleep well, and this type of training is more important now than ever before. Many districts have pushed for a delayed start time for high-schoolers (backed by the CDC and AAP), but this school is taking a more novel approach. Give the teens the skills needed to get better sleep and encourage them to pay attention to how many hours of shut-eye they get a night to see firsthand how going to bed late affects them. More from SheKnows How the 'God Forbid' TikTok Trend Became a Digital Clapback for Gen Z Girls Mansfield health teacher Tony Davis, who incorporated a new sleep curriculum into his health class, told Associated Press, 'It might sound odd to say that kids in high school have to learn the skills to sleep' (Especially if your teen never seems to want to wake up in the morning!) 'But you'd be shocked how many just don't know how to sleep,' he added. The outlet interviewed students in the classroom, who revealed various unhealthy sleep practices they used: like scrolling through TikTok or texting in late-night group chats with friends until they doze off. And surveys of Davis's five classes found that over 60% of students use their phone as an alarm clock and over 50% go to sleep while looking at their phones. To help, Mansfield is piloting a new curriculum, 'Sleep to Be a Better You,' that has teens keep daily sleep logs for six weeks and rate their mood and energy levels, while learning healthy sleep habits. And it's working! The students are reporting feeling happier after increasing their nightly sleep, which makes sense. After all, not sleeping enough can affect your moods, decision-making abilities, impulse control, focus, mental health, and so much more. The CDC recommends that teens get 8-10 hours of sleep per night. Unfortunately, that is just not happening. The CDC conducted a Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that 77% of students in 2021 didn't get enough sleep, which is up from 69% I 2009. This study also found that girls (80%), Black students (84%), and 12th grade students (84%) were the highest demographics of not getting enough sleep. And it's not just social media keeping these kids awake. Students are also feeling burdened by college applications, extracurricular activities, and the stress of growing up. A recent study by Common Sense Media, aided by researchers at Harvard and Indiana University, found that teens are increasingly experiencing levels of stress and burnout that are typically seen in adults. Specifically, teens are stressed about their future plan, achievements, appearance, social life, and other areas. SheKnows polled our own Teen Council as part of our 'Be a Man' series and found that over 90% of teens surveyed admitted to feeling stressed frequently or occasionally, with 54.5% attributing this to grades and extracurriculars. Amanda Lenhart, Head of Research at Common Sense Media, told SheKnows, 'Teens are telling us that they face intense pressures, and are looking to adults to support rather than dismiss their concerns, to share in their joys and work with them to help prioritize critical self-care practices and create more balance in their lives.' So help your teen take a step back, support them, and encourage them to get more sleep, especially on school nights. If your school district doesn't have sleep training classes (which is the most likely scenario, at least for now), you can teach your teens at home by having easy and compassionate discussions about building strong sleeping skills that will benefit them now and throughout life. Jennifer L.W. Fink, author and co-host of ON BOYS parenting podcast, previously told SheKnows that parents should prioritize rest and sleep to help their teens do the same. 'Give teens space, time, and encouragement to REST,' she said. 'Prioritize sleep, time off, and rejuvenating activities, and talk about why you do so.' 'Helping students create regular routines and healthy boundaries with energy-draining communications can help them avoid burnout,' she of SheKnows 28 Celebrity Moms Who Put Their Hollywood Careers on Hold to Stay Home With Their Kids Netflix's Bad Influence Isn't Just About Kidfluencers — It's About Every Parent Who's Ever Hit 'Post' Exclusive: 20 Celebrity Moms Reveal the Best Way Motherhood Has Changed Them
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
TikTok's Newest Move Aims To Help Teens Get Better Sleep at Night
Teenagers are getting more tired — and it's no surprise that phones play a role. The CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that 77% of U.S. high school students in 2021 didn't get their recommended 8 hours of sleep at night, which has prompted some high schools to teach critical sleep training classes. And now, the popular social media app TikTok is doing its part to help as well. The app announced Thursday that they are expanding its focus on prioritizing teens' well-being by launching an in-app meditation guide that will be mandatory for those under 18 after 10 p.m. The program is called Meditation in Sleep Hours, which will be turned on by default for teens and can be added for any user. It works like this: once the clock strikes 10 p.m., the app's For You feed will be interrupted by a guided mediation exercise to encourage users to relax their mind and go to sleep. This meditation takes over your entire screen and plays music and calming words to help you relax. When TikTok did a feature test of this mandatory meditation, 98% of their teen users opted to keep the meditation experience on, which shows how much teens want help in getting better sleep. More from SheKnows Graduation Season Hits Different When It's Your Baby Wearing the Cap & Gown In March,TikTok launched a Time Away feature that allows parents to block their teens from being on TikTok during certain times (like bedtime). 'Teens can request extra time, but parents make the final decision,' the company said in a press release, adding that everyone under 18 will automatically have a 1-hour daily screen time limit. TikTok also gave parents the ability to see who their teen is following, who follows back, and who their teen has blocked. 'TikTok has responded to calls from both youth and their families for more tools that will help them support their wellbeing while using the app,' Dr. Vicki Harrison, a member of TikTok's Content Advisory Counsel and Program Director for Stanford's Center for Youth Mental Health & Wellbeing, said in a statement. 'Prioritizing sleep, balanced usage and more parent-teen interactions around social media use are all positive steps that I hope we see more of.' According to the Pew Research Center, 6 in 10 teens use TikTok daily, with 16% admitting to being on it 'almost constantly.' It's no surprise they might need a little help turning off their devices! Theo, 15, who is part of SheKnows' Teen Council, told SheKnows in April that he could see the silver lining if the app was actually banned. 'Do I wish it would be banned for my mental health and time management? Low-key, yeah, 'cause I think I spend way too much time on TikTok,' he said. 'Doing other stuff in the time I'm spending on TikTok would just be so much better for me. Reading or eating … just not being on a screen and scrolling for hours.' According to the Sleep Foundation, using electronic devices for long periods during the day and night (especially for adolescents) can make it harder to sleep. The organization recommends not having screens for at least an hour before bed, sleeping with all electronic devices in another room, and spending less time on electronic devices in general. For teens who are night owls, TikTok's latest move will make it that much easier to follow these of SheKnows 19 Celebrity Stepparents Who Have a Tight Bond With Their Stepkids I'm 29 Weeks Pregnant, & Comfortable Sandals Are a *Must* This Summer—These Are the Best Ones on the Market Recent Baby & Toddler Product Recalls Every Parent and Caregiver Should Know About
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
New Hampshire shouldn't retreat from substance misuse prevention programs
"We have all heard about the budget cuts that have been suggested to save money but we must ask at what cost?" (Getty Images) An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. This legislative session has raised some concerns that not enough people understand that the best way to save money is to prevent the problem from ever even happening. We must emphasize this important life lesson to save existing prevention efforts and continue supporting our youth. We have all heard about the budget cuts that have been suggested to save money but we must ask: At what cost? Primary health prevention shows, on the very low end, that every dollar invested in prevention saves on average $6 in health care costs. When we expand that to substance misuse prevention efforts the estimated cost savings climbs to as high as $12 to $18 for every dollar spent on providing information and awareness on the dangers of drugs and alcohol to children and teens. New Hampshire prevention community coalitions and public health networks have been strategically working to lower the rates of substance misuse among our youth. It has taken time to build a strong network with qualified individuals who understand the process and how to effectively make change. The very foundation of this work and the infrastructure that helps keep it moving forward is in danger in many ways in our state at the moment. First, let's talk about House Bill 446, to make the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) that is administered to youth every two years and collects vitality important information, an opt-in survey. This means parents or guardians would have to sign a permission form for their child to participate in this survey. Currently there is a 10 day period prior to the survey that adults are made aware of the survey so they can review it and choose to opt their child out if they are uncomfortable with it. To be clear, the information collected in the survey is completely anonymous and on topics our youth are well versed in, curious about, and talking about, but are subjects their adults might find uncomfortable to talk about, like drug use, mental health, and sex. The data collected in these surveys allows community coalitions who come together to support the youth growing up in their towns and cities to design messaging and programming to help support our youth making healthy choices and provide them with knowledge of where to go for help and support. The needs identified also allow us to reach out to our partners across the state and share information and resources on how to best address these needs. This leads us to our next concern: the budget. The New Hampshire Liquor Commission-Division of Enforcement (NHLE) is on the list of cuts in the current proposed budget. NHLE does so much behind the scene work to help with prevention but on a community-facing level they are the people we can call if we have a report of an establishment selling alcohol or tobacco to an underage buyer. They help us raise awareness that the legal age to purchase alcohol and tobacco is 21, and they are the ones who enforce these laws if they are broken. The Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program is also on the line to be cut. This department provides updated information and awareness resources for local community youth groups, schools, and organizations to share and raise awareness about the current threats around nicotine products, and their harmful effects on teens and adults alike. They also provide access to ways to quit for those who may be ready to take that next step toward a healthier lifestyle, such as 1-800-quit-now and My Life My Quit for teens. The loss of even one of these tools (the YRBS, NHLE, or Tobacco Control) could drastically change the landscape of prevention work in New Hampshire. All three are vital tools in our New Hampshire prevention tool box to help keep our kids and communities safe from the unknown harms that can come with exploring substance misuse at a young age. If you care about our young people, or you care about a budget that invests it money wisely to make a difference and save you money in the future, please speak up so the people who are invested in keeping kids, communities, and roads safe in New Hampshire can continue to do the great work they do — saving lives and limiting lifelong addiction.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Gen Z's angst is dismantling the long-established happiness curve and confounding researchers
The happiness curve has been a relatively predictable U-shape for a long time: You are at your happiest when you're young, then happiness declines in midlife, only to rise once again in old age. But researchers have discovered that the curve is flattening, as happiness is dipping earlier in life than it used to. The results came out of the Global Flourishing Study, a collaboration between researchers at Harvard and Baylor University who analyzed data collected by Gallup from more than 200,000 people in 22 countries. They discovered that, on average, young adults ages 18 to 29 were unhappy, while grappling with poor mental and physical health, negative perceptions of their own character, finding meaning in life, financial security, and the quality of their relationships. Using Harvard's Flourishing Measure—a composite of happiness and life satisfaction, physical and mental health, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, and close social relationships—researchers determined how much each participant was flourishing in their life. Now, they found, the flourishing curve is flat until around age 50, when it begins to rise again. Researchers found this to be true across several countries, including the UK and Australia—but the well-being gap of younger and older adults was the widest in the U.S. 'It is a pretty stark picture,' Tyler J. VanderWeele, the lead author of the study and director of Harvard's Human Flourishing Program, told the New York Times. 'Are we sufficiently investing in the well-being of youth?' Recent research shows that life satisfaction and happiness have steadily been declining among young adults for the last decade. In the U.S., the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBSS) has reported a dramatic rise in anxiety and depression among American Gen Zers, especially young women. In 2023, 53% of female high school students reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, compared with 28% of boys. 'Young people are not doing as well as they used to be,' the Global Flourishing Study authors wrote. 'While causes are likely diverse, mental health concerns with young adults are clearly on the rise.' A 2023 national survey from Harvard also found that young adults (ages 18 to 25), suffered from higher rates of anxiety and depression than younger teens. That study concluded the following factors were driving Gen Z's declining mental health: A lack of meaning and direction: The survey found that over half (58%) young adults reported that they lacked 'meaning or purpose' in their lives in the previous month, with half also reporting that their mental health was negatively influenced by 'not knowing what to do with my life.' Financial worries: 56% of young adults were concerned about their financial well-being. Pressure to achieve: Half of young adults expressed that achievement pressure was negatively influencing their mental health. Feeling that the world is falling apart: 45% of young adults reported that a general "sense that things are falling apart' caused their mental health to decline. Loneliness and social isolation: Nearly half (44%) of young adults reported a sense of not mattering to others, while 34% reported they were lonely. Social and political issues: Widespread issues such as climate change, gun violence in schools, and concerns about political leadership were among the topics weighing on Gen Z. For more on happiness: Researchers have followed over 700 people since 1938 to find the keys to happiness. Here's what they discovered Happier parents tap into this 1 emotion Americans under 30 are so miserable that the U.S. just fell to a historic low ranking in the annual World Happiness Report This story was originally featured on
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New Florida AG Uthmeier creates Office of Parental Rights with first-in-country focus
Florida is launching an Office of Parental Rights to safeguard family rights in fields ranging from children's health services to school library book selections, Attorney General James Uthmeier said Tuesday. The Attorney General's Office said the new agency will be the first of its type in the country, designed 'to empower parents and protect children.' Challenging perceived overreach by local school districts or service providers appears to be an early emphasis for the unit. 'Your parents typically know what's best for you,' Uthmeier told a roomful of fourth-grade students at Jacksonville Classical Academy, a charter school that Republican leaders have visited before. '…It's not the role of the government to raise kids.' More: What is Roblox? Florida AG demands to know how gaming platform protects children from abuse Asked an example of a subject the new office would address, the attorney general suggested complaints about 'secret surveys' administered to children in some public schools. Kimberly Hermann, executive director of the conservative Southeastern Legal Foundation, joined Uthmeier at Jacksonville Classical and talked about surveys that ask about anxiety or mental health issues affecting children or family members as a potential infringement on parental rights. The foundation has represented a mother in Kentucky fighting with her local school district, whom the foundation said refused to show her questions on a survey, arguing they were copyrighted by another party. Duval County school administrators encountered blowback from state education officials in 2023 for administering a federally funded Youth Risk Behavior Survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More: State attorney general praises Jacksonville immigration bill that awaits mayor's decision The survey asked questions about topics including bullying, substance use, sexual activity and suicide that some parents found inappropriate and the school district canceled its participation in the CDC research. Separate from parental rights, the Attorney General's Office has offices for civil rights, statewide prosecution and an inspector general as well as divisions for antitrust issues, civil litigation, consumer protection, criminal appellate work, victim services and enforcement of the state's lemon law on automobile defects. This story was updated to correct the name of the Southeastern Legal Foundation. This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: 'Empower parents': Florida AG Uthmeier opening Office of Parental Rights
