Pubdate: Thu, 20 Jun 2013
Source: Record, The (Kitchener, CN ON)
Copyright: 2013 Metroland Media Group Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.therecord.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/225
Author: Johanna Weidner
Referenced: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/13/569/abstract

TEENS LEARN NUMEROUS UNHEALTHY HABITS IN HIGH SCHOOL

WATERLOO - Kids enter Grade 9 living a fairly healthy lifestyle but by
graduation they pick up enough bad habits to be at a significantly
higher risk for chronic diseases, a University of Waterloo study has
found.

Smoking, marijuana use, binge drinking and physical inactivity
skyrocket over the four years of high school.

"When they're entering high school, they're in pretty good shape,"
said Scott Leatherdale, an associate professor in UW's School of
Public Health and Health Systems.

By Grade 12, he said, "they're participating in a lot of risk
behaviours that are going to substantially increase their risk for
chronic disease."

Overall, only half a per cent of Canadian high school students don't
have bad habits that put their health in danger.

The study, published in the latest issue of BMC Public Health this
month, looked at seven major modifiable risk factors for disease:
smoking, marijuana use, binge drinking, being overweight or obese,
physical inactivity, sedentary lifestyle and inadequate intake of
fruits and vegetables.

"When you look at kids in Grade 9, they're not doing bad with most of
them," Leatherdale said.

Although, he added, it's tough to find students at any age who are
eating adequate servings of fruits and vegetables and are not
sedentary. The vast majority surveyed did not meet Health Canada's
minimum activity guidelines and reported inadequate fruit and
vegetable consumption.

Over the four years of high school, there was an increase in smokers
by 170 per cent, 167 per cent for binge drinkers and 124 per cent for
marijuana users.

Leatherdale was surprised by the number of teens who have multiple
risk factors. More than a third of Grade 12 students had three, while
about a quarter had four modifiable risk factors.

"That's when it gets very problematic," he said, adding that evidence
suggests more than one risk factor can increase the likelihood of
serious disease.

His research is following teenagers through high school to understand
why these unhealthy habits begin and how to intervene, with the goal
of giving schools evidence-based intervention plans.

"Something seems to shift dramatically between Grade 9 and 12,"
Leatherdale said. "The concern is those things have the potential to
follow those kids through their life."

Children spend much of their day in school, where they can be
influenced by people, programs, policies and resources to adopt more
healthy lifestyles. However, he said, "I think what we're doing is
failing."

And that's happening in school boards across the country as shown by
the study, which used data collected from more than 31,000 students in
Grade 9 to 12 who responded to the substance use section of the
2010-11 Canadian Youth Smoking Survey.

Schools understandably concentrate on academics, but these findings
show it's vital to also make health promotion a priority. Now
Leatherdale said schools focus on preventing unhealthy behaviours one
at a time, and often the focus is on substance use and other important
risk factors, such as balanced eating are neglected.

He wants a more comprehensive approach in schools that looks at
multiple risk factors to encourage youth to adopt healthy lifestyles.
Otherwise, the impact of chronic illness will be profound on the
health care system and economy.

"The way people behave as adolescents, they tend to behave that way as
adults."
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MAP posted-by: Matt