Teens and the Addictive Powers of Smoking

Researchers have found that teenagers can get addicted to nicotine by smoking just one cigarette. After just one cigarette, a powerful reward system is set up in the brain. The more often a person smokes, the stronger the cravings will be.

Teenagers and Plastic Surgery

The rise continues with teenagers and preteens having plastic surgery to fix what they think are flaws. The United States has the highest number of plastic surgery patients per year with Brazil and Spain following next. At least 10 percent of the patients are minors under the age of 18.

Most surgeons refuse to operate on minors, even with the parent’s consent, but there are some surgeons that wouldn’t have a problem with it. Some parents even encourage plastic surgery on their children and give nose jobs or collagen injections as gifts.

Sleeping is Essential to Learning

Research has shown that teenagers have internal body clocks and hormones that make it hard for them to fall asleep before 11 p.m. and hard for them to wake up before 8 a.m. Most high schools start classes around 7:30a.m., so students have to wake up very early. A National Sleep Foundation survey found that up to 28 percent of high school students fall asleep during their first class. A few high schools have recognized this issue and moved their starting times to around 8:30 a.m. When they did this, test scores and attendance increased.