Restaurant Smoking Bans Decrease Teen Smoking

A recent study shows that restaurant smoking bans help to persuade teenagers not to become smokers. Teens who lived in towns with strict bans were 40 percent less likely to become regular smokers than teens that lived in communities without bans or that had weak bans. Smoking bans discourage tobacco use and sends out the message that smoking is not healthy. The ban also reduces the amount of smoke that teens are exposed to in public places.

Having a parent or close friend that smokes can be an influence as to whether or not a teenager experiments with cigarettes but strong bans in public places play a bigger role in whether a not the teen will develop a smoking habit. The study also found that the bans had a greater effect on younger teens than older teens.

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.