April 13th, 2010 by Nancy Brown, Ph.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, News, Opinion, Research
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Baby boomers may have a new reputation. According to new cancer research, they are five times more likely to be diagnosed with malignant melanoma — the type of skin cancer that kills the most people.
The incidence rates of melanoma have risen from 7 cases per 100,000 people in the 1970’s to 36 cases per 100,000 today. The rising rate corresponds to the increase in tanning during the 1970’s, when baby boomers were young adults.
Parents and grandparents of teens should be checked by dermatologists as part of their preventive healthcare. I can only hope that teens today will be responsible for the stopping of this increase as they’ve grown up with the message that sunscreen is important and should be a daily part of their lives.
Photo credit: tata_aka_T
This post, Baby Boomers And Skin Cancer, was originally published on
Healthine.com by Nancy Brown, Ph.D..
April 10th, 2010 by Nancy Brown, Ph.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, News
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Suicide remains the third leading cause of death among 15 to 24 year olds. In 2006, 4,189 people between the ages of 15 and 24 died by suicide, and for each of those it’s estimated that 100 to 200 other people attempted suicide.
“We Can Help Us” — a new national public service announcement campaign — is designed to reduce suicide and suicide attempts among teens in the United Sates. The campaign is a joint project from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the Ad Council, and the Inspire USA Foundation. Read more »
This post, Suicide Prevention: “We Can Help Us”, was originally published on
Healthine.com by Nancy Brown, Ph.D..
March 14th, 2010 by Gwenn Schurgin O'Keeffe, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips
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The coverage about Michael Blasil’s suicide raises important issues about how to really help depressed teens…and where to look for resources in our own communities.
In many ways, the coverage about the death of Marie Osmond’s son was excellent. The experts on all the news shows were spot on in discussing teen depression and suicide and all the news stations have posted important information for families on their sites. However, what was missing was the reality of how challenging it is to get care. All the experts I heard this morning made comments such as “if your child is depressed for 2 weeks or more, you need to get that child into treatment because treatment does work in over 90% of the time.” Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Gwenn Is In*
March 4th, 2010 by Nancy Brown, Ph.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips
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If your teen is seriously considering a college, I now highly recommend setting up an overnight visit with the admissions department. Here is our experience: while on this college visit my daughter spent the night as a guest with two sophomores at the college we are visiting. We thought it would be a great way to get a feel for what it is like to live on campus in this little town and really get a feel for whether or not she “fits in.”
Upon arrival, we read and signed the paper about the rules, she was given her itinerary, meal tickets, appointment with a faculty member in the department she was interested in, and information about the class she was going to visit the following morning. The two young women who were hosting her introduced themselves and off she went – not a glance back – into the next grand adventure. The admission director smiled at me knowing I was holding back the tears – excited for her and knowing my life would never be the same. That evening my younger daughter, her friend and I saw a movie, had dinner and my younger daughter congratulated me when I did not text her older sister to say goodnight. Read more »
This post, Teens Can Give College An Overnight Trial Run, was originally published on
Healthine.com by Nancy Brown, Ph.D..
February 25th, 2010 by Nancy Brown, Ph.D. in Better Health Network, News, Research
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In fact, according to the results of an online survey about sex, relationships, and sexual respect, 60 percent of young men and teen boys lie about sex. In November, 1,200 males ages 15-22 took the survey conducted by TRU, Seventeen magazine and the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.
Some of the findings include:
- 45 percent reported they were virgins;
- 60 percent admitted to lying about something related to sex: 30 percent lied about how far they have gone, 24 percent about their number of sexual partners, and 23 percent about their virginity status;
- 78 percent agreed there was “way too much pressure” from society to have sex;
- 57 percent of sexually active respondents reported having had unprotected sex; Read more »
This post, News Flash: Young Men Lie About Sex, was originally published on
Healthine.com by Nancy Brown, Ph.D..