Physical changes in teenagers:
Technology has played an important role in the lifestyle of teenagers. The advent of computers and mobile phones are major contributors. Home computers started becoming common during the early years of the century, and about ten years later, mobile phones were easily accessible to all. The teenagers of today grew up with computers and mobile phones. The click of the button or voice commands now gets a lot of work done, which otherwise needed a lot of physical effort. They need to put in much less physical effort today compared to 20 years ago. There are good and bad effects to this.
Challenges of today:
Since there is much less physical activity, there are physical problems associated with it. The teens of today do not interact with friends face-to-face as much as in earlier days. They prefer playing online games over games that involve physical activity. It is not always necessary to physically go out and buy things like before; you can order things online. This leads to physical problems like obesity, insomnia, and eating disorders. This also leads to mental health and behavioural issues like generalised anxiety disorder, depression, and phobias. This reflects on their academic performance. When teenagers have different physical or mental health disorders, it is difficult to do their regular work.
Obesity in teenagers is usually due to a lack of physical exercise or overeating. When they are not physically active due to the excessive use of computers, mobile phones, and other electronic gadgets, they do not have enough physical exercise and gain weight. Obesity leads to other health issues. It is very common to find teenagers becoming obese because they do not play outside and spend most of the time on gadgets.
Insomnia in teenagers is another problem faced by teenagers today. They always have access to their gadgets throughout the day. Whenever they feel like they should use their gadgets, If they find something of interest, they could continue playing and lose track of time. They could be playing until late in the night. This would disturb their sleep-wake cycle, which would lead to insomnia. They either get too little or too much sleep, which would lead to other physical problems.
Eating disorders in teenagers:
Lack of proper exercise and improper sleeping habits lead to eating disorders in teenagers. When the body does not have enough physical exercise, there is a loss of appetite. They do not have the desire to have their food on time. Later, they may become hungry and want something. Not having food on time and eating improper meals have an effect on the body, which would lead to other health disorders.
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