Teen Problems Causing Adult Health Problems

     If you're a teen facing peer problems, you may want to search for a way to take care of it now, because your risk for heart disease, stroke, and type two diabetes later in life may increase because of those peer issues.
    
     I found that teens with peer problems that are worse than usual may affect their health later in life. This website, http://www.webmd.com/parenting/news/20120628/teens-peer-problems-may-affect-health-later, suggests that peer problems around the age of 16 may trigger something called metabolic syndrome around the age of 43. Metabolic syndrome raises the risk of those problems I mentioned earlier. Heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.
 
     Swedish researchers found a link that peer problems at a young age are correlated to an increased risk of metabolic syndrome during middle age. This new research is related to other findings about the effects if "toxic stress" in childhood and later health.
    
     Urban Janlert, a professor of public health at the Umea University and her team asked the teachers of more than 1,000 teens to assess each student's isolation. Their popularity and how well they get along with others was also told by the teachers. The teens were around the age of 16. At the ages of 16 and 43, the people completed a questionnaire about their social circumstances, behaviors, and health.

     When the men and woman reached the age of 43, they had health exams. The following were measured.

• Blood pressure
• Blood glucose
• Waist circumference

     To be diagnosed with metabolic syndrome, three of the five following factors must be present.

• Elevated blood pressure
• Elevated blood sugar
• Waist above 35 inches for woman, and 40 for men
• Low level of HDL cholesterol
• Elevated level of triglycerides

     The main point of this study is to show that the greater the teen peer problems, the higher the risk of developing metabolic syndrome by the age of 43. Janlert found the 19% of woman and 34.5% of the men of the group had had metabolic syndrome. Janlert says that the researches cannot prove cause and effect, but only a link.
     In my opinion, it's better to be safe than sorry. If you are a teen with major peer problems, my advice to you would be to look for ways to improve the issues. Maybe try counseling, talking to a teacher or principle, or find ways to get along with those creating the problems.
                                                                                                                                                      By, Cali