Sex & Your Body By Kathy McCoy
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 Danger zones: top hazards to your health
According to the National Center for Health Statistics, teenagers are the only group in the United States whose rate of death has increased since 1960. In fact, the death rate for teenagers is 11 percent higher than it was twenty years ago, whereas the rate for people over forty-five has gone down.
Needless to say, the statistics on teenagers are cause for alarm. Why is being a teenager getting more and more hazardous? And how can you protect yourself? The greatest threats to teenagers' Iives today are:
1. ACCIDENTS
Of the 16,224 fifteen to nineteen-year olds who died in 1986, 55 percent died in accidents; 77 percent of these were car accidents.
2. HOMICIDE
Twelve percent were murder victims; 75 percent were males.
3. SUICIDE
Eleven percent killed themselves; 81 percent were males. These three causes accounted for 78 percent of teenage deaths in 1986. The fourth leading cause of death -cancer- was well behind the top three, accounting for 5 percent of all teenage deaths that year. After cancer, the percentages for the top ten hazards fall off dramatically.
What these numbers mean is that the vast majority of teenage deaths are preventable. How can you safeguard your own life and health-right now and for the future?
BEWARE OF ALCOHOL.
The Centers for Disease Control reports that alcohol was a contributing factor in 42 percent of the fatal car and motorcycle accidents involving sixteen- to twenty-fouryear-olds. So not drinking and driving, and not riding with a driver who has been drinking, wilI do more to protect you than any other single thing. And since alcohol has been implicated not only in car accidents but in skateboard, cycling, and boating accidents (among others), keep in mind that drinking doesn't mix with any activity that requires coordination, alertness, or good judgment.
In addition, homicide is of ten drug or alcohol related. And suicide is frequently linked to drug and alcohol abuse. Drinking also leads to more health problems -including cirrhosis of the liver- in adults than any other single cause.
FIND POSITIVE WAYS TO DEAL WITH YOUR PROBLEMS.
Drugs and alcohol don't work - they just make more problems. Drinking or doing drugs of ten just leads to more stress, depression, and trouble (at home, at school, with the law). Instead, find people to talk to, write in a journal, or see a counselor or therapist if there are things in your life you can't handle -including drugs or alcohol, for that matter. And it's very important to get help if you or a friend is feeling worthless, if you're depressed, or if you feel your life is out of control. Facing problems -rather than avoiding them -is the only thing that will work for your health instead of against it.
DON'T SMOKE.
Lung cancer is not an immediate risk for most teenagers, but 90 percent of the adults who smoke started when they were teenagers, and 390,000 adult smokers die of lung cancer every year.
Smoking also leads to a variety of other serious health problems. In the short run, people who smoke are Iikely to have more colds, coughs, and other respiratory problems than those who don't.
DON'T TAKE CHANCES WITH SEX.
Sex can be hazardous to your health fight now, and ultimately can threaten your fertility and even your life. Teenagers have been identified as the next major risk group for AIDS (though it is relatively uncommon in fourteen- to eighteen-year-olds at present), and they are already among those at the greatest risk for many other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). These include chlamydia, gonorrhea, and human papilloma virus (HPV).
Chlamydia is the most common STD among teenage girls, and because it of ten has no obvious symptoms, it can spread undetected to the uterine cavity and cause pelvic infIammatory disease, which can lead to infertility.
Gonorrhea is a particular threat to girls for the same reason. (Guys are more likely to have visible symptoms of these STDs.) In addition to causing pelvic infection and infertility, untreated gonorrhea can spread throughout the body, affecting joints and even the heart.
HPV causes genital warts (which can be very small and can occur internally on the cervix as well as on the external genital area) and has been linked to cervical cancer in women. This can strike when you 're young, especially if you begin having sex in your early or mid teens. In fact, doctors are seeing signs of cervical cancer in more and more teenage girls, though until recently it was extremely rare in this age group.
Abstinence is the only way to be completely safe from STDs. The next safest choice is to be in a relationship in which both partners begin as virgins and remain monogamous. Beyond this -or any time there is any doubt about one partner's sexual history or current practices- the only way to protect yourself is by using a condom with a spermicide containing nonoxynol-9 every time you have sex.
In addition, you should have a yearly pelvic exam -every six months if you're having sex with more than one person. There are tests to detect chlamydia and gonorrhea, and a Pap smear can reveal HPV or early signs of cervical cancer. When detected early, all of these conditions can be treated and cured.
TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF.
This sounds ridiculously simple, but few people take it seriously enough. Regular exercise can keep your heart and lungs in good condition, improve your mental health, prevent obesity (which occurs in an astonishing 20 percent of American teenagers), and liberate you from having to diet to stay at a healthy weight.
Stringent dieting can lead not only to malnutrition and unhealthy weight fluctuations, but also to eating disorders, like anorexia (compulsive dieting and exercising to the point of starvation) and bulimia (compulsive eating followed by forced vomiting). These eating disorders amict at least 5 to 10 percent of teenage girls, and both can be fatal.
Eating a healthy diet and keeping junk food to a minimum can help you feel better now and, quite possibly, help you avoid diseases like some forms of cancer and heart disease later. The damage that contributes to many serious health conditions can begin early. And if you have a chronic disease, like asthma or diabetes, taking care of yourself is even more important.
The bad news in all this is that teenagers are at risk. The good news is that you can protect yourself by being smart about what you do and how you treat yourself. Now that you know what the dangers are, you're better equipped to take charge of your own health and future.
Source: Seventeen Magazine
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