Time spent fighting the bad guys in a video game is likely also time spent consuming snacks and drinks with high sugar content, which is harmful to dental health.

“Every time you eat or drink anything sugary, your teeth are under acid attack for up to one hour,” Said Dr. Nigel Carter or the British Dental Health Foundation. “So it is important to keep sugary foods only to mealtimes, limiting the amount of time your mouth is at risk.”

According to a study presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Dental Research in Washington, teens addicted to video games may have a significantly increased risk of poor dental health. The researchers discovered that gamers often eat snacks and drink drinks with significantly high sugar content, making them twice more likely to develop tooth decay than kids of a similar age with more active lifestyles.

Childhood tooth decay is the most common chronic childhood disease. Each year, more than 51 million school hours are lost due to dental-related illnesses.

Parents who are concerned about their children’s dental health and addiction to video games can step in and help. The American Dental Association recommends that parents establish regular meal times and allow healthy snacks such as fruits and vegetables in between meals.

Parents should limit the amount of time spent playing video games, watching television, and playing on the computer. Parents can encourage active lifestyles by initiating family activities such as bike riding, going to the park, hiking, and visiting playgrounds. Parents can also support their children’s interest in sports and host play dates with the child’s team members.

Parents should also demonstrate good oral hygiene habits, such as brushing and flossing teeth when waking up in the morning and before going to bed at night. They can provide children with the right dental products that will help protect against tooth decay, such as toothpaste with fluoride.

By setting a good example with eating and dental hygiene routines and encouraging an active lifestyle, parents can combat the effects of video games, sugary snacks, and a sedentary lifestyle.

Reformed Bipolar Crack Addict Takes Readers Along On His Wild Journey To Recovery In New Book
I Believe is a personal journey through addiction recovery. I Believe will empower you to choose your reality. It will awaken you into a world of positivity. Hackensack, NJ (PRWEB) March 4, 2011 Ralph Gonzalez, born and raised in the tough projects of New York City, began experimenting with crack as a teen in the 1980s. He continued smoking the drug in his 20s and his use eventually grew into a …
Read more on redOrbit

The following article is meant for parents of a teen who might be obsessed with video and/or computer games. While in some of our other articles we may sound as though we encourage obsession, we share a concern over teens who tend to shun other interests in life in favor for gaming activities to the point where they withdraw from society. We would never encourage this kind of behavior, and that’s why we’ve taken time to describe some of the signs of game obsession and offer some advice on how to deal with it.

Recognizing the signs of teen game obsession isn’t as easy as one thinks. It always starts off as first, an interest, and it then starts to grow into an addition. The problem with identifying the beginning stages of game obsession begins with the teen. By the time our children are 15 and up, they’ve learned some rather impressive debating skills. So when we question their motivations for repetitive game play, they may rebut our concerns with logic and even make it a point to question our own flaws as parents.

Since no parent ever really wants to admit a flaw, we can sometimes cave in and convince ourselves that maybe 4 hours in front of a video game isn’t that bad. After all, we spend that much time at the computer, on the phone, or transmitting data back and forth between our Palms, Blackberries, and Cingular cell phones.

Be careful not to fall prey to the logical teen. Video games can be addictive and if the time spent playing them is not carefully monitored, they’ll consume everything that a teen used to care about.

The moment you notice your teen’s grades falling, homework missing, or social life starting to drop off, nip that game time in the bud. If you wait too late to restrict game time, you may experience pre-adult temper tantrums that you aren’t prepared to handle correctly (cursing, breaking things, stealing, running away from home, etc.). At this point, the child is obsessed and will do anything to get his or her hands on a game controller.

Another sign of obsession is a behavioral change. A child obsessed with gaming will lose patience with things and with others, be quick to anger, and react to situations without fully thinking of the consequences. If you’ve paid any attention to video and/or computer games, you’ll notice that they require this kind of behavior to win or to advance to a higher level.

It’s unfortunate, but a teen obsessed with this kind of violent gaming is literally being trained to react in the manner described above. That’s why it’s pertinent that as an adult, you restrict access to this kind of entertainment and replace it with activities that slow thinking (such as art, music, theater, etc.) and expose your child to other non-violent pleasures (swimming, dance, skating, etc.).

There are a lot of debates circulating around about the impact that video games have on today’s youth and some of it might warrant paying closer attention to. As a mother or father of a teen, you will do well with your teen’s desire to “get his game on” by keeping a close eye out for undesirable changes.

The causes of drug addiction are something that everyone should know about. Even if you have never used drugs, you should know in case someone you love is in trouble. Your child may need to you to know this too, when he is young and needs to be educated. From teen drug addiction to life threatening severe cases in adults, the causes of drug addiction are indications that your condition needs attention. In fact, once you learn the causes of drug addiction, drug and alcohol addiction recovery can begin.

How Does It Happen?

If you are someone looking in from how drug addiction happens, do not be too harsh to judge. All it takes is one experiment, one time of wanting just see what the big deal is to make a serious problem start. The high that people get from drugs is som Read the rest of this entry

My first job as a counselor was at a drug rehabilitation center called One Day at a Time. By the time the record was released, Tyler and Perry had exited drug rehabilitation. Dwain was transferred to a drug rehabilitation center in an attempted to cure him.

Consulting a physician or healthcare professional with experience in drug rehabilitation is a necessary step. Do your part in researching and hopefully you will be able to find a drug rehabilitation center that will fulfil your requirements. Since there are several different types of drug rehabilitation programs available ranging from inpatient, outpatient, residential, short-term, and long-term, it helps to learn what’s out there and how to choose one.

Drug rehabilitation can be an arduous process, and Read the rest of this entry