Generation Next Blog

May 2014

Expert condemns ‘appalling’ DrinkWise campaign

By |2020-11-16T12:07:43+11:00May 12th, 2014|Categories: Drugs & Alcohol|Tags: , , , , , , |

Professor Mike Daube, the director of the Public Health Advocacy Institute and the McCusker Centre for Action on Alcohol and Youth, said the campaign used crass language to encourage alcohol consumption and was "pretty much the most irresponsible advertising I've ever seen". He called for the advertisements to be withdrawn immediately. The advertising campaign features [...]

Leadership lesson: Student Principal for a Day

By |2014-05-05T00:20:08+10:00May 5th, 2014|Categories: Society & Culture|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |

Leaders aren’t born – they become leaders through experience and opportunity. Young people need genuine opportunities to test drive what it feels like to be in the leader’s seat. Right now – there’s a great opportunity for primary and secondary students around the country to get a practical lesson in leadership that they won’t forget! [...]

Self-Harm In Children – Please Help

By |2014-05-04T23:44:24+10:00May 4th, 2014|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing|Tags: , , , , , , |

The National Children’s Commissioner is examining how children and young people under 18 years can be better protected from intentional self-harm and suicidal behaviour. Article 6 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child gives to every child the inherent right to life.[i] United Nations guidelines for periodic reports to the Committee on the Rights of [...]

Is ‘Sluggish Cognitive Tempo’ A Valid New Childhood Disorder?

By |2014-05-04T23:19:20+10:00May 4th, 2014|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing, Science & Research|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |

Sociology influences medicine more than we like to admit. One only needs to look at the history of psychiatric disorders – a term used broadly here to incorporate developmental disorders – to see how “normal” in one era is often deemed “abnormal” in another. And how the dividing line between these two ends is often [...]

Don’t Be A ByStander!

By |2014-05-04T21:51:24+10:00May 4th, 2014|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing, Society & Culture|Tags: , , , , , , , |

Last week I wrote of my personal experience of being bullied for years at school. The feedback I received through the comment section and social media, whilst supportive, indicated that bullying is so widespread. And not just in school, but in all areas of the community. The question is why? Why is bullying so prevalent? I [...]

Is misused neuroscience defining early years?

By |2014-05-04T21:11:28+10:00May 4th, 2014|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing, Science & Research|Tags: , , , , , |

Here's the thing: what if it's over-baked? What if the claims made for neuroscience are so extreme that most neuroscientists would disown them? What if the constant references to "brain scans of neglected children" actually just meant one brain scan, from one highly contested study? What if synaptic development were a bit more complicated than [...]

Want to Be Happier? Keep Your Focus

By |2014-05-04T20:44:28+10:00May 4th, 2014|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing|Tags: , , , , , , |

Nearly half the time we're awake, our thoughts drift to topics unrelated to whatever we're doing. We think about the fight we had with our spouse when we're driving or replay events from a friend's wild party while brushing our teeth in the morning. We text incessantly while watching TV and phone mom during laundry-folding [...]

Science or Sales? The Evidence and Application of Brain Training Games

By |2014-05-04T20:27:44+10:00May 4th, 2014|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing, Science & Research|Tags: , , , , , , , |

Over the past 5 years, computerized cognitive training (CT) programs have made a huge splash in the digital wellness market. These programs, usually consisting of small computer games, have capitalized on recent research that demonstrates a previously unrecognized degree of neuroplasticity, or cognitive flexibility, in the brain. Currently, research is moderately supportive of CT. In [...]

Science Says Stress Is Contagious

By |2014-05-04T20:16:29+10:00May 4th, 2014|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing, Science & Research|Tags: , , , , , , |

A study from the Max Planck Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences and the Technische Universität Dresden found that even being around a stressed person, be it a loved one or a stranger, has the power to make someone stressed in a physically quantifiable way. - Laura Stampler via Science Says Stress Is Contagious | TIME.com.

What pop culture gets wrong about eating disorders

By |2014-05-04T20:03:43+10:00May 4th, 2014|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing, Society & Culture|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |

It’s true that bulimia happens among ballet dancers and beauty queens, and other people whose bodies are their livelihoods. But the reality of bulimia and other eating disorders that involve purging – through vomiting, overexercise, or laxative abuse – is that many people suffering from them don’t look like ballerinas or pageant contestants. Many women [...]

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