A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
Over the past few weeks I’ve been speaking at the Generation Next seminars lamenting the fact that in today’s society, it seems every kid needs to get a prize! Indeed I’ve heard of teachers being berated by over-zealous parents because their child didn’t receive a fifth place ribbon. Why do we feel the need to [...]
Parents may not always see it, but efforts to limit their children's screen time can make a difference. A new study, published in JAMA Pediatrics, found children get more sleep, do better in school, behave better and see other health benefits when parents limit content and the amount of time their children spend on the [...]
Over the last fortnight it’s been interesting to read the reporting about the release of a couple of key pieces of alcohol data in Australia. The Australian Bureau of Statistics released its Apparent Consumption of Alcohol, Australia, 2012-13 report, which shows Australians are drinking less alcohol overall than any time in the previous 15 years. [...]
Every day, it seems, we are bombarded with advertisements, memes and well-meaning emails telling us how to “be happy.” Despite this, a new study led by Stanford University reveals that chasing happiness may actually make us less happy. The new research, published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, does, however, point to effective ways [...]
Chatting with a highly stressed work colleague recently, she revealed she’d recently spent thousands on treating the symptoms of stress – from heart palpitations to problems with her digestive system. I was shocked – how have things become so bad young people are suffering from heart problems at work? I thought it would be a [...]
More than 7 percent of American schoolchildren are taking at least one medication for emotional or behavioral difficulties, a new government report shows. Apparently, the medications are working: More than half of the parents said the drugs are helping their children, according to the report. - Serena Gordon via One in 13 US schoolkids takes [...]
Compared to the monumental machines of science, things like the International Space Station or the Large Hadron Collider, the human brain doesn't look like much. However, this three-pound amalgam of squishy cells is one of the most complicated and complex structures in the known universe. - Evan Lerner via Researchers model neural structures on [...]
In 2012, a WIN-Gallup International poll asked the question, “Irrespective of whether you attend a place of worship or not, would you say you are a religious person, not a religious person or a convinced atheist?” Just 37 percent of Australian respondents said they were religious, 48 percent said not religious, 10 percent were convinced [...]
Last year, Gallup surveyed 7000 students in Years 5-12 in 36 schools across six states. The survey found that students become less engaged as they make their way through school and only 1 in 3 believe they will find a good job when they leave school. Gallup said this reflected a lack of hope. Overall, [...]
Young adults who used marijuana only recreationally showed significant abnormalities in two key brain regions that are important in emotion and motivation, scientists report. The study was a collaboration between Northwestern Medicine and Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. This is the first study to show casual use of marijuana is related to major brain changes. [...]
