The human being lives while reacting with others. This reaction gives his life importance and meaning. The human being can not live isolated from others. So, we can say that the community has a vital importance for the individuals. With an analytical sight for the structure of the community, we find that this community is a group of families that are reacting with each other.
Sports and Youths
Do you need sports at this stage?
Changing the life styles
Recent studies have shown that children and adolescents are becoming less active and less mobile, especially in the urban areas. This is due to reduced time that is allocated for physical education, and as a result of watching more TV and playing electronic games. It is estimated that more than 2/3 of the youths in the developing or developed nations are not adequately practicing sports, although less physical activities during the childhood and youth may have adverse effects that may last the whole age.
The preliminary studies, which were conducted by the World Health Organization about the danger factors for a number of diseases, indicated that the life style, which is characterized by fewer activities, is considered the main factor of death and disability in the world. Absence of physical activity leads to increasing the probability of having vascular coronary diseases, diabetes, obesity, and it increases the probability of having colon and breast cancer, high blood pressure, disturbances in the blood fats, osteoporosis, anxiety and depression.
It is noticed that lack of mobility becomes the characteristic of the modern era. While more than ½ the adults in the advanced countries are not adequately active, but this phenomenon is increasingly developing in the big cities of the developing countries. This is because of the spread of the life style which is characterized by less movements and spending the free time in playing games which involve less movement, such as watching TV, even in the rural areas of the developing countries.
For example, the number of children and adolescents who walk to school is reduced, and the time allocated for watching TV and playing electronic games is increased. In most cases, this is at the expense of the time allocated for physical activities and sports. The ultimate result is increasing the rate of obesity, diabetes and vascular coronary diseases.
The importance of practicing sports at the adolescence stage
Practicing sport activities is essential for all ages. However, during the youth stage it is especially important because the body is continuously growing. The body needs sports to ensure that the muscles, bones, heart, lungs and all other vital organs are growing naturally and properly. This is in addition to building the proper character, as many studies indicated that the organized movements reinforce the growth of the youth from the physical, mental and psychological points of view and increase the self-confidence and appreciation and the sense of achievement. Also, most of the chronic diseases that attack the individual while getting old (diabetes, blood pressure, cholesterol, coronary diseases, and obesity) originate from the childhood and youth stages. It is known that practicing sports is considered one of the factors that help in preventing such diseases. This makes practicing these activities of special importance in all stages, especially the adolescent stage.
It is probable that the life styles that are acquired during the childhood and adolescent stages may continue for the whole life, including the life style which is characterized by less movements and malnutrition and drug addiction. This makes getting accustomed to practice sport activities of utmost importance in order that practicing sports becomes a daily routine. This lays the foundations for healthy and efficient life.
Double your physical activities…… and get ready for a better healthy life
The advantages of practicing sports during adolescence
Practicing sports activities regularly achieves important physical, social, and psychological benefits such as:
ü Practicing sports helps in achieving elegance and healthy bones, muscles and joints.
ü Controlling body weight and getting rid of extra weight.
ü Increasing the efficiency of the heart and lungs functions.
ü Group playing and sports and other physical activities prepare the individual to express himself, build self confidence & feeling of achievement, and interacting with the community.
ü The side effects of the sport exercises help to face the dangers and damages resulting from tensions and psychological pressure and less movement, which are widely spread among the youths today. Also, they protect against the feelings of anxiety especially among the adolescents.
ü Encouraging the participation in the group playing and physical activities and sports which are properly directed towards following the healthy practices, including avoiding smoking, alcohol, and drugs, and encouraging following a healthy diet regime and have enough rest.
ü Practicing physical activities increases the ability of the student in learning. This is done by its effects on the mental abilities. Studies indicated that the students who participate in the sports tournaments are less likely to have harmful habits such as smoking or drug addiction and more likely to continue in their education (complete their studies) and achieve the highest academic standards. In addition to this, practicing physical and sport activities help you to have some skills such as group activities, self-control, leadership, and social skills. On the other hands, failure to join sports and leisure activities may contribute in making the youths more susceptible to joining the evil and joining addiction groups and have aggressive conduct. Wide participation in group playing and other physical activities, at the school or during the free time, is an essential issue for proper and healthy development of the youths.
What is the magnitude and the types of physical activities that should be practiced by the adolescents during this stage?
The best sport during this stage is practicing the aerobics that consume the highest amount of oxygen, and hence it helps in increasing the efficiency of the heart and lungs. Also, while practicing these sports, many muscles are used which help in attaining the required physical fitness.
Physical fitness is part of the comprehensive fitness, which is the ability of the individual to perform his daily activities without feeling excessive fatigue while having the necessary energy and power to face any emergency and sudden requirements. There are three elements to attain the physical fitness, which are as follows
Power Endurance Flexibility
The individual should practice a group of exercises for each of the above mentioned elements to attain the highest degree of health benefits.
Endurance exercises
4 – 7 times weekly
The endurance exercises provide the individual with the required energy, which enable him to move easily and exert the efforts even when he gets old. These help in maintaining the health and efficiency of the heart, lungs, and the circulatory system, and provide the body with the highest degree of activity and livelihood. These activities vary between walking and the organized sport programs and the leisure sports.
The sports that help in improving the ability of endurance
- Walking
- Swimming
- Golf
- Tennis
- Cycling
- Working in the home garden
- Skating
- Pushing the moving chair
The proper ways to practice the endurance exercises
- Start the activity with light efforts and doubling it gradually.
- Use suitable and comfortable shoes.
- Wear comfortable cloths that suit the activity you practice.
- Using sport tools (head helmet for riding the bicycles and skating, tools to protect the knees, elbow etc).
Flexibility exercises
4 – 7 times weekly
The flexibility exercises help in the easiness of the body movement and maintain the flexibility of the joints and the elasticity of the muscles and the cords. The individuals tend to lose great flexibility as the individual gets older. However, regular exercising, especially the flexibility exercises helps in maintaining the flexibility which enables the individual to depend on himself in many life activities even when he gets older. The flexibility exercises include those movements that help in curving and bending the body and elongating different muscles.
The sports which help in improving the flexibility of the joints and muscles
- Muscle elongating exercises
- Yoga
- Golf
- Home gardening
- Bowling
- Mopping floors
The proper way to practice the flexibility exercises
- Make sure to start with light activities for 5 minutes (light walking) or practice the flexibility exercises before and after the endurance and power exercises.
- Perform the exercises slowly and smoothly.
- You should perform the light continuous movements, or relax and continue on this position for 10 – 30 minutes while breathing normally. The objective is to have a relaxing feeling and avoid feeling painful.
The power exercises
3 – 4 times weekly.
The power exercises help in developing the strengths of the bones and muscles, and they improve the general shape of the body and its coordination, and work on having early protection from osteoporosis, back pain, muscles pain. The power exercises develop the muscles to work powerfully.
The exercises that help in developing the muscular power
- Weight lifting drills.
- Climbing the stairs.
- Hard house activities.
- Lifting the goods.
- Stomach-muscle power exercises.
The proper way of performing the power exercises
- Start the light endurance and flexibility exercises five minutes before each power exercise.
- Learn the proper way to lift the weights to protect the back and joints from the injuries and the pressure on them.
- Use lightweights (2 – 4 weights), while repeating the exercise 10 15 times.
- Breathe regularly and naturally when performing the exercises.
- Take a rest for at least one day between the power exercises.
If you think that you suffer from any health problem that may prevent you from performing the sport activities, refer to the power ability test to perform the sport activities
Getting married & family
The human being lives while reacting with others. This reaction gives his life importance and meaning. The human being can not live isolated from others. So, we can say that the community has a vital importance for the individuals. With an analytical sight for the structure of the community, we find that this community is a group of families that are reacting with each other
Traveling
Moving and traveling are important characteristics of life. The human being is a moving creature. The availability and ease of traveling made many people to be able to travel and reach many places in the world easily and quickly. There are many objectives of travel, some travel for ordinary tourism & entertainment purposes, and some travel for studying or treatment or business or perform some religious activities such as Hajj. In all cases, proper planning is among the important things that will help you achieve the objectives and prevent you from having many troubles that you may face during your travel
AIDS
The word “AIDS” is formed from the first letters of the English words that describe the disease: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. Syndrome means the groups of symptoms that accompany having a certain disease. Immune deficiency means the failure of the immune system to fulfill its biological functions. The word acquired means: the immune deficiency is not hereditary and is resulting from an infection which was not present before.
What is the factor that causes the disease?
The virus that causes the disease is called (HIV) which is an abbreviation for Human Immune Deficiency. It is noteworthy to mention that the person carrying the virus (the carrier) may look normal for a period of 6 months to 8 and 10 years but he can transmit the infection to others. Few months after the virus is transferred to the human, the body produces antibodies against the virus that could be discovered by a special blood test. It had been scientifically proven that the virus is found in the fluids and discharges of the infected person such as the blood and its products, semen, saliva, tears, the brain fluid, the mother’s milk, and the vaginal discharge. Its concentration is more in the semen and the blood, and it is proven that the blood and semen transfer the AIDS virus.
What are the means of infection?
The AIDS virus may be transferred from the infected person to the healthy person through the following:
Blood
· Blood or its products transfusion.
· Repeated use of the same needle by more than one person such as the drugs addicted groups.
· Organ transplants.
· Circumcision or the Chinese needle or cupping if the utensils used are not properly sterilized.
Pregnancy and delivery
If the mother is infected, the virus may be transferred to the child through:
· Inside the uterus during pregnancy.
· During delivery.
· Breast feeding (to a lesser degree).
Sexual relationships
This is the major means of the transmission and it causes more than 90% of the infection cases, as the infection is transferred by the sexual relationship between males and females or a result of the abnormal sexual relationship between the males or the females when one of them is infected.
The AIDS is not transferred through:
The AIDS is not transferred through living and the social relationships such as:
· Shaking hands and daily interactions.
· Using common plates or drinking cups.
· Toilets.
· Blood sucking insects such as mosquitoes.
· Swimming suits.
· Used cloths.
What are conducts that should be followed for the prevention against AIDS In absence of any protective vaccinations and treatments, and as AIDS entails a number of social, cultural, educational and moral factors, and as the AIDS virus does not spread incidentally, but as a result of an individual conduct, we can avoid its infection through avoiding illegal sexual relationships, following the normal family life, religious teachings, and avoid using the same needle by more than one person.
Addiction
What is meant by addiction?
It is the condition resulting from continuously using substances (mostly narcotics), as the person becomes dependent on them physically and psychologically. And he needs to increase the dose from time to time to have the same effect. Thus the addicted person takes doses which increase in short time to reach a degree which inflicts the most damage on the body and the brain. So, the person loses his ability to perform his daily duties in absence of this substance. When he stops using this substance, dangerous psychological and physical symptoms appear on him. These symptoms are called the withdrawal symptoms, which may lead to death. The addiction may be for alcohol, narcotics, stimulants, and sleeping medicines.
What are the damages of the addiction
Addiction causes adverse damages for the addict that affects the efficiency of the functions of all body organs. Also, the addicts are exposed to various diseases such as:
· Mouth, esophagus, throat cancer.
· Liver sclerosis.
· Skin injuries as a result of repeated usage of needles.
· Slow responses and reactions.
· Weakness of the immunity of the body and its resistance of the diseases.
· Infections with AIDS, hepatitis B as a result of using contaminated needles.
· Death resulting from overdose.
The addiction affects the psychological conditions of the addict and leads inconsistency and loss of concentration, anxiety, depression and excessive happiness. Some addicts may have schizophrenia and behavioral disorders as a result of the need to have money to provide the narcotic material, so, he resorts to stealing and committing crimes. This will destabilize the security of the community and the family.
Addiction is an economical and social problem, as the addict is ready to pay expensive price for the value of the drugs. Also, the productivity of this person decreases which results in losing his job. So, he will not be able to provide his family obligations, which leads to the deterioration of the family and losing the financial security for his family members. This results in the disintegration of the family and the homelessness of the children. Also, the motor vehicle accidents increase.
How do you know that a person became addict?
· Sudden change in the life style such as repeated absence from the school or work.
· Decrease in the studying or working efficiency.
· Staying outside the home for long times.
· Dealing secretly about his private issues.
· Anger for trivial reasons.
· Escaping from bearing the responsibility.
· Overspending and increase demand for the money.
· Change old group of friends and joining a new group.
· Clear weight loss a result of losing the appetite.
When does the person get exposed to the danger of addiction?
· Ignorance about using the narcotic.
· Weak religious belief and improper social upbringing.
· Family disintegration.
· Extreme poverty, ignorance, and illiteracy.
· Extreme richness and add s.
· Parents are busy and absence of control and guidance.
· Lack of dialogue among the family.
· Evil friends.
· Unemployment and more free time.
How to avoid the dangers of addiction?
Proper social upbringing
Communication and continuous dialogue with children, strengthening the belief and religious restraints, good role model by the parents and the adult family members, have a great effect in forming the behavior of the children while making sure to use the serious style and love and avoid excessive authority and coquetry.
The family atmosphere
The secure family atmosphere that is full of love and affection leads to strengthening the family and allows each member to achieve his goals and ambitions.
Satisfying the needs of the youths
It is important to encourage the youths to practice useful hobbies and involve in various sports and entertainment activities, in order to utilize their leisure times and keep them away from thinking about practicing bad habits.
The problem of drug addiction is not caused by the individual only, but the whole family and community are involved in it
Food safety during travel
The quality of food depends on the quality of its ingredients, if you prepare them at home or take them outside. When preparing to travel, many are concerned about the food they take with them or take at the country of destination, especially if there are children in the family.
If you are among the people who take food with them when traveling, or if you are preparing to travel by plane or car, there are some advices that will protect you against the most common disease, which is the food poisoning through the bacteria, parasites, or viruses. The symptoms of food poisoning are:
Vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pains, high temperature, and nausea. These symptoms appear a short time after taking the food.
Advices to avoid food poisoning
· Take foods that do not need cooling so that they do not get spoiled and contaminated especially if you are traveling for a long distance.
· Make sure of the expiry date of the canned foods that you are taking with you.
· Drink