The time that children spend in front of a screen of all kinds has exploded to the point of danger in both physical development and disease. Average children’s TV screen time has been shown to be nearly THREE TIMES (300%) greater than the level shown to cause morbidity – and it’s pretty much world-wide.
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It’s not just for girls any more: worrying about body image and looks. The steady bombardment of advertising and other media images is taking its toll on boys as well – there is a tremendous pressure to look “lean and chisled.”
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What I have been trying to say for the past couple of days, and kept getting side-tracked, is that the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has just released this years immunization schedule (2013) which not only takes into account all the recent scientific studies but tries to make them understandable–as understandable as Read more→
Childhood immunization guidelines once considered a godsend of protection against all-to-common childhood death, these days might be considered an annoyance they’ve become so commonplace.
Polio, heart disease, Rubella, chickenpox, meningitis… all caused death in addition to misery. Almost every family had a child die in childhood.
I’ve written about immunizations many times, as this series of articles displays. The last article gives a synopsis of the CDC and other official entities who make the guidelines; so you can get them direct, skipping the middlemen, and avoid all the out of date “klinker” websites on the interned (they never erase any outdated stuff).
My generations medical issues that kept us humble often, if not usually, had to do with death and dismemberment due to disease. The issues plaquing today’s parents and physicians seem to have to do with name-calling and sex.
Each generation has its issues, that’s understandable. The viral and bacterial illnesses we spent conquering produced a world whose impediments and trials have different rates and therefore priorities. I get it.
But, it just seems to me that a SMART generation would build upwards on what we had already done, NOT start all over and pretend our issues just didn’t exist.
The vaccine-hater cottage industry has really done a number on society… actually, the whole world. MILLIONS of man-hours have been spent, over-and-above the draconian amount already required to market a product in the US, on proving fictitious claims were wrong.
BUT, GOOD NEWS, they have; and we can now move on… right? This series on Vaccine Safety cronicles the struggle.
Some baseball seasons past I followed the little league “career” of a neighborhood youngster by attending almost all of his games.
As I became familiar with his style of play, his teammates, and coaches I became fond of him and I found myself happy when his team won, saddened when they lost, but overall anxious to see that he gained from every game.
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Ask even the most novice little league sports participant and he will tell you that you are supposed to “warm up” before a game or practice.
When asked why that is necessary, studies have shown that even many college-age athletes are Read more→
I should like to tell you today about a better use for the slogan “you’ve come a long way baby” than was previously expressed in an advertising campaign.
Many don’t realize that it has only been 30 – 50 years ago that very literally every family had one or two children die in infancy; and nearly everyone knew of (more…)
What would you say is the most common thing that a doctor does? You guessed it – a physical examination. And yet this one procedure has less standardization between doctors than almost anything else in medicine.
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They’ve turned the school bells back on and children are coming in for football sports physicals.
Football has been called the most deadly of all childhood sports. It really shouldn’t be much of a suprise when you consider what really goes on on the field.
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Increasing numbers of children are participating in organized distance running – jogging. Some ambitious parents have sought to enter their children in adult type marathon races and there is even an occasional child who can “succeed” in this type of activity.
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Just ask anybody. With all the gadgets and technology we have now, most children are saved in emergencies, right? All the television shows prove it, right? Now days, just call 911 and paramedics save most children… right?
WRONG! It is true that, for adults, the EMS system has dramatically improved survival; but, for children the survival rates in out-of-hospital cardio-pulmonaryarrest are abysmal. (more…)