Not being able to get to sleep, or having trouble staying asleep, is the pits. But did you know that if you suffer from insomnia, your children could be at risk for certain serious problems?

In a study presented at the annual meeting of the Association of Professional Sleep Societies, Dr. Xianchen Liu revealed that children of insomniac parents were almost three times more likely to report symptoms of insomnia themselves, more than twice as likely to report fatigue, and more than five times as likely to report using hypnotic drugs compared to adolescents whose parents did not have insomnia.

Even more troubling, almost 17 percent of children with parents who had insomnia reported suicidal ideation (thoughts and behavior), 9.5 percent reported suicide plans, and 9.5 percent reported actual suicide attempts during the past year. This compared to 5.3 percent, 1.5 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively, of teens whose parents did not suffer from insomnia.

These statistics are startling, to say the least. Dr. Liu says that by understanding the possible correlations between insomniac parents and certain behaviors and problems with their children, teachers and health care workers can, in theory, proactively work to help children overcome these potential issues.

Posted by Sunshine.

In an interesting new study, researchers found that getting cool kids to take an anti-smoking stance actually reduced the number of new smokers in the group by about twenty-five percent.

The study published in the journal Lancet took a different approach than most tobacco cessation programs aimed at youths by asking students to nominate others they viewed as influential or leaders to spread the anti-smoking message.

This would translate into a potential reduction of 43,000 14- to 15-year olds who take up smoking each year.

We already know that our kids face (or will face) peer pressure and the influence of the cool kids in school: what clothes to wear, what gadgets to pester parents for, etc. But I have to admit that I’d never quite thought about switching things around and using the status of popular kids to firm up positive, healthy mindsets in the general student populace.

Hey, whatever works, right?

Posted by Sunshine.

Pregnant? Keep buckling up! Yes, it can be uncomfortable, but is definitely can save you and your baby in an accident by preventing you from hitting the steering wheel or the windshield. Worried about the belt hurting the baby? Worn properly, low under the bump, damage is minimized as the pelvic bone will absorb most of the shock.

In an accident at 20mph, an unbuckled mom has a 70% chance of loosing the fetus, while buckled moms only have a 12% chance of losing theirs. Approximately 370 fetuses are killed each year in car accidents, which somewhat surprisingly is less then newborn children killed in their first year in car accidents. So when you are considering the most perfect/safest carseat for your newborn, don’t forget to protect him before he is born too!

How much sex is good sex? It’s not necessarily about how many times you do it, but more about how long you do it each time. Of course, this is an individual thing, but research shows that intercourse between 3-13 minutes is most satisfactory. And 1-2 minutes is “too short” (tho I have to admit that on those few occasions that I give in when I really am not in the mood, 1-2 minutes is just fine with me!). To clarify - they are talking about actual intercourse here, foreplay does not count and I am sure most of us gals appreciate a nice warm up before the show!

A “teen repellent” under controversy. An English father to a 15 year old daughter who was harassed by groups of teens has created an interesting devise called the “Mosquito“. It emits an annoying, high-pitched noise that only youths can hear thus encouraging them to scram from wherever they are loitering. (The noise is heard by most under 20 years old, yet by hardly anyone over 30 years old.)

He has sold over 4,000 of these devices so far, mostly by word of mouth. The inventor has pointed out that the device is not harmful to children’s hearing, just like an annoying alarm clock. He also stated that he is not anti-teens, he is just wanting to discourage “anti-social behavior.” Civil liberties groups have signed petitions to get the device banned in Europe, but earlier this week the European Commission has confirmed that hey will not ban it.

New research supports the long-held hope that sex education does help teens avoid pregnancy — if the program is comprehensive, including information on birth control options instead of the abstinence-only approach.

Researchers found that 1 in 4 teens received abstinence-only sex ed, another two-thirds received comprehensive sex education, and almost one in ten (mostly from rural areas or very poor families) had no sex ed at all. Of these teens, the ones who received comprehensive sex ed were slightly (very slightly; the researchers termed the gap “not statistically significant”) less likely to engage in vaginal intercourse, but no group was less likely than the others to receive sexually transmitted diseases.

Also, according to research results, teens who received comprehensive sex education were 60 percent less likely to get pregnant or to get someone pregnant than those who received no sex education.

Says the study’s lead author, Pamela Kohler of the University of Washington in Seattle, “There was no evidence to suggest that abstinence-only education decreased the likelihood of ever having sex or getting pregnant.”

Is anyone surprised?

Posted by Sunshine.

No, that’s not some plea for dirty comments.

The ’sex talk’ I mean is the ‘birds and bees’ conversation of old. You know, The Moment when you tell your kids where babies really come from, and how they get there. A new study shows that the big talk should really be more of an ongoing discussion.

“It’s important that parents set a foundation early on in talking with their kids about sex so that it becomes part of the norm in their household,” said study lead author Steven Martino, a behavioral scientist at RAND in Pittsburgh. “As children grow and have experiences, you want them to feel it’s natural to talk to their parents. When asked where they’d like to get their information, kids say from their parents more than anyone else.”

I don’t remember feeling that way as a teen. Hmm.

The study followed hundreds of teens and their parents. The families were divided into two groups. One group of parents completed a course in how to keep a discourse on sex and related topics open with your child; the other group did not.

Follow-up surveys were completed at one week, three months and nine months after the intervention began. The surveys were designed to assess 22 sex-related topics, such as the consequences of sex, how to make decisions about when to have sex, how to say no if you didn’t want to have sex, how well condoms prevent sexually transmitted diseases, and more.

[W]hen teens and their parents had more conversations — repetition — teens reported feeling closer to their parents and felt they could talk more openly with their parents about sex and other topics.

Go figure - the more you talk about something, the less taboo it becomes.

While I obviously haven’t been a parent long enough to encounter this situation, I can’t imagine making sex as closed-off a topic as it was during my adolescence. My parents basically told me, “Don’t do it before you’re married - premarital sex is a sin,” and left it at that. I didn’t follow their advice, such as it was, and I hope I can create a more informative, open atmosphere for conversations on sex when my kids are old enough to be curious. I’d love to not have to think about my kids having sex until they’re 40, but since that’s not rational, I’d still rather them come to me than shut me out.

Posted by Sunshine.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), at least 82 young people have died from what is commonly referred to as the “choking game.”

In the game, children use dog leashes or bungee cords wrapped around their necks or other means to temporarily cut blood flow to their head. The goal is a dreamlike, floating-in-space feeling when blood rushes back into the brain.

As many as 20 percent of teens and preteens play the game, sometimes in groups, according to estimates based on a few local studies. But nearly all the deaths were youths who played alone.

I had no idea youths actually did this (does choking sound like your idea of a fun pastime?), and apparently I’m not alone. Many parents are completely oblivious to this fad until unfortunate choking game-related events hit close to home.

CDC officials urged parents to be aware the fad exists, and to watch for possible warning signs like bloodshot eyes, marks on the neck, frequent and severe headaches, disorientation after spending time alone, and ropes, scarves or belts tied to bedroom furniture or doorknobs or found knotted on the floor.

The game is also known by names that include “blackout,” “space monkey” and “pass out.” It intrigues bright kids who like the idea of getting high without drinking or doing drugs, but it’s at least as dangerous.

Now you (and I) know.

Posted by Sunshine.

The vast majority of us might describe our lives as hectic on any given day. Many of us barely see some of our family members on certain days, much less sit down at a table for a meal with them, especially during sports seasons and academic crunches.

Here’s a sound reason to clear those schedules and plop everyone down together for supper: New findings from a recent study suggest that adolescent girls who sit down with their families for at least five meals a week may be less likely to develop eating disorders.

Makes sense to me…as long as the family is enforcing positive eating habits and the mealtime environment is a pleasant one (that doesn’t include parents saying things like, “Are you eating another biscuit? Your jeans won’t fit tomorrow!” at the table - and yes, I had friends in high school whose parents said those things). We can bolster our girls’ self-confidence and help them embrace a healthy body weight, and apparently sitting down at the table with them is a great way to do that.

The study is unclear as to exactly why family meals may help girls stay away from eating disorders, but does it really matter after a certain point? Mealtime together is important in so many other ways - it’s a chance to reconnect, to let everyone unwind after a busy day or before a big event. My household could stand a few more of those family meals, and even though my kids are pretty small, I think I’ll go ahead and work on that so that by the time my daughter enters those fragile self-esteem years, it’ll be a routine she can look forward to, a bit of stability in the everyday rush.

Posted by Sunshine.

It only takes a moment for winter fun to turn into a trip to the ER. Cold weather dangers abound, but that doesn’t mean we should spend the season indoors. It’s important to stay active year-round, so here are some tips for a safer winter play season, from HealthDay:

• Children should wear a helmet when they’re snowboarding, sledding, snowmobiling and skiing.
• Dress to keep warm and safe. Wear layers of clothing and top it off with coats that are wind- and water-resistant. When snowmobiling, make sure that scarves and any loose fabrics are tucked in.
• Parents should always supervise young children and keep them in sight. Older children should always have at least one companion.
• Don’t play on ice, which poses a serious fall risk. When skating, use ice only in areas designated for skating, and check for cracks and debris on the ice.
• When skiing, snowboarding or sledding, always make sure the path is clear of people and other obstacles.
• Only take part in winter sports in areas well-lit by sunlight or artificial light.
• No matter what the winter activity, always think about safety. For example, never pull your child in a sled behind a snowmobile or other motorized vehicle.

Posted by Sunshine.

Teen births on the rise. For the first time in over a decade, the number of teen births is rising. Over the past 15 years, the number of teen births (ages 15-19) had decreased by 34%. Parents, educators and policymakers are hopeful that this years figures are just a one-time blip. Also interesting to note, CDC reports that cesarean deliveries accounted for 31% of all births, a record high.

One good thing about getting your period… Researchers have determined that menstrual stem cells could be useful in treating diabetes, multiple sclerosis and cirrhosis of the liver. Advantages to this are there is much less ethical controversy in obtaining these cells, and it could be collected over a period of many years. Let’s hope researchers can prove this to be useful.

How desperate are you to conquer your PPD? Some women are going to extreme measures to cure theirs. They are eating their own placenta. This is technically is called placentophagy. The placenta can be ingested in many ways. It can be fried up and eaten, or dried and ground into a powder to be ingested. If you are interested in this yourself, here is a link to some yummy placenta recipes.

Update on Usher. He has announced the name of his new baby son… Usher V (the fifth).

King Middle School in Portland, Maine, plans to offer birth control - and I don’t mean just condoms and a wish-you-well - to its students, who are usually in the 11-13 age range.

Students would need parental permission to use the city-run health center in the school, but they wouldn’t have to tell them they were seeking birth control.

Naturally, this decision has caused quite a firestorm. (See what MomSquawkers think here - register and weigh in!)

Defenders of the decision say the notion that young children can now easily get birth-control pills is flat wrong.

“They don’t just have a giant punch bowl full of pills,” [Portland School Committee member Robert O’Brien] said. The birth control will be given out only after extensive counseling, and no prepubescent children will get it, he claims.

Also, the school notes, condoms have been offered since 2000, but students were referred elsewhere for other birth control options. Students often did not follow up on that, so having birth control available at the school’s health center would ensure that those who need such protection would be more likely to get it.

Opponents of the measure say that children as young as 11 could manipulate the system to acquire birth control. Even Maine Governor John Baldacci has expressed concerns.

“I appreciate local officials trying to address a need in a medically appropriate way, but these are children,” he said in an interview with the AP. “An appropriate balance must be struck addressing the troubling situation that a small number of students find themselves in and recognizing the important role that parents and other family should play.”

What do you think? Is offering birth control to middle school students simply protecting our kids from pregnancies/STDs at an earlier age, or is the school making birth control too accessible too soon? Squawk back and share your thoughts!

Posted by Sunshining.