Youth health management

It is neither a rigid control of diet, exercise, and sleep, nor a borderless laissez-faire. The core is a set of personalized support systems that adapt to the physical and mental development patterns of adolescents and take into account the three dimensions of physical health, mental state, and social adaptability. The essence is "guidance first, intervention second", and there is no unified standard that is universally applicable.

When I worked as a volunteer at a community youth health service station in the past two years, I met many parents who went to extremes. The one who impressed me most was a 14-year-old junior high school boy. In order to control his weight and prevent myopia, his parents forced him to run 3 kilometers every day after school. His mobile phone and tablet were all locked in the safe, and he was not even allowed to touch carbonated drinks or milk tea. As a result, within three months, the child secretly saved up his pocket money to buy a spare phone. He hid in bed and watched videos every day until two o'clock. He deliberately sprained his ankle while running and skipped training. He took a 20-minute detour from school to the canteen to secretly drink iced Coke. Instead, he gained 6 pounds and his myopia increased by 100 degrees. Don't tell me, this kind of "the more we control, the worse" cases account for more than 60% of the consultation records at our service station.

Interestingly, the current thinking on adolescent health management in the industry is actually divided into two obvious schools. Researchers in the traditional public health field prefer standardized paths. After all, the Youth Health Guidelines issued by the National Health Commission clearly state that: primary school students should sleep 10 hours a day, junior high school students 9 hours, and high school students 8 hours. Outdoor activities should be no less than 1 hour a day. BMI should be maintained in the normal range of 18.5-23.9, and added sugar intake should not exceed 25 grams a day. These indicators are safety thresholds derived from large-sample surveys. For children who already have clear health problems such as obesity, myopia, scoliosis, etc., rigid adjustments according to standards can indeed stop losses as quickly as possible. However, researchers from the developmental psychology school have always believed that adolescent children have awakened their sense of autonomy, and that one-size-fits-all standards can easily inspire rebellious psychology. Rather than "what must be done," it is more important for him to understand "why he should do this." The mother of a sixth-grade primary school girl I met did a very good job: she knew her child was craving for milk tea, so she didn’t ban it completely. Instead, she agreed with her child that she could buy one cup every Friday after school, with all sugar and ice. On the contrary, her child never secretly bought more, and she even took the initiative to replace her usual snacks with fruits, and her weight has always been maintained within the normal range.

What many people don’t realize is that adolescent health problems are rarely caused by a single cause. Previously, our service station picked up a 13-year-old girl who had not had her period for half a year and lost 10 pounds. Her parents initially thought it was a gastrointestinal problem and did a physical examination but found nothing wrong. Finally, after talking to a psychiatrist, they found out that the girls in the class were secretly competing to be thinner. She deliberately went on a diet to fit in with others and ran 5 kilometers every day without telling her parents. Eventually, she developed a mild eating disorder. This is why more and more health managers now incorporate social adaptability into their assessment systems: peer pressure, campus atmosphere, and family interaction patterns. These factors that seem to have nothing to do with "health" are actually the root of many problems.

There is still a very controversial point: whether to wear wearable devices such as smart watches and health bracelets for children to monitor data. Some parents find it particularly useful. They can look at the number of steps and sleep duration every day to know if there are any problems with their children's status that day. ； Some parents also said that since their children wore the bracelets, they have been keeping an eye on whether their step count has reached the target every day. Before they reach 10,000 steps, they are so anxious that they cannot sleep, which has become a burden. Our service station conducted a small-scale test last year, and the conclusion is actually very simple: if the child feels that wearing the bracelet is fun and is willing to take the initiative to read the data and adjust his habits, then it is useful. ； If parents force you to wear it and have to check the data every day for accountability, then it is better not to wear it.

To put it bluntly, adolescent health management is like holding the handlebars for a child who is just learning to ride a bicycle: if you hold on too hard, he will never learn to balance, and he will always want to throw your hand away.； If you let go completely, he will easily fall and get bruised and bruised. The best situation is for you to run next to him and keep a little direction so as not to go into the ditch. If he wants to ride faster or slower, or if he wants to take a long detour to see the scenery, just let him go. After all, health has never been a standard data that was measured when he was a child, but a habit that he can take good care of himself when he grows up.