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What’s cooking in human nutrition research?

September 17, 2018 Leave a Comment

Sarahmarie Innes & Katie Mahn

Innes&Mahn_BakeYourThesis
Sarahmarie Innes and Katie Mahn with their Bake Your Thesis “Teach them to fish” cake.

Many of us remember adolescence as a difficult time. Our mental well-being may have suffered because of increasingly busy lifestyles and academic expectations, body image issues, and peer pressure.

It’s also a time of increasing independence, which means more freedom and responsibility for your own dietary choices. Studies have shown this increased independence over food choices often results in teens eating less fruit and vegetables, having takeaways and snack foods more often, and missing meals such as breakfast.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Adolescent health, Nutrition, Research

A book that changed my life: “Our bodies, Ourselves”

August 13, 2018 1 Comment

Laurence Fearnley

Our Bodies, OurselvesAs a child and younger teenager I had never taken much interest in my body. I remember my first period because I told my mother about it. Her response was very matter-of-fact. Sanitary pads, she said, were a waste of time. Only fussy, immature girls who couldn’t cope with tampons used them. There was no reason for me to try them because I could go straight to the adult solution: tampons. However, tampons were a gross waste of money and there was no need to buy them. Instead, she took me to the bathroom, ripped off 8 sheets of toilet paper, and placed one sheet on top of the other to make a pad. Next she rolled the wad of paper into a tube, and then folded it in half. This is all you need, she said passing me the roll-your-own tampon. And that was pretty much it. Over the years I perfected her version by making the fold first, then rolling — it was much neater.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Adolescent health, Essay, History, Reading, Women's Health

On Pride

April 9, 2018 Leave a Comment

Ella Robinson and Hahna Briggs

Dunedin Pride 2018This week – 7-15 April – is Dunedin Pride Week. Every year, during Pride celebrations across New Zealand, people ask why we still need Pride. Why do we still celebrate it after marriage equality? Why be so loud? What does Pride even mean? There isn’t a straightforward answer.

Pride means different things to different people. For some, it’s a time for finding or discovering representation. For others it’s about commemorating all those who actively fought (and still fight) for LGBTQIA+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, and Asexual) people to be recognized as citizens with equal rights in New Zealand and around the world.

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Filed Under: Adolescent health, Festivals, Public health

Living well and telling the tale

March 19, 2018 1 Comment

Elaine Reese

sofaWho says teenagers don’t talk? I can assure you that they do, at least when you seat them on a sofa across from an interested and patient interviewer who hangs on their every word. They talk – oh yes, they talk. In our research on teens’ life stories, we have some 50-page transcripts of teens talking about their lives.

What do they tell us? Quite a lot.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Adolescent health, Mental health, Psychology

The matter of teenage sleep … actually

September 18, 2017 Leave a Comment

Barbara Galland

teenager sleep cartoonI can’t remember where I came across this cartoon, but it’s one that irritates me. The teenage bird with the cool-dude-backwards-cap assumes the stance of a seasoned raconteur. With one deliberate wing gesture, he begins: “Actually” (proclaiming absolute authority on the matter), “my species is not nocturnal: I’m just a teenager”. Of course I’m just assuming he’s a he-bird, but even if he’s a she-bird, it doesn’t matter. The cartoon sends the wrong message. It labels all teenagers as being rebellious on the matter of sleep.

The higher authority, the owl, listens intently, but has no wise offerings.

Let me be a human ‘owl’ for a moment. ‘Sleep’ is my job. Sleep is my passion. I’m a child health sleep researcher, and naturally I sleep. My species is diurnal and I have some wise offerings on the matter of teenage sleep.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Adolescent health, Essay, Research, Sleep

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