Is your teenager skipping breakfast? Why is that happening and what can you do? As per the data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which surveyed adolescent health and well-being found that 1 in 4 students in high school ate breakfast, which means 3 in 4 high school students are not eating their breakfast. This data is as per the 2023 survey.

What Did The Study Intend?

The report describes a 10-year long trend and also recent changes among the two years. The study delved deeper into adolescents' dietary, physical activity and sleep behaviors. The study is also based on a national youth risk behavior survey of a representative sample of students from grade nine to 12.

What Did The Study Find?

The study found that while high school students drank slightly less soda and sports drinks and consumed more water, other healthy eating habits declined. In 2023, only 27% of students ate breakfast every day in the past week. The numbers were even lower for female students, with just 22% eating breakfast daily, compared to 32% of male students. Boys were also more likely to eat fruits and vegetables daily and drink water at least three times a day. Poor mental health and lack of physical activity have also been linked to skipping breakfast.

The other findings included a survey across 10-year period, where a decrease in the percentage of students eating fruits from 65% to 55%, eating vegetables, from 61% to 58%, and having breakfast daily from 38% to 27% was noted.

However, there was a positive trend among this, which was in children drinking plain water at least three times a day, which increased from 49% to 54% from when the survey began in 2015.. There were fewer students who also said that they drank soda in 2023 than in 2013. On an average, in 2013, around 22% students avoided soda, whereas in 2023, 31% students avoided it.

The report also emphasized that a healthy diet, along with daily physical activity and sufficient sleep further contributes to a healthy lifestyle. “The 10-year trends from 2013 to 2023 also show a decline in healthy dietary, physical activity, and sleep behaviors,” the survey reported.

Why Do High School Students Skip Breakfast?

While there is no one straightforward answer to it, psychologists and those who study children, believe that for many high school going kids, it is the easiest time to skip a meal. This is because they are caught between rushing to school, or not just that hungry in the morning. So for them, to sit down to have a breakfast may seem hassle and something they would have to take time out from their busy schedule. They at this age also prioritize their extra-curricular activities.

There has also been a shift in their circadian rhythm, and most teens cannot fall asleep before 11 pm, or even at midnight. Which means they wake up tired and struggle to do things right in the morning, which is why they choose to skip breakfast or give extra minutes to any other activities.

There is of course another, more popular reason, to lose weight. While experts and studies, like the one published in the Journal of Nutrition that found skipping breakfast leads to higher levels of hunger hormones, the students still feel the need to do this. However, it could lead to a slow metabolism, prompt the body to conserve energy and burn fewer calories, weight gain and deprive yo off the essential nutrients like calcium, iron, and vitamin D.

Without a morning breakfast, your blood sugar might drop too, which can increase irritability and stress, along with including the risk of depression in teenage.

Former Scotland striker Alan Brazil revealed that he has had a liver transplant and that his heart stopped during the surgery.

"My heart stopped for a bit," said Brazil, who described himself as "incredibly lucky" to have survived a life-saving liver transplant surgery.

He announced his surgery last month, after disappearing from the airwaves while covering the Cheltenham Festival in March.

During the video announcement, he also revealed a transformation in appearance, having lost weight during the process of the transplant, The Telegraph reported.

“I’d been having ongoing trials, so many specialists, and I decided I needed a transplant. I didn’t want to do it, but my kids and Jill [his wife] said, ‘You’ve got to do it, you have to do it, you are doing it," said the 66-year-old, in his first appearance on the radio station since leaving.

"I finished [work] at quarter to 10, and at 10 I had to phone Addenbrooke's Hospital. They said, 'Get in right now'".

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"At two thirty that afternoon, I was on the slab, and they opened me up. I was under for something like eight hours.

"They transplanted my liver. My heart did stop for a bit, and it came back on its own. I'll be frank, I'm very, very lucky to be here," said Brazil, who has presented Talksport’s breakfast show since 2000.

He further said: “I’m taking loads of meds ...I’ve just got to be a good boy, rest up, and go and see these people. Hopefully, I’ll get back to 100 per cent. I never realized how bad I was. I feel totally different now. I’m incredibly lucky.”

What Is A Liver Transplant?

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As per the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, a liver transplant is a surgical procedure to replace a diseased liver with a healthy one from a donor. It’s often the last resort when liver failure occurs—whether due to chronic illness or sudden injury.

When Is It Needed?

People may need a liver transplant for:

• Alcoholic liver disease
• Fatty liver disease (NASH)
• Cirrhosis due to chronic hepatitis C
• Liver cancer with cirrhosis
• Acute liver failure (often due to drug overdose, hepatitis, or toxins)

In children, biliary atresia is the most common reason.

Types of Liver Transplants

Deceased Donor Transplant:

The most common type is where a full or partial liver is taken from someone who has recently died.

Living Donor Transplant:

A healthy person donates a portion of their liver—typically to a close relative. Both the donor’s and recipient’s liver regenerates to normal size in a few weeks.

What Must Be Kept In The Mind?

• Matching and Compatibility: Blood type, liver size, and health are crucial.
• Approval Process: Especially important for non-blood relatives.
• Recovery and Monitoring: Post-op care involves lifelong medication, lifestyle changes, and regular check-ups.

Tick bites are becoming a huge health care issue, as they can cause diseases like Lyme. Due to the recent surge in tick bites throughout the United States, it has become more important to know everything about the situation and the disease.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has already issued a warning about a surge in tick bite cases and possible Lyme disease in the Northeastern states, where tick-related emergency room visits have risen. The Midwest is the second most affected region.

Harvard Health states that about 90% of cases have been reported in 14 states: Connecticut, Maine, Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin, and West Virginia.

CDC reports ER visits related to tick bites hit their highest levels for spring since 2017. The United States has been fighting with tick-related issues for decades. The nation sees an estimated 476,000 people treated for Lyme disease each year.

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What Is Lyme Disease?

Lyme disease is caused by a bacterium called Borrelia burgdorferi. This infectious disease is spread by infected ticks. The most common cause of these diseases in humans is bites from blacklegged ticks, though other variants can also be carriers. The Harvard Health says that most patients do not remember being bitten by a tick.

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Unique Symptoms Of Lyme Disease

Heart Problems

Lyme can impact the cardiac, neurologic, and rheumatologic systems. The CDC says that 1 out of 100 patients has Lyme bacteria in their heart tissues. The condition is also called Lyme carditis.

Brain Fog

Advanced brain imaging shows that Lyme disease brain fog is real. It can lead to various effects, including difficulty focusing, thinking, reading, and absorbing information.

Bell's Palsy

There are 12 essential nerves, also known as the cranial nerves, that originate in the brain and play a crucial role in sensory functions and movements in the different parts of the head, face, neck, and torso. Lyme disease can also affect those nerves, leading to Bell's Palsy.

Eye Problems

Lyme can cause sudden vision loss, damage to the optic nerve, and neurotrophic keratitis. Other symptoms include blurry vision, eye floaters, tearing, and extreme sensitivity to light.

Hearing Problems

The most common Lyme-related hearing issues are tinnitus, vertigo and dizziness, headache, and unilateral sensorineural hearing or hearing loss in one ear.

Arthritis

The disease can cause swollen knees, a low-grade fever, or a limp. It usually starts in the fourth week after being bitten.

Fatigue

This is not just any fatigue, but a weakness that is debilitating. People with a history of Lyme were 8 to 15 times more likely to report severe or moderate fatigue than those who have never had the disease.

President Donald Trump's recent physical examination has been in the news, and now it is about a drug that was omitted in the test, which is making headlines. This very drug is raising questions about the health condition of President Trump, as he has been taking this drug for years. This medication is finasteride, a generic name for Propecia, which is a hair loss drug.

President Trump's recent test report at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center contains a list of drugs that he takes, but in that list, one important name was missing, and that is his hair loss drug, Propecia. According to The Washington Post, when they asked officials if the president still takes that drug, the White House said it was not obligated to reveal the full range of medications the president was taking.

The White House said, “The current report reflects all medications deemed clinically relevant to disclose at this time.” It added, “No additional undisclosed conditions or procedures materially affecting his health status were omitted from this report.”

Though even after the statement of the White House, experts are still questioning his health condition and the hair loss drug. Robert Klitzman, a psychiatrist who leads Columbia University’s master’s program in bioethics, said, “It raises significant questions of what else is possibly not being revealed.”

Steve Joffe, a physician and bioethicist at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, said to the Post, “There’s a certain level of openness and disclosure that people have a right to expect from someone in whom they place such profound trust.”

President Trump's mysterious drug list, with many omissions, concerns experts as it lacks what matters the most.

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Why is Trump's Boasting About Cognitive Test Score Making Experts Question?

President Donald Trump is saying that he has achieved a full score in a very difficult test. He said, “Unlike other US Presidents, none of whom have ever taken an approved, high difficulty, Cognitive Test, I scored a perfect 30 out of 30, considered ‘extreme intelligence.’”

“In fact, this is my fourth such test, all PERFECT or 120 correct answers out of 120 questions asked! Anyone rarely gets a Perfect Score, especially when achieved four times in a row.” He wrote in his post.

He also demanded that the candidates for president and vice president should also go through this kind of test by saying, “In fact, this is my fourth such test, all PERFECT or 120 correct answers out of 120 questions asked! Anyone rarely gets a Perfect Score, especially when achieved four times in a row.”

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Why Did Experts Question Repeated Testing?

Trump’s claims were immediately questioned by experts like Dr. Jonathan Reiner and Abby Phillip of CNN. They argued that repeated tests may not provide the same value. According to them, as the president had taken the test several times and the questions didn't change that much, it was easy. Other than that, the test is not designed to calculate intellect; it is more of a dementia screening test.