Lifetime Health

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Nigel Atkinson, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Neurobiology Institute for Neuroscience Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology Waggoner Center for Alcohol and Addiction Research The University of Texas Austin, Texas

Making GREAT Decisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Alcoholism Affects the Family and Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247

Building Responsible Relationships 454

Evaluating Health Web Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 564

You’ll use these skills every day to enhance your health.

Interpret health data, and draw accurate conclusions.

Every day, about 1 10 Americans are infected with HIV. Three million people died from AIDS in 2000.

The new copies of the virus destroy the cells they infect. The copies of the virus are then released into the bloodstream and enter other immune system cells. The destructive cycle then continues.

Once the virus infects a person’s body, there is no way to remove the virus.

Today, most health problems in the United States are related to the way we live, or our lifestyle.

You can’t make yourself younger or change your race or gender. However, by focusing on controllable risk factors, which you can change through your behavior, you can protect your health.

The choice to smoke often takes place in high school, if not before then.

A person who is popular can be socially unhealthy!

Think of the wellness continuum as resembling the scale on a bellringer, commonly seen at amusement parks.

If your parents or grandparents deal with anger by talking out their problems instead of yelling and fighting, you will be more likely to talk out your problems.

However, if you don’t feel good about yourself, you will never be truly healthy.

A microchip embedded in the pump makes monitoring and controling blood-sugar levels possible.

Although few people devote their lives to being advocates, we all have the potential to better our own wellness as well as the wellness of others.

How would she react if you told her that she should quit because her clothes smell and her breath stinks?

Wellness is the achievement of your best in all of the components of health.

Kent knows that there are many benefits to exercising regularly... However, Kent can’t remember the last time he exercised.

Just like you need skills to build a house, you also need skills to build a happy, healthy life.

The media have a sig-nificant influence on what you learn about the world.

Sina froze as she quickly tried to decide what she should do.

If you make a decision that goes against your values, you will feel bad about the decision later. Respecting your values is respecting yourself.

Sometimes, the consequences of wrong decisions are embarrassing or humiliating.

Indirect pressure is much more subtle than direct pressure. When you are pressured indirectly, you are not directly told or asked to do something. However, you may still feel pushed to do it.

Sometimes, you have to refuse in several different ways before people will accept your answer.

If someone gets angry with you for saying no, you should not feel as if you should have said yes.

If you set your goals for the future, you will have a map of where to go. Instead of driving aimlessly around, you know where you are going and what you have to do to get there.

Something should tell you that these goals might not work well together.

If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.

If you make a wrong decision, STOP and take responsibility for it.

Draw and label a road to show the path you will take. Use symbols such as rivers for challenges you expect to face.

If you buy the bracelet, you may be using a useless trinket to ignore a serious condition.

Your doctor is less likely to make a mistake than you are while you are sitting and worrying in front of a computer.

One characteristic of high self-esteem is not being afraid to try new things.

Remember that self-esteem is how you feel about yourself, not how others feel about you or what others say about you.

Until you accept who you are, you will never be happy with what you have.

If you had a passive response, you would give your brother the silent treatment and then just throw your shirt away.

See if you can say, 'What are you doing?' and sound questioning, angry, arrogant, and upset.

Paraphrasing may seem like restating the obvious, but you would be amazed how sometimes you hear something differently from what the speaker means.

Usually, when body language is giving a message that is different from what you are saying, people tend to believe the body language message.

Mentally healthy people are more likely to persist through setbacks because they understand that frustrations are part of learning.

But if you run around the house tearing at your hair and screaming, you probably won’t get a positive response from your family.

A person may make you angry, but that person doesn’t make you hit him or her.

You can be in a room of people, but if you don’t feel close to any of them or feel rejected, you can still feel lonely.

It is just after noon, and Lisa is still in bed. She doesn’t see any point in getting up. She doesn’t want to do anything.

Depression, also known as major depressive disorder, is a serious disorder that if left untreated can lead a person to consider suicide.

In a panic attack, the person may feel extreme fear for his or her life even though they are not really in danger.

Those in the group find it comforting to talk about their problems with others who are experiencing the same problem.

Misunderstandings can happen if your body language communicates a different message than what you say.

Jessica called Tessa an idiot and yelled, “Don’t ever touch my things again!”

You may not even be aware that you are under stress until you get a headache, as Paula did.

The physical changes that prepare your body to respond quickly and appropriately to stressors is called the fight-or-flight response.

You become exhausted, not in the normal sense like after a long, busy day, but in a more serious way.

Keeping the body in a heightened state of alertness when you don’t need to run or fight stresses your heart, muscles, and immune system.

Resilient people continue to be optimistic when life gets tough. They seem to struggle less and succeed more.

Because stress is caused by how you perceive a new or potentially threatening situation, you can choose to see the situation as a challenge instead of as a problem.

However, saying no sometimes is a healthy way of taking care of yourself.

You may not be prepared for how intense your emotions may be or how suddenly your moods may change. You may even begin to doubt your mental stability.

During this time, you may be prone to sudden outbursts of tears that are triggered by reminders and memories of this person.

Small, kind actions such as the touch of a hand on a shoulder is a powerful way to show your support.

Don’t use permanent solutions to solve temporary problems.

Giving away personal belongings is a way to say goodbye without words.

“I know what it feels like to be really down. I’m glad I talked with someone.”

Explain why giving away personal things might be a sign of someone considering suicide.

My parents will be so angry with me, but I just can’t imagine sitting through a funeral.

Violence does not solve a problem, it makes the problem worse.

No matter what bullies may say to you, stand by what you believe and be proud of who you are.

That’s why resolving a conflict nonviolently takes more courage and strength than using violence does.

Their job is to ensure that everyone has a voice to guide the group toward a solution and to make sure things are worked out 'fair and square.'

You may be surprised to find out that the abuser is often someone who was once abused himself or herself.

This phase is often the reason people stay in abusive relationships.

Assertive people set down boundaries that let others know they will not accept hurtful behavior.

Runaways almost always find themselves in situations that are worse than the one they left.

Because the child is being abused by someone he or she knows and trusts, the child may find it difficult to tell when he or she is being abused.

The truth is that about 80 percent of victims of sexual assault and rape know their attacker.

Rapists are often motivated to make the person feel powerless, degraded, dirty, and ashamed.

Don’t change anything about your body or your environment. Don’t shower or go to the bathroom.

Besides causing physical injury, some effects of abuse are depression, low self-esteem, guilt, shame, anxiety, distrust, and difficulty developing relationships.

When she said she didn’t want to, he became irate. His voice started getting louder and he moved closer to her.

The makers of such products claim to have the secret to a long healthy life. Well, the secret is out, and as you’ll discover, it’s not really much of a secret.

Endorphins can give you a feeling of wellness and happiness after a good, hard workout.

As your cardiorespiratory endurance increases, your heart beats slower and stronger.

Whether you compete in informal or formal play, competition will help develop your motivation, leadership, and cooperation skills.

The Special Olympics and Paralympics show us that mental and physical disabilities do not stop people from becoming world-class athletes.

You don’t have to be an athlete to be physically fit, and you do not have to be fit to start a fitness program.

Some of the world’s best endurance athletes have resting heart rates below 40 bpm.

The higher the intensity of the exercise, the less time you need to do it.

There is no difference between the same amount of male muscle and female muscle in terms of strength.

Exercise can sometimes be uncomfortable but should never be painful. Pain means injury.

“Records are meant to be broken, not athletes.” —Cal Ripken, Jr.

Damage to growing bones and other tissues can cause lifelong weakness and loss of flexibility.

Returning to activity before an injury is fully healed and rehabilitated puts you at risk of reinjury.

A steroid abuser may take as much as 100 mg a day.

Even mild sleepiness has been shown to hurt all types of performance—in school, sports, and even when playing video games!

Greg rolled out of bed after hitting the snooze button for the 10th time.

Say no to all-nighters. Staying up all night, even to study for an exam, will disturb your sleep pattern and your ability to function the next day.

A friend says, 'I don’t have to bother to exercise. There’ll be a cure for all of those diseases by the time I’m old!'

Although he was exhausted, he found it difficult to fall asleep before midnight. However, he would often fall asleep much later in front of the flickering TV.

The diet you eat during your teens can affect your risk of developing obesity, heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, and cancer when you are in your 30s, 40s, or 50s.

Refined sugar provides energy but hardly any nutrients. When you eat a lot of these foods you may be missing out on foods rich in nutrients.

Soluble fibers help protect you against heart disease by “trapping” cholesterol from eaten food, therefore lowering blood cholesterol.

When levels of LDL cholesterol in the blood get too high, deposits called plaque (PLAK) form on the walls of blood vessels.

The amino acids are linked together like beads on a necklace to make each type of protein.

An antioxidant is a substance that is able to protect body structures from a highly chemically reactive form of oxygen called a free radical.

Most nutrient toxicities result from misuse of vitamin and mineral supplements.

About 45 percent of your skeleton forms between the ages of 9 and 17.

However, thirst is a late sign of dehydration.

The Tolerable Upper Intake Levels (ULs) are the largest amount of a nutrient you can take without risking toxicity.

The ingredients in a product are listed on the label in order of weight—those present in the largest amounts are listed first.

It is important to remember that even though a food may be labeled low fat, it can still be high in Calories.

Foods at the bottom of the pyramid should be eaten more often, while foods at the top of the pyramid should be eaten less often.

The foods you choose can make the difference between a diet that provides all of your nutrient needs and protects you from disease and one that does not.

The key to whether a food is a healthy food or a junk food is how many nutrients it provides relative to how many Calories it contains.

It is higher in fat than diets recommended for older children and adults are because infants need fat to provide energy and to allow their rapid growth and brain development.

A common misconception is that athletes need to eat large amounts of protein to build larger muscles.

Dehydration causes the blood to lose water and thicken, which makes the job of pumping the blood to the muscles more difficult.

A common misconception about vegetarian diets is that they are always healthier than diets in which meats are eaten.

Vitamin B12 is found only in animal foods, so vegans must eat foods fortified with vitamin B12 such as breakfast cereals or take a vitamin B12 supplement to meet their needs.

Can your current diet affect your future health? Explain.

One convenience store now sells a soda portion that is 64 ounces—a half gallon—and that contains more than 600 Calories.

Recognize that the modern world is telling you to eat, eat, eat.

Have you ever found yourself feeling full after a meal and then digging into a piece of pie for dessert?

If you go to school without breakfast, you must depend on stored energy to fuel your body and brain.

However, an overweight person who is active regularly is at lower risk than a person of correct weight who is not active.

High-Calorie snack foods, drinks, baked goods, and candy tempt us at the checkout counter of the supermarket.

Someone who has obese parents but who makes healthy food choices and exercises regularly may never be overweight.

So, an athlete who is 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighs 240 pounds would appear to be obese!

Faster weight loss is usually due to the loss of water and muscle, not fat.

Side effects can range from nervousness, dizziness, and headache to increased blood pressure, heart attacks, and seizures.

Jenny didn’t listen when her friends said that she was too thin. She hated how “fat” she looked.

But in fact, the women and men on magazine covers represent less than 1 percent of the population!

Unfortunately, people with eating disorders often deny that they have a problem and believe that their behavior is normal and a chosen lifestyle.

When a life is in danger, there is no confidentiality to keep.

The bacteria produce a lot of gas while feasting on the beans.

Individuals who are allergic to peanuts can be so sensitive that exposure to tiny amounts, such as contamination from peanut-containing foods nearby, can cause serious reactions.

If you suspect a food is unsafe, play it safe. When in doubt, throw it out.

Eating disorders are more common in teenage girls, especially overachievers who have a poor self-image, and in athletes who must restrict their weight.

When she discovers she has finished off the bag of chips too, she is angry with herself.

What do aspirin, caffeine, cortisone, and cocaine all have in common? They are all drugs.

Over time, any drug that affects the brain can change your behavior so that you can’t control your behavior.

Men traveled across the country selling cures they had created themselves. Most of the time these cures did nothing but cost people money.

If you stop taking the antibiotic too soon, the remaining bacteria can cause the infection to return.

For example, even if you and your friend think you have the same illness, never take your friend’s prescription medicine.

However, long-term use of OTC medicines can cover up pain or discomfort that is your body’s way of telling you something is wrong.

Some of the most toxic compounds known to science are completely natural!

Once you realize that you are part of the team, and not just a passive recipient of care, you have taken a big step towards ensuring your own health and safety.

Don’t hide health information from your doctor—even the embarrassing stuff.

No one abuses a drug because of what it does to his or her stomach, lungs, or liver.

The pleasure that these drugs produce tricks the brain into believing that taking the drug is good for the body.

By now, the addict feels normal only when he or she has the drug in his or her body.

The unpleasant physical and mental effects of withdrawal can keep an addiction going.

We have created a product to blast your body with pure energy.

In 1555, the Royal College of Physicians in London declared that no doctor could tell a patient anything about a medicine, including its name.

Would others think he wasn’t cool if they found out he wouldn’t drink?

The water used to break down alcohol is taken from the rest of the body, including the brain. The cells of the brain shrink and may even begin to die.

If a person has passed out from drinking alcohol, get medical help immediately. Then turn the victim onto his or her side.

Eva was in her room when she heard the arguing begin. “Where have you been?” her mother asked. “Don’t start with me again,” said her father, “I can have a beer if I want to.”

Drinkers become secretive, paranoid, and defensive as they try to hide their drinking behavior.

The families of alcoholics never know what to expect. An alcoholic may be depressed in the morning, happy in the afternoon, and violently angry by nighttime.

FAS is the leading preventable cause of mental retardation in our country.

During withdrawal, a person may suffer extreme nervousness, headaches, chills, nausea, seizures, and uncontrollable shaking.

If all else fails, take their keys. They will probably be angry with you, but at least they’ll be alive to thank you later.

The effects of alcohol are much more potent in brains that are still rapidly developing, such as the brains of teens.

I’m worried about how I’ll look with my head in the toilet.

Life’s healthiest and happiest activities never include drinking alcohol.

Alcoholism is a disease that affects the entire family.

Although others at the party knew that the driver was impaired by alcohol, nobody thought to take his keys.

Sixty milligrams of nicotine are enough to kill most people.

Even after losing her larynx to throat cancer, Debbie Austin, pictured above, still continued to smoke.

Cigarette smoke paralyzes and then kills cilia. As a result, mucus and inhaled particles (along with tar and other chemicals from tobacco products) build up deep within the lungs, which gives smokers a chronic cough.

Smoking breaks down the proteins that give skin elasticity. This leads to wrinkles and premature aging of the skin.

For every eight people killed by their own smoke, a nonsmoker is killed by exposure to secondhand smoke.

But you can’t prove your independence by becoming addicted to tobacco.

Smokers get stained teeth, receding gum lines, bad breath, wrinkled skin, and stained fingers—traits not usually considered sexy.

“Tiff, I spent all afternoon getting ready for this party. I’m wearing my favorite perfume. I really don’t want to smell like a cigarette.”

Within half an hour after quitting smoking, your blood pressure and heart rate will fall back to normal.

All forms of tobacco are dangerous because they contain many harmful chemicals and carcinogens, including nicotine, tar, carbon monoxide, cyanide, and formaldehyde.

Explain why smokers generally cannot smell tobacco smoke on their clothes.

“Yeah, but I spent it on cigarettes.” “Man, that just doesn’t seem worth it. If you have a finite income, you should save it for the stereo system you want.”

Altering brain development with drug use can result in a lifetime of struggle to overcome addiction and to remain drug free.

Some people start using drugs to get away from their problems and then can’t get away from their drug problem.

People high on marijuana can show the same lack of coordination on standard drunk-driver tests as people who are drunk.

The heart may suddenly stop beating, and the person may die. This is called sudden sniffing death syndrome.

People dancing in a nightclub, such as those shown in Figure 2, can pass out and even die from heatstroke while high on Ecstasy.

As with any street drug, users can never know exactly what drug they are getting, how strong it is, and what other drugs might be in it.

Aggression caused by steroid abuse is called roid rage.

Methamphetamine’s intense effects, which can last for hours, include euphoria, loss of appetite, increased alertness, and hyperactivity.

Rohypnol, also called roofies or the forget pill, has developed a reputation as the most frequently used date-rape drug.

It may seem like nothing matters until you’re living on the street, infected with HIV/AIDS, or dying from an overdose.

“My poor baby. I’m so sorry,” Tina whispered as she rocked her baby.

Drug withdrawal occurring in newborn infants whose mothers were frequent drug users during pregnancy is called neonatal abstinence syndrome.

Therefore, how can anyone say that drug use is only dangerous to the abuser?

If someone stops being your friend just because you refuse to take drugs, that person was not a true friend to begin with.

Nobody can pressure you to do drugs if you aren’t there.

Look-alike drugs are especially dangerous because there is no way to know what is in them.

Do the costs of a stereo and a computer combined equal the cost of cocaine?

Paul didn’t know, however, that a hidden army of organisms was starting an attack on his cut.

They reproduce by taking control of body cells and forcing them to make many new viruses.

These pathogens are on the phone you used this morning and even the money in your pocket.

Before the discovery of antibiotics, even a small cut on your finger could lead to a deadly bacterial infection!

Your head aches, your throat burns, and your muscles feel like you’ve just been tackled by a football team.

Like an escalator, the waving cilia move the mucus and its bacterial passengers to the back of your throat.

When a vaccine is injected or swallowed, the immune system responds to the vaccine material by making white blood cells called memory cells.

For example, some bacteria can’t function or survive at higher temperatures, so your body temperature rises in an attempt to stunt their growth.

No matter how healthy we are, we all become ill from infectious diseases sometime during our lives.

Many bacteria, however, prefer to live in dark, warm, and moist places such as inside our bodies.

The most widespread and serious of the protozoan infections worldwide is malaria.

Tapeworms attach to the intestinal wall using suckers and hooks on their heads.

Antibiotic resistance is a growing problem that is a threat to everyone’s health.

Explain why it is important to have an efficient public health system if an outbreak of a disease occurs.

A hundred years ago, the main causes of death in the United States were infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis (TB) and the flu.

In the same way that genes determine your natural hair color, genes can also determine your chances of developing certain lifestyle diseases.

The damage that leads to CVD builds up over many years and may begin as early as childhood.

Doctors call high blood pressure, or hypertension, the silent killer, because many people don’t know that their blood pressure is high until they have a heart attack or stroke.

The cuff is inflated until it is tight enough to stop blood flow through the main artery in the arm.

Stress, feelings of aggression, hostility, and anger have been shown to increase the risk of CVD.

They tear through and crush neighboring tissues, strangle blood vessels, and take nutrients that are needed by healthy cells.

Cancer cells break away from the tumor and invade blood and lymph vessels.

One promising treatment scientists are developing is to “starve” tumors by cutting off their blood supply.

No butts about it: don’t smoke.

Cells then use the body’s fat and protein for energy, which causes a buildup of toxic substances in the bloodstream.

Scientists are also working on ways to transplant insulin-producing cells into people with type 1 diabetes.

People who inherit a tendency for a lifestyle disease can still do a lot to reduce their chances of developing such a disease.

Explain why infectious diseases have become less common and why lifestyle diseases are the most common causes of death.

In fact, more than 4,000 different human disorders are caused by errors in our genes.

The possibility of real change is awesome. For example, will you be able to ensure that your children have certain traits?

Occasionally, the instructions that a gene is carrying contain an error.

When people with Huntington’s disease reach the age of 35 to 40, cells in their brain begin to die.

Because you have control over your lifestyle, you can help lower your risk of developing a complex disease by making healthy lifestyle choices.

Some people worry that insurance companies might discriminate against people based on results of genetic tests.

Imagine that your body begins to destroy its own cells. Even though this idea sounds far fetched, many common diseases occur when the immune system does just this.

Asthmatics often explain that breathing during an asthma attack is like trying to breathe through a straw.

This is similar to the way that a hinge on a car door will wear out if it is opened and closed enough times.

In the past, people with disabilities were often discriminated against. They were believed to be unable to hold jobs or participate in other activities.

Limits caused by disabilities do not limit a person’s ability to achieve their goals.

A lifetime of excessive noise begins to destroy the cells of the inner ear that are involved in hearing.

In the past, most people did not recover from paralysis due to SCI. New treatments make it more likely that a person will regain some movement after injury.

Multiple sclerosis is caused by the body attacking myelin, the fatty insulation on nerves in the brain and spinal cord.

Why might a misconception that recovery cannot occur after a spinal cord injury prevent a person from maximizing his or her potential for recovery?

Franco was both excited and nervous about his driving test. He thought to himself, Am I ready for this?

Coping with mental and emotional changes can be difficult because they are felt by the person but are not visible to others.

The process of leaving dependence behind and forming a new identity is complex and sometimes scary.

Successfully separating feelings from behaviors makes a teen truly more mature and independent.

Cliques are small, exclusive groups of friends that are judgmental of both their friends and others.

The consequences of a job poorly done can range from receiving a pay cut to being fired.

While such independence can be scary, it can also be exciting.

Adults may feel that their life is slipping away and that they are losing their youth.

Many young adults do not feel the effects of eating a poor diet, smoking or chewing tobacco, not exercising, and being overweight. As these young adults grow older, however, they may begin to experience the ill effects of these habits.

Believe it or not, when an adult has focused for many years on a career, shifting that focus onto an enjoyable hobby or recreation can be difficult.

One of the tragic myths of aging is that as we age, we lose our intellectual sharpness and our ability to enjoy life and be productive.

Growing older is a privilege and process worthy of our respect and care.

Establishing healthy patterns of living during adolescence reduces the risks of dying early and makes life more enjoyable.

Juan was shocked because he felt that he was in the best shape of his life.

Although the message that one is becoming an adult is serious, the rites and rituals themselves can be exciting and show that the adults accept the youth as one of their own.

Often, a couple’s love grows deeper and stronger after the couple has worked through a hard time.

“We never thought being married could be so hard.”

Recognize that being mad at parents and loving them at the same time is normal.

Nothing in life is as joyful, meaningful, or exhausting as being a parent.

When parents are happy, children can feel secure about themselves. If a parent is unhappy, children can feel anxious and uncertain.

Family relationships are powerful because they influence our emotions and help shape our character, either positively or negatively.

Regardless of the makeup of a family, the relationships between family members are the most important part of the family.

If you feel frustrated in your relationship with your family members, you can be sure that they hurt too.

But the real work comes from the family members themselves.

Because children learn from their parents, parents’ behavior greatly affects children.

Both Anne and Collin told each other what they wanted. Then, each decided to relent.

Winning the race after recovering from testicular cancer was even more incredible!

The small muscles in the scrotum move the testes closer or farther from the body.

Twisting of a testis on the nerves and blood vessels attached to it; can happen during athletic or other physical activities.

In fact, testicular cancer is the most common cancer in males between the ages of 15 and 35.

Ann Curry was scared when she found out her sister had breast cancer. . . A sister’s love is saving thousands of lives!

All of the eggs that a female will ever have are in her two ovaries when she is born.

Environmental factors, such as stress, diet, travel, exercise, weight gain or loss, and illness, can influence the timing of a female’s cycle.

Cervical cancer rates are higher among older women. However, this cancer is on the rise in younger women due to certain STDs and the lack of regular screening with a Pap test.

Recognizing breast cancer early is important. It could save your life!

Once a sperm penetrates the egg, a chemical change prevents other sperm from entering the egg.

By 4 months, the mother can feel the fetus move or “kick.”

A pregnant woman needs up to 450 extra Calories a day, but she should not eat for two people.

The contractions feel like a bad cramp, which is why mothers call them “labor pains.”

The nervous system undergoes extraordinary development during the first year of life.

The joining of an egg from a female and a sperm from a male begins the process of a pregnancy and the development of a new human life.

Being pregnant is laborious . This is something Roberta and her husband, Ben, know firsthand.

Developing relationships with others of the same age is part of forming your own identity.

It doesn’t matter how attractive or popular a person is if he or she is selfish, inconsiderate, or abusive.

Breaking a date just because something better came along is not acceptable.

This mistaken idea can put teens in very dangerous situations.

Teens have enough to juggle in their lives without having to deal with the stress of being sexually active.

“I wish I had waited.” This was the general response of the majority of sexually active teens in a survey about sexual activity.

Remember, people who want you to go against your morals are usually not concerned with your well-being.

If you practice refusal lines ahead of time, figuring out what to say when you hear pressure lines is easy.

However, teens who have been sexually active can choose to be sexually abstinent. This decision is the healthiest one.

Abstinence is defined as the conscious decision not to participate in sexual activity and the skills to support that decision.

Going on a date can be fun, awful, wonderful, and nerve wracking all at the same time.

A date meant that things were getting really serious—and everyone in town knew it.

Sex is not a game, and neither is having a baby or a sexually transmitted disease.

Teen parents must take on adult responsibilities at an early age.

The doctor explained that many STDs are asymptomatic. Asymptomatic means 'showing no signs of a disease or disorder even though an infection or disease is present.'

Teenage females are especially at risk because the cells on the cervix of teenage females are more susceptible to infection than the cells of the adult cervix.

Knowledge helps you know the risks. Knowledge helps you make good decisions.

The drops are given to all babies, even if the mother is not believed to be infected.

“I took a risk as a teen and didn’t see a doctor when I should have. As a result, my wife and I are unable to have children.”

Syphilis can spread through the blood, damaging the nervous system and other body organs.

Sometimes people are too embarrassed or frightened to ask for help or information about sexually transmitted diseases.

One partner in a current relationship may be free of the sexually transmitted disease, but the other partner may not.

Suppose your friend says she is not worried about STDs because her boyfriend doesn’t seem like the type of guy who would have an STD.

“I wish I could go to the movie. I never realized that I would have to make so many sacrifices.”

The new copies of the virus destroy the cells they infect. The copies of the virus are then released into the bloodstream and enter other immune system cells. The destructive cycle then continues.

However, many HIV-infected people look “normal” and healthy, especially in the early stages of infection.

Eventually, HIV destroys enough helper T cells to cripple the body’s immune system.

However, although infected people may feel well, they can still transmit the virus to others.

Infected fluids may enter the bloodstream of an uninfected person through tiny cuts, open sores, or tears in the lining of the mouth, vagina, rectum, or opening of the penis.

If you don’t take care of yourself, who else will?

“Remember— it’s not who you are but what you do that puts you at risk for HIV.”

An initial negative test can be misleading if the test is done too soon after infection.

In some rare cases, treatment can reverse the disease and allow the body’s immune system to repair itself.

He stresses that HIV infection can happen to anyone, even a famous athlete.

Teenagers are one of the fastest-growing groups with HIV and AIDS because they engage in high-risk behaviors.

I never thought anyone around my age would get HIV. I thought we were invincible and that nothing would happen to us.

A synapse is a tiny space across which nerve impulses pass from one neuron to the next.

The olfactory nerve, which creates the sense of smell, is unique among all nerves. It is able to heal rapidly, even after being completly severed.

It is interesting to note that images form upside down on the retina. The brain corrects the images, and thus we see things right side up.

The scrotum contracts and relaxes to make the testes move closer to or farther from the body.

Tiny hairs around the opening of a fallopian tube draw an egg into the tube.

Without bones, you would be a shapeless blob pooled on the floor.

The human femur (upper leg bone) is stronger than a bar of iron of the same weight.

But if you’re running from a tiger, you can’t quit just because your muscles run out of oxygen.

These veins appear to be blue because different colors of light reach different depths in the skin.

The diameter of a capillary is so small that blood cells can move through the capillary only in single file.

Because carbon dioxide is toxic to tissues, it must not build up in the blood.

Without a coat of mucus, the stomach would digest itself.

Before wastes leave a kidney, capillaries in the kidney reclaim about 99 percent of the water removed by the nephrons.

The ‘swollen glands’ that go with some infections are lymph glands that have grown larger from ȑltering out many germ particles and damaged cells.

An autoimmune disease is one in which the immune system attacks the cells of the body that the immune system normally protects.

Low blood sugar makes you feel weak and interferes with your ability to think.

These stress hormones raise your heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate and slow your digestion—just in case you have to run for your life!

Carbon monoxide prevents red blood cells from carrying oxygen; causes weakness, loss of consciousness, or death.

Because oceans do not belong to any one country, regulating the amount of fishing in oceans is difficult.

Noninfectious diseases are harder to eliminate because their treatment requires an improvement in the environment or a change in people’s lifestyle.

These laws and programs have been very effective in eliminating diseases such as smallpox and polio and controlling other diseases such as measles and whooping cough.

After spending the weekend hiking with his friends, Isaac woke up Monday morning to find his legs covered with red, itchy bumps.

If your doctor’s advice is unclear, you may not be able to follow the treatment plan.

If your doctor has to rush through your evaluation to hurry on to the next patient, you may not feel that you’re getting the best care.

Each year, consumers are cheated out of billions of dollars for healthcare information, services, and products that don’t work.

Companies take advantage of people’s emotions, illnesses, weaknesses, and fears to sell fraudulent products.

Web sites that sell products based on only the testimony of people who used the product are often fraudulent.

The waste products of these bacteria are what cause body odor.

The UVA radiation, which is used in commercial tanning beds, penetrates deeper into the skin than UVB rays do.

The upper ear is mostly cartilage and has little blood flow. If bacteria enter here, it is difficult for the body to fight the infection.

The chemicals used to apply artificial nails are highly flammable.

Because the pulp contains nerves, cavities can be painful.

The effect usually disappears in a day or two, but damage from noise adds up over time.

Do not touch the person without consent. If there is no response, you have implied consent to help.

Do not take the pulse on both sides at the same time, as it can cut off blood flow to the brain.

If the victim has spinal injuries, do not raise the head or feet.

Blow gently into the victim’s mouth for 2 seconds and watch for the chest to rise.