“The fact is that while we are starting to focus more and more on physical health, we tend to ignore the importance of mental health when in reality both are needed in order to create a healthy balance.”

 

There is a large increase of depression and suicidal thoughts and attempts by children. “The rising number of children being taken to hospital for suicide attempts and suicidal thoughts is being described as a crisis.” This April, a study was published that found “the number of children who have been hospitalized in the United States for contemplating or attempting suicide doubled between 2007 and 2015—from 580,000 to 1.12 million.”[1]

The reasons for the increase of suicidal behaviour are complex and usually not the result of a single problem. They can be explained by a combination of factors, including increasing pressure to succeed, social isolation and (cyber) bullying, the use of technology and social media or a lack of mental health services. The fact is that while we are starting to focus more and more on physical health, we tend to ignore the importance of mental health when in reality both are needed in order to create a healthy balance. But how can we teach teenagers to cope with their problems when about 30% are not even verbalizing the issues they are dealing with or expressing their feelings to their own parents?

According to an annual survey by CAMH (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health) “female students are more than twice as likely as males to report elevated stress, poor mental health, to seek mental health counselling, thoughts of suicide, and being prescribed medication for anxiety or depression”.[2] This “psychological distress” (symptoms of anxiety or depression) has been rising every year. Is technology and social media to blame? The survey found that technology and social media use have increased in recent years, with many reporting mental health problems related to their use.

Almost 90% of students reported their everyday presence on social media sites, from which 20% spends five hours or more on social media daily—and this number is getting higher and higher every year. Girls were almost twice as likely to spend more hours a day on social media compared to boys, while boys on the other hand are more likely to play video games on a daily basis.

Though it’s still not clear whether social media is really causing this tendency or it is the other way around, when mental health issues work as a trigger to seek help, attention and a possible way out of the real world’s problems. Unfortunately, neither of these options are better that the other one.

Of course, the use of devices doesn’t have to directly lead to suicide but it can still cause interesting changes in our anatomy. According to the latest news, we are growing weird, horn-like bone spikes at the back of our skulls. No surprise that smartphones and other devices might be the cause.

“A cause-and-effect relationship hasn’t been identified, but it’s possible that the spike comes from constantly bending one’s neck at uncomfortable angles to look at smart devices. The human head is heavy, weighing about 10 lbs. (4.5 kilograms), and tilting it forward to look at funny cat photos (or however you spend your smartphone time) can strain the neck—hence the crick people sometimes get, known as »text neck.«”[3] Unfortunately, it looks like these bony spikes are staying and if we don’t improve our posture, they can get even worse.

Another important factor causing health issues is the constant presence of Wi-Fi. It is one of the single largest sources of EMF radiation; and with the introduction to 5G technology things might get considerably worse. EMF affects our sleep, our bodies’ ability to produce healthy cells and there is a possible increased risk of certain cancers as well. This is why in some countries the use of Wi-Fi is limited or even banned in some places like nurseries. Though there are no limitations in our country yet, the least we can do is to turn our Wi-Fi off at night—that can reduce our radiation exposure.

Doctor’s Choice products help deal with stress, anxiety and depression; Kava Kava, SAMe, GABA, Neurotransmitter Support, L-Tryptophan, L-Tyrosine and DLPA.

 

References:

 

[1] Lowrie, Morgan. 2019.

[2] CTVNews.ca Staff. 2019.

[3] Geggel, Laura. 2019.