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Who are you?
What are you looking for?
If you call yourself a teenager, adolescent, young adult or youth, and if you are looking for information on health-related issues that could concern you, then you have come to the right place!
This is a venture by the Family Health Bureau of Sri Lanka in collaboration with several medical consultants and experts in adolescent health. The project came to life in order to reach out to you and give you trustworthy, reliable information about the day-to-day problems you face. From food habits to beauty tips to sexual health and even guidance on passing exams; we’ve got it all covered. Browse through our site and find out how a healthy lifestyle can be both fun and rewarding.
To start things off, let’s answer that first question; “Who are you?”
By definition Adolescence is “the period in human growth and development that occurs after childhood and before adulthood, between the ages of 10 and19 years”. There are several other overlapping categories into which you may fall.
Teenager 13 – 19 years
Young person 10 – 24 years
Youth 15 to 24 years
However, none of the definitions that we have come across really sums up who an adolescent is. After all, as an adolescent, you are going through rapid changes – physically, psychologically and emotionally. You are neither a child, nor an adult. You are somewhere in between.
Sometimes, the world seems an exciting place filled with opportunities, and you want to experiment and explore. And then at other times you don’t seem to understand what’s happening, and you just want to turn back timeand be a child again. Sometimes the stress is too much to handle; it seems that no-one understands what you are going through!
Not everyone is fortunate enough to have a mentor with time and experience to guide you through this important phase of your life and you may not know where to go when you have a problem. This is why we see many adolescents turning to inappropriate sources of knowledge and comfort, and often regret the decisions they make, for the rest of their lives.
So, we hope that you would find yowunpiyasa.lk a helpful companion to you. Rest assured that all the information you find here is up-to-date and accurate, as the articles have been written by experts in their respective fields. Having passed through the stage of adolescence themselves, and also dealing with adolescents daily at home and at work, we truly understand what you are going through. You will discover answers to many questions that you were too afraid or too embarrassed to ask, and hopefully you will use this information to enrich your life.
After all, it is you, the adolescents of our country, who would steer Sri Lanka towards a brighter future.
So good luck, take care and have fun!
Body-Mind-Brain: What is ‘Normal’?
The human body has been described by different people in different ways. To some, it is a ‘work of art’; to others it is a ‘complex machine’; someone else may see it as an ‘empty shell’ in which the mind resides. Basically it is our physical structure, made up of bones, flesh and internal organs that help us get along with our day to day activities.
If you look around you will notice that people own different “bodies”. Different shapes, different sizes, different colours… each one of us is unique. But the essential makeup of each body is the same. Each of us came into existence in the same way too.
Each of us start off as a single cell, which joins with another single cell, and then starts dividing into a cluster of cells. Slowly body systems and the various internal organs are formed. We then live and grow off nutrition from our mother, and we are born into this world after living around forty weeks inside the mother’s womb. This ‘intra-uterine’ period is when we grow the fastest.
Then againas children we are continuously growing, some faster than the others, to reach our ‘genetically determined growth potential’- basically if our parents are tall, we end up tall too!
When we reach our teenage years, our bodies start changing. We begin the process of leaving childhood behind and becoming an adult. We attain puberty , and develop secondary sexual characteristics. This is also a rapid period of growth, where we reach our maximum height.
This is the stage you are at right now.
The period of growth ends after puberty is reached. After that, we only ‘maintain’ what we have. So it is before this that we should ensure that we get all the nutrition and care we need to grow.
What of the mind then? Is it the same as the brain?
By definition, the Mind is ‘The element of a person that enables them to be aware of the world and their experiences, to think, and to feel; the faculty of consciousness and thought’. The Brain is ‘An organ of soft nervous tissue contained in the skull of vertebrates, functioning as the coordinating centre of sensation and intellectual and nervous activity’.
There is yet an ongoing debate, one which began centuries ago, about what the mind is, and where in the body it resides. Having not come to a definite conclusion yet, all we know is that we usually refer to the mind when we deal with our thoughts, memories and emotions. The brain is like the microprocessor of a computer, and controls all the functions of the body.
Our mind is a very dynamic thing and thought processes very complex. Much research has been done about how different people think and analyse things, and it has been found that thought processes vary according to your age too.
Adolescence- time for Change
First we’ll discuss the physical changes you, as an adolescent, have just experienced, or are about to experience in the near future.
What is puberty?
Puberty is the period during which adolescents reach sexual maturity and become capable of reproduction. So during this time, you will be leaving childhood behind, and becoming more like an adult. Your body will prepare you to bear children! Let us see what this means.
For Girls
Thelarche: Development of breasts (usually starts between 8.5 and 12.5 years)
Pubarche: Growth of pubic hair and rapid height spurt (starts soon after)
Menarche: The first menstrual period (Usually occurs around 2.5 years after thelarche; signals that you have only around 5cm in height left to gain)
You will also notice that you put on weight, and you get a more womanly ‘curvier’ figure.
About menstruation
Usually occurs in monthly ‘cycles’. Referred to commonly as your period or menses. There is a wide variation in what is ‘normal’.
- Cycle length- 21 to 45 days
- Duration of blood loss- 3-7days
- Average blood loss per cycle- <80ml ( using >6pads per day, or passage of blood clots may be abnormal)
Your first few cycles may not be regular, and there may be only a little bleeding. This is because your body is still adjusting to all the changes that are happening.
Some girls have entirely pain-free periods, others have a little cramping, and some have severe pain. So it’s all right to take some pain relieving medication if you need it.
There are several myths surrounding menstruation, especially with traditional beliefs in Sri Lanka.
You should remember that this is a normal phenomenon, and just signals that you are growing into an adult. It happened to your mother and your grandmother, and will happen to all your girl-friends. Your monthly period will continue until you reach your 50s, and it is part and parcel of being a woman. Know that you can bathe, participate in sports, and eat what you usually eat during this time of the month too.
For Boys
There will be growth of your genitalia, which include the 2 testes and the penis. This is clinically measured by the ‘testicular volume’- enlargement to >4ml is the first sign of puberty (around 10years of age)
- Pubic hair growth: occurs soon after testicular enlargement. (10- 14 years)
- Height spurt: Occurs after the testicular volume is 12-15ml, roughly 18 months after the onset of puberty.
- You will also become stronger, and start developing a more ‘muscular’ build. Your voice will start changing, which may seem awkward at first, but you will end up with a deeper, more mature voice. There will be a small protrusion over your throat- the ‘Adam’s apple’; this is because your larynx (voice box) is growing.
- You will also get facial hair- a beard, moustache and sideburns.
- You may get erections (your penis gets enlarged and rigid)- when you are nervous, excited or sexually attracted to someone; this is normal and usually gets back to normal after a short time.You also may have ‘nocturnal emissions’- when you ejaculate (pass sperm) while you are asleep. This too is normal.
For both sexes
Development of acne (pimples), axillary hair (hair in your armpits) and body odour (you may become rather smelly!)
These changes are all caused by ‘hormones’ which are secreted by your body. In females this is mostly oestrogen, while testosterone causes much of the changes in males. These hormones are also responsible for the sudden shoot up in height that you will experience; but they also give the signal for growth to stop. In boys, this height-spurt starts later but happens at a higher speed. This is why girls are taller in grade 5 or 6 in a mixed school, but the boys catch up and shoot past soon after!
The changes that occur during puberty are represented in the form of a diagram in Tanner Stages
Meanwhile, what’s happening with your mind?
As an adolescent you are developing what is called ‘abstract thinking’. This means that you are making observations, forming theories and testing if they are right. You are thinking of concepts, and making logical conclusions based on what you observe. You understand that everything is not ‘black or white’; and your ideas are flexible.
You are going through a period of physical change which maybe unsettling. At the same time there maybe other changes in your life- moving to a new school, trying to do better with studies or sports, competing with peers etc. It is at this time that you are searching for your identity; you are also looking for the meaning of life. So naturally you may feel more emotions than usual. Remember those hormones we discussed earlier? Well they are partly responsible for the emotions and mood swings that you encounter on a daily basis.
Around this time you may feel an attraction to the opposite sex. You will also want to be noticed. There will be many new things introduced to you by your friends too. This is the time when you feel that your parents and adults are ‘not cool’ and ‘don’t understand’; you prefer to take the advice of your friends. You should remember though that everything that your peers tell you is not true, and it is much better to trust the experience of your parents and adults.
This is what is ‘normal’ for you as an adolescent. Your mind and body are both preparing you to face the many challenges ahead, as a responsible adult. Understand these changes and what they mean to you; it will help you meet each new day with confidence.