Jim Liebelt's Youth Culture Watch

What's Hot? 06/29/18

Trending Today on Twitter - 6/29/18
1. #FridayFeeling
2. #ExcuseForBeingLateIn4Words
3. #FlashbackFriday
4. World Trade Organization
5. #OddWaysToInsult
6. Michael Moore
7. Zimmerman
8. Marco Rubio
9. Excessive Heat Warning
10. Deutsche Bank
Source: Twitter

Trending Today on Google - 6/29/18
1. NES Classic
2. Alabama Power
3. Robert Rackstraw
4. Capital Gazette
5. Drake Scorpion
6. England vs Belgium
7. Toys R Us
8. College World Series
9. Uncle Drew
10. Senegal
Source: Google

iTunes Top 10 Singles - 6/29/18
1. Girls Like You (feat. Cardi B) - Maroon 5
2. Karma - Queen Naija
3. I Like It - Cardi B, Bad Bunny & J Balvin
4. SAD! - XXXTENTACION
5. Nonstop - Drake
6. Don't Matter To Me (feat. Michael Jackson) - Drake
7. Simple - Florida Georgia Line
8. Tequila - Dan + Shay
9. no tears left to cry - Ariana Grande
10. Whatever It Takes - Imagine Dragons
Source: iTunes

Top 10 TV (Broadcast) Shows - Week Ending 6/25/18
1. America's Got Talent
2. 60 Minutes
3. Celebrity Family Feud
4. World of Dance
5. NCIS
6. The Big Bang Theory
7. The Bachelorette
8. Young Sheldon
9. Code Black
10. Instinct
Source: Nielsen Co.

Trending Today on YouTube - Today - 6/29/18
1. XXXTENTACION - SAD!
2. Wrecking Ball Origin Story
3. Joel Embiid Trusts the Process While Eating Spicy Wings
4. South Korean fans mobbed by Mexicans after Germany's World Cup exit
5. Ya Burnt: Sunburns, the Pride Parade
Source: YouTube

Top 5 Movies - Last Weekend
1. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
2. Incredibles 2
3. Ocean's 8
4. Tag
5. Deadpool 2
Source: Rotten Tomatoes

Nearly All Adolescents Have Eating, Activity, or Weight-related Issues

*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on MedicalXpress.

A new study from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health found that nearly all young people have struggles with eating, activity and weight as they move from adolescence to adulthood.

"Only two percent of females and just seven percent of males surveyed never had an eating, activity or weight-related problem," said lead author and Professor Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, Ph.D., M.P.H. "This means that practically everyone is affected at some point by one of these concerning issues that are harmful to their health and that could also affect the health of their future families."

The study was recently published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Neumark-Sztainer made the significant finding after reviewing data from 1,455 participants in her long-running Project EAT (Eating and Activity in Teens and Young Adults), the largest and most comprehensive longitudinal body of research examining predictors of eating- and weight-related problems in young people. The data came from four surveys that participants filled out every five years beginning in 1998 that inquired about their health, including the topics of this particular study: diet, physical activity, weight control habits, body satisfaction and weight status.

Key findings included:

• 78 percent of females in the first survey had at least one eating, activity or weight-related problem and 82 percent had similar markers in the fourth survey given 15 years later.
• 60 percent of males had at least one problem in the first survey, which grew to 69 percent in the fourth survey.
• The most prevalent issue for both genders was unhealthy weight-control behaviors.
• Two-thirds of girls and one-third of boys always had one of these problems during their development to adulthood.
• A significant proportion of young people had three or more problems at one time.

"In general, we did not see a decrease in problems over time," said Neumark-Sztainer. "People often think some of these problems are part of being an adolescent, but we see that they persist into later life."

The study shows that helping young people develop healthy eating, activity, and body-satisfaction levels, and heal from whatever problems exist in these areas, requires comprehensive interventions that begin before kids enter adolescence and should continue through young adulthood.

Source: MedicalXpress
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-06-adolescents-weight-related-issues.html

Heavy Teens Are Less Likely Now to Try and Lose Weight

*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on HealthDay.

The obesity epidemic among American teens is being fed by a waning desire to lose weight, a new report suggests.

Among many adolescents, being overweight or obese may increasingly seem "normal," so they don't feel the urgency to shed pounds, some researchers believe.

"The findings are very worrisome, since adolescence is the best life stage for change, but we are missing the opportunities of preventing overweight from becoming obesity," said study senior researcher Dr. Jian Zhang. He's an associate professor of epidemiology at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 20 percent of American teens are obese and many more are overweight.

Using data from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1988 to 2014, Zhang's team found that the prevalence of obesity and overweight increased from 22 percent in 1988-1994 to 34 percent in 2009-2014.

During the same period, the percentage of teens who had tried to lose weight dropped from nearly 34 percent to 27 percent.

Among overweight teens, the percentage of those trying to lose weight declined from 36 percent in 1988-1994 to 23 percent in 2009-2014.

Among obese boys, the attempt to lose weight fell from 68 percent in 1988-1994 to 42 percent in 1999-2004, then increased to 61 percent by 2009-2014, the researchers found.

Among obese girls, the desire to lose weight dropped from 70 percent in 1988-1994 to 64 percent in 1999-2004, and had dropped to 59 percent by 2009-2014, the findings showed.

In the long term, obese teens are more likely to be obese adults, and obese adults will have a higher risk of developing heart disease, type 2 diabetes and many types of cancer, according to the CDC.

Zhang is particularly concerned that pediatricians aren't taking the lead in encouraging overweight kids to lose weight.

By avoiding discussing the weight problem, teens aren't aware of weight as a health issue and aren't motivated to do anything to correct it, Zhang added.

Dr. David Katz directs the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center in Derby, Conn. He said society seems to have normalized obesity and abandoned the drive to lose weight.

The report was published online June 25 in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/kids-health-information-23/adolescents-and-teen-health-news-719/heavy-teens-are-less-likely-now-to-try-and-lose-weight-735161.html

Girls, Young Women Fall Short on Exercise

*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on HealthDay.

Many teens and young adults in the United States -- particularly women and girls -- are physically inactive, a new study reveals.

This is a concern, experts say, because exercise is a component of lifelong good health.

Girls, black people and kids from poorer families are least likely to meet exercise guidelines, according to the report on teens and young adults aged 12 to 29.

"We really need to find ways to keep adolescents physically active and be able to sustain that physical activity into young adulthood," said lead researcher Dr. Sarah Armstrong.

Exercise is essential for preventing cardiovascular disease and diabetes in adulthood, said Armstrong, an associate professor of pediatrics at Duke University in Durham, N.C.

Armstrong added that attempts to boost physical activity should target young girls and women, especially minorities, and girls and young women living in poverty.

Physical activity is "powerful, inexpensive, vitalizing medicine for us all," said Dr. David Katz, director of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center in Derby, Conn.

"This paper indicates we have much work to do to get that medicine to go down more often, and more equitably," added Katz, who wasn't involved in the study.

For the study, Armstrong and her colleagues analyzed responses of nearly 9,500 teens and young adults who took part in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2007 through 2016.

The participants were asked about their exercise habits. Vigorous exercise involved activities like running or playing basketball continuously for 10 minutes or more. Moderate activity was 10 minutes or more of activities such as brisk walking, bicycling, swimming or volleyball.

Overall, females were less active than males. At the high end, almost 90 percent of white teen boys said they got some physical activity. At the low end, just 45 percent of black women in their late 20s reported any exercise.

For teens, recent guidelines recommend at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity a day. Adults should get 150 minutes a week of moderate physical activity or 75 minutes a week of vigorous physical activity, or a mix of the two, Armstrong said.

The report was published online June 11 in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/fitness-information-14/misc-health-news-265/girls-young-women-fall-short-on-exercise-study-734752.html

What's Hot? 06/22/18

Trending Today on Twitter - 6/22/18
1. #TakeYourDogToWorkDay
2. #BRACRC
3. #MyLeastFavoritePhrases
4. #FridayMotivation
5. Keylor Navas
6. #5SOSTODAY
7. Red Wave
8. Engler
9. Vamos Ticos
10. Idaho or Texas
Source: Twitter

Trending Today on Google - 6/22/18
1. Roseanne
2. George Clooney
3. Brazil
4. NBA Draft
5. Octavia E. Butler
6. Melania Trump
7. Charles Krauthammer
8. LiAngelo Ball
9. Dedrick D Williams
10. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Source: Google

iTunes Top 10 Singles - 6/22/18
1. Sober - Demi Lavato
2. Girls Like You (feat. Cardi B) - Maroon 5
3. SAD! - XXXTENTACION
4. I Like It - Cardi B, Bad Bunny & J Balvin
5. APESH*T - THE CARTERS
6. the light is coming (feat. Nicki Minaj) - Ariana Grande
7. Born to Be Yours - Kygo & Imagine Dragons
8. Whatever It Takes - Imagine Dragons
9. Psycho (feat. Ty Dolla $ign) - Post Malone
10. changes - XXXTENTACION
Source: iTunes

Top 10 TV (Broadcast) Shows - Week Ending 6/17/18
1. America's Got Talent
2. 60 Minutes
3. Code Black
4. The Big Bang Theory
5. World of Dance
6. Celebrity Family Feud
7. NCIS
8. Young Sheldon
9. Little Big Shots
10. The Bachelorette
Source: Nielsen Co.

Trending Today on YouTube - Today - 6/22/18
1. Argentina v Croatia - 2018 FIFA World Cup
2. Demi Lovato - Sober
3. Ariana Grande - the light is coming ft. Nicki Minaj
4. Pete Davidson Confirms His Engagement to Ariana Grande
5. Sam Smith - Baby, You Make Me Crazy
Source: YouTube

Top 5 Movies - Last Weekend
1. Incredibles 2
2. Ocean's 8
3. Tag
4. Solo: A Star Wars Story
5. Deadpool 2
Source: Rotten Tomatoes

Sex, Drugs Hold Less Allure for Today's High Schoolers

*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on HealthDay.

Today's teens are a much tamer lot, a new U.S. government survey finds.

Fewer high school students are turning to sex or drugs, with the 2017 rates the lowest reported since the survey began in 1991, said researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"The health of our youth reflects the nation's well-being," CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield said in an agency news release. "In the past decade, there have been substantial improvements in the behaviors that put students most at risk for HIV and sexually transmitted diseases."

Between 2007 and 2017, the percentage of high school students who said they had ever had sex fell from 48 percent to 39.5 percent, and the percentage who said they'd had four or more sexual partners decreased from 15 percent to just under 10 percent.

But the news is not all good. Many teens are still at risk for HIV and sexually transmitted diseases, are victims of violence, or feel sad and hopeless, the survey showed. And condom use declined from 62 percent to slightly less than 54 percent.

"Teenagers seem to be waiting longer to have sex and are having fewer partners, on average, but are not using condoms to prevent pregnancy or [STDs]," said Dr. Michael Grosso, chair of pediatrics at Northwell Health's Huntington Hospital in Huntington, N.Y.

Redfield noted that there is still a long way to go with American teens.

"We can't yet declare success when so many young people are getting HIV and STDs, and experiencing disturbingly high rates of substance use, violence and suicide," Redfield said.

Still, the percentage of high school students who said they had ever used illicit drugs (cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines, inhalants, hallucinogens or ecstasy) fell from 23 percent in 2007 to 14 percent in 2017.

But in a sign that the opioid epidemic has a strong hold on U.S. children, a full 14 percent of teens said they had misused prescription opioid painkillers in 2017, the first year such data was collected.

While teens may be practicing less risky behaviors, their mental health is less promising, the survey showed.

The rate of high school students who felt sad or hopeless rose from 29 percent in 2007 to 32 percent in 2017, according to the findings published in the June 15 issue of the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/kids-health-information-23/adolescents-and-teen-health-news-719/sex-drugs-hold-less-allure-for-today-s-high-schoolers-734877.html

Today's Sleepy Teens May Be Tomorrow's Heart Patients

*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on HealthDay.

Most kids don't get enough sleep, and that may put them on a path to future heart trouble, a new study finds.

Young teens who slept less than seven hours a night tended to have more body fat, elevated blood pressure and less healthy cholesterol levels -- all bad for the heart, researchers say.

Heart disease remains a leading killer, said lead researcher Elizabeth Cespedes Feliciano. She's a staff scientist with the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research in Oakland, Calif.

"We really want our youth to be on a healthy trajectory," Feliciano said, "and it's a little alarming you would see adverse cardiometabolic profiles emerging even at an age as young as 13."

But it seems that very few kids are getting the kind of nightly slumber that would protect their future heart health.

Average sleep duration for kids in the study was only a little over seven hours per day, researchers found.

In fact, only 2.2 percent of the kids met or exceeded the average recommended sleep duration for their age group -- nine hours per day for kids 11 to 13 and eight hours per day for teens 14 to 17.

Further, nearly a third of kids slept less than seven hours.

"I was really struck by how little these adolescents are sleeping," said Dr. Andrew Varga, a sleep medicine specialist with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. "It's not totally surprising, given what I know about kids and their habits, but you would think there would be some drive for these kids to sleep more because they have a high sleep need."

Prior studies have shown that inadequate sleep boosts the odds for obesity. But Feliciano's team wanted to see whether a lack of sleep also affects other heart disease factors for kids.

So, they turned to 829 teenagers participating in Project Viva, a long-term study that recruited pregnant moms and has tracked them and their children for nearly 14 years.

At an average age of 13, the kids were asked to put on a wrist-worn movement sensor at bedtime that would track both their duration of sleep and whether they had restless sleep, Feliciano said.

The kids wore the sensors of seven to 10 days. They also underwent a series of screenings for heart health risk factors.

Teens with shorter sleep duration and more restless sleep wound up having the least healthy profiles. They had wider waist circumference, increased body fat, higher blood pressure, and lower levels of "good" HDL cholesterol.

Although cause-and-effect couldn't be shown in this stuidy, Feliciano believes the lack of good sleep did help trigger these risk factors, given prior research.

The study was published June 15 in the journal Pediatrics.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/sleep-disorder-information-33/misc-sleep-problems-news-626/today-s-sleepy-teens-may-be-tomorrow-s-heart-patients-734917.html

U.S. Obesity Rates Rising Again

*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on HealthDay.

After briefly leveling off, the U.S. obesity rate may be climbing again, according to a preliminary study.

The rate had been rising for decades until it appeared to plateau in recent years. But, in the new study, researchers found that the trend may have been short-lived.

And if nothing changes, they estimate that half of all U.S. teenagers will be overweight or obese by 2030 -- as will one-third of kids between 6 and 11 years old.

Among U.S. men, for example, the rising rates of overweight and obesity seen since 1999 leveled off between 2009 and 2012. But they took off again in 2015-2016, when 75 percent of men were overweight or obese.

It's not clear that the numbers represent a true reversal, according to the researchers, led by Dr. Youfa Wang, a professor at Ball State University, in Muncie, Ind.

The findings are based on a relatively small number of Americans, Wang said. Plus, he noted, the patterns would have to be followed over a longer period to know whether they are lasting trends or short-term spikes.

But it seems clear the national obesity problem is not going away, according to the researchers.

"It is unlikely that obesity and related health problems in the U.S. will become less serious in the future," Wang said. "We need to continue and enhance our efforts in fighting the obesity epidemic."

For the study, Wang's team analyzed data from two ongoing federal health surveys. The investigators found that, not surprisingly, the overall prevalence of obesity rose between 1999 and 2016. But the patterns differed depending on sex, race and other factors.

Among women, the obesity rate climbed without interruption -- reaching 41.5 percent by 2016. At that point, 69 percent of U.S. women were either overweight or obese.

Among men, there was a plateau between 2009 and 2012 -- when one-third were obese, and just under 72 percent were at least overweight. The increase resumed by 2015-2016, however: 38 percent of men were obese at that point.

The patterns among kids differed by sex, too, the study found. Since around 2011, the obesity rate among boys has risen steadily -- reaching almost 21 percent by 2016. More than 7 percent of boys were severely obese.

On the other hand, the obesity rate among girls held steady, at just over 18 percent, according to Wang.

The researchers project that by 2030, about half of U.S. teenagers will be overweight or obese.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/vitamins-and-nutrition-information-27/obesity-health-news-505/u-s-obesity-rates-rising-again-734762.html

What's Hot? 06/15/18

Trending Today on Twitter - 6/15/18
1. Uruguay
2. #FridayFeeling
3. Suarez
4. Chris Hardwick
5. #EidMubarak
6. #FlashbackFriday
7. #NationalFlipFlopDay
8. Cavani
9. #Egypt
10. Fox and Friends
Source: Twitter

Trending Today on Google - 6/15/18
1. Uruguay
2. Chris Hardwick
3. Christina Aguilera
4. US Open
5. Incredibles 2
6. Treasure Map in Pleasant Park
7. Egypt vs Uruguay
8. Eid Mubarak
9. Degrassi
10. Flag Day
Source: Google

iTunes Top 10 Singles - 6/15/18
1. Bed (feat. Ariana Grande) - Nicki Minaj
2. Girls Like You (feat. Cardi B) - Maroon 5
3. Dance to This (feat. Ariana Grande) - Troye Sivan
4. Psycho (feat. Ty Dolla $ign) - Post Malone
5. no tears left to cry - Ariana Grande
6. I Like It - Cardi B, Bad Bunny & J Balvin
7. Born to Be Yours - Kygo & Imagine Dragons
8. Whatever It Takes - Imagine Dragons
9. Simple - Florida Georgia Line
10. Rich Sex (feat. Lil Wayne) - Nicki Minaj
Source: iTunes

Top 10 TV (Broadcast) Shows - Week Ending 6/10/18
1. NBA Finals - Cavaliers/Warriors GM 3
2. NBA Finals - Cavaliers/Warriors GM 4
3. America's Got Talent
4. 60 Minutes
5. Celebrity Family Feud
6. Stanley Cup Finals - Capitals/Knights GM 5
7. The Big Bang Theory
8. Tony Awards
9. World of Dance
10. Young Sheldon
Source: Nielsen Co.

Trending Today on YouTube - Today - 6/15/18
1. Drake - I'm Upset
2. Natalie Portman Pirouettes in Pain While Eating Spicy Wings
3. 90' in 90" Russia vs. Saudi Arabia
4. Jerry Seinfeld & Cardi B: Between Two Ferns With Zach Galifianakis
5. Nintendo # E3 2018: Day 3
Source: YouTube

Top 5 Movies - Last Weekend
1. Ocean's 8
2. Solo: A Star Wars Story
3. Deadpool 2
4. Hereditary
5. Avengers: Infinity War
Source: Rotten Tomatoes

More Teens Than Ever Would Try Marijuana

*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on HealthDay.

One in four U.S. high school seniors would try marijuana or use it more often if it was legal, a new survey finds.

That rate -- the highest in the 43-year history of the Monitoring the Future survey -- likely reflects growing pot legalization in the United States, researchers said.

Broken down, about 15 percent of 12th graders said they would try marijuana if it was legal. And about 10 percent of current users said they would use it more often.

"These findings fly in the face of the Big Marijuana argument that somehow fewer young people will use marijuana if it is legalized," said Kevin Sabet, founder and president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana.

"These data are clear. As more states move to commercialize, legalize and normalize marijuana, more young people are going to use today's super-strength drug," he said in a news release from the organization.

The Monitoring the Future survey is funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan.

Currently, recreational marijuana is legal in eight states and the District of Columbia.

According to survey co-investigator Richard Miech and colleagues, "It is likely that the growing number of states that have legalized recreational marijuana use for adults plays a role in the increasing tolerance of marijuana use among 12th-grade students, who may interpret increasing legalization as a sign that marijuana use is safe and state-sanctioned."

The survey also revealed that prevalence of annual teen marijuana use rose by 1.3 percentage points, reaching almost 24 percent in 2017, based on combined responses from 8th, 10th and 12th graders.

The percentage of 12th graders who said they would not use marijuana even if it was legal was slightly less than 47 percent -- a lower proportion than ever before, the findings showed.

Over the last 10 years, the rate of 12th graders saying they would not use marijuana if legal to do so has declined 30 percent. At the same time, the proportion saying they would use more pot if legal has risen nearly 100 percent, the researchers reported.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/public-health-information-30/marijuana-news-759/more-teens-than-ever-would-try-marijuana-734587.html