I read an article a few days ago about the possibility that exercise might be the key for people to veer away from substance abuse. The article made mention of a study which found that youngsters and teens who reported to exercise everyday were half less likely to engage in illegal substance abuse activities such as smoking pot and the likes than the youngsters and teens with sedentary lifestyles do.

If this is true, then we’re on to a great solution to one of the biggest problems concerning drugs.

We all know that in spite of the hazards of substance abuse, a huge number of teens, youngsters, and even the adults, abuse certain illegal substances. This is the cause of violence, crimes, early pregnancies and the likes. In short, there are immeasurable negative effects of substance abuse to the society. The challenge now is to find an alternative that would put an end to this phenomena. If exercise id the key, so be it. But the greater challenge here, I think, is to have the teens and the youngsters do rigorous exercise.

Evidently, more and more young people are opting to lead sedentary lifestyles. They simply don’t enjoy engaging in physical activities as much as the others who belong in the older generation used to. Why is this so? I don’t know, either. Further surveys can be done to look into the reasons behind this. The New Age may be a contributing factor, if you ask me. But what’s important now is to ake people realize the importance of being physically active, and to make them start stretching their bones as soon as possible.

It goes without saying that teens lead very stressful lives. Juggling between family, friends, studies, and the need to belong in social groups are among the many preoccupations of teenagers. Because parents and authoritative persons on the lives of the teens are putting strains on them, some teens tend to turn to substances that somewhat eases their stress and relaxes them. For the teens, one of the most common substances that can do just that are cigarettes.

Cigarettes are bad for our health—that is an understatement. We are taught about the health hazards of nicotine as early as fourth grade, I think. Cigarette smokers have less ability to carry oxygen to the rest of the body and this is why smokers have less endurance when running. Moreover, cigarette smoking causes wrinkles and early aging of cells. Yet, in spite of this awareness, teens still opt to give in to the urge of puffing cigarettes. Why?

Most people may not know this, but nicotine’s effect on the brain is to stimulate feelings of pleasure. This fleeting moments of pleasure brought about by the presence of nicotine in the brain of a person who smokes is the reason behind smokers’ claim that cigarettes relieves them of stress.  So the next time a friend of yours would offer you a puff of cigarette, know that it will indeed relieve you of stress.  But then again, remember that the relief that smoking can bring to your body is only momentary; while the consequences of smoking, if you get hooked on cigarettes, are graver than you think.

Teens favor partying and hanging out with their teens so much; it’s second nature for them to go out and enjoy themselves. There’s nothing wrong with this, not even when they use alcohol. In fact, I know of some parents who allow their teens to drink during family affairs, reunions, and the likes. The idea? Well, at least their teens would know their tolerance level with regards to alcohol consumption. At the very least, when their teen would go out to party with friends, he or she would know just how much alcohol to consume to avoid drunkenness.

However, some teens cannot control their cravings for alcohol, not to mention for other illicit substances. Thus, they begin to develop dependency towards these substances, to the extent of giving higher priority to these substances than to other activities that they should be getting involved in, such as school activities, sports, recreation, and the likes.

Alcohol is only one among several types of psychoactive substances that may cause a person to have problems with substance abuse. Other substances include narcotics, sedatives, stimulants, hallucinogens, cannabis, inhalants, and rave or techno drugs. Dependence on these substances may lead to addiction; consequently, addiction to these substances may lead to varying effects: from slurred speech, manipulative behavior, and insomnia to more serious and irreversible damages, such as coma, convulsions, psychosis, seizures, cardiac arrest, retardation, and paranoia.

In exchange for a few hours of bonding with friends while sharing drugs and booze are life-threatening effects. Is it worth it?