Health News.

When does adolescence end? There are fairly clear-cut signs that mark the beginnings of the process. There is more to adolescence than just physical maturation. Defining the end can lead to philosophical discussions of “maturity.” Doesn’t everyone know a 45- or 65-year-old “adolescent?” There is more to assigning an end point than just considering a numerical age.
One way of thinking about the adolescent period is to assign to it four tasks. From this point of view, once the tasks have been reasonably accomplished, the person is launched into adulthood. These tasks are not tackled in any neat order or sequence. It is not like the consistent pattern of physical development. They are more like four interwoven themes, the dominant issues of adolescence.
One task of adolescence is acceptance of the biological role. This means acquiring some degree of comfort with your identity as either male or female. It is an intellectual- effort that has nothing to do with sexuality or experimentation with sexuality.
A second task is the struggle to become comfortable with heterosexuality. This does not mean struggling with the question of “how to make out at the drive-in!” It is the much more important question: “How do you get along with the opposite sex at all, ever?” Prior to adolescence, boys and girls are far more casual with one another. With adolescence, those days are over. Simply to walk by a member of the opposite sex and say “Hi” without blushing, giggling, or throwing up can be a problem. To become a heterosexual person—able to carry on all manner of social and eventually sexual activities with a member of the opposite sex—does not come easily. It is fraught with insecurity and considerable self-consciousness. If you force yourself to remember your own adolescence, some memories of awkwardness and uncertainty come to the fore. Thus, there is the adolescent who does not ask for a date because of the anticipated no. Being dateless is much more tolerable than hearing a no.
Another task is the choice of an occupational identity. It becomes important to find an answer to “What am I going to do (be)?” There are usually several false starts to this one. Think of the 5-year-old who wants to be a fireman. He probably never will be, but he gets a lot of mileage for awhile just thinking he is. It is not so different for adolescents. It is not helpful to pooh-pooh the first ideas they come up with. Nor is handing over an inheritance and saying “Go ahead” recommended. They need some time to work it out in their heads. A fair amount of indecision, plus some real lulu ideas are to be expected.
The fourth task is the struggle toward independence. This is a real conflict. There is the internal push to break away from home and parents, and, at the same time, the desire to remain comfortably cared for. The conflict shows up in rebellion, because there are not many ways to feel independent when living at home, being fed, checked on, prodded, and examined by parents. Rebellion of some type is so common to this period of life that an adolescent who does not rebel in some fashion should be suspect.
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‘Joan, darling, I am going to see you soon’: the husband was repeating this whilst asleep. Next morning his wife Pat was very angry as she had overheard this other woman’s name; a big scene followed. The husband could not think of anyone he knew called Joan, and explained that it must have been Joan Collins, as she was to be on television that night.

In fact, this is extremely rare. People who sleep-talk do not confess any secrets that they would not say whilst awake. The accuracy of these messages in sleep-talking are always in doubt. Sleep-talking can happen during both REM and NREM sleep. Some experts report that talk during REM sleep is often charged with emotion, relating to the contents of the dreams taking place. In contrast, talk during NREM sleep is deficient of any emotional content.

Normally sleep-talking consists of simple phrases or single words, such as ‘Yes, that is it’, ‘No, oh, no’, or ‘Well done’. Sleep-talking is more common in children and is normally quite harmless. There is no need for any treatment.

Before the days of sleep laboratories, it was believed that sleepwalking, night tenor, and children’s bed-wetting happened during dreaming. Nowadays, with the help of the sleep laboratories, we know mat these related phenomena occur in the deep sleep stages of NREM sleep, and are not features of dreams at all.

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During the process of evolution we have developed ways of coping with difficulties. If we feel ill we go to bed. We do this as if by instinct. The rest and warmth give our body the best chance of dealing with the trouble. If we are tense, we rest and relax and soon we begin to feel less tense. These very simple measures have evolved over countless generations. They are part of us. They are our biological heritage. And in general they are very effective. The difficulty is that with advancing civilization and sophistication we have to a large extent lost our natural heritage. We have forgotten how to relax. Watch a cat relax, or a dog, or better still a South Sea Islander, and then we realize just how much we have forgotten.

Aim for Relaxed Activity-Remember that being relaxed does not mean living like a vegetable. On the contrary, it means a greater capacity to work, to do things easily and quickly and with a minimum of effort. Relaxation is an important aspect in the training of

middle-distance and long-distance athletes, both runners and swimmers. While all the power of the body is being used, there is a feeling of relaxation of both body and mind, of rhythm, of ease of movement.

At different times I have seen a number of business executives who have complained of tension and irritability. When I have advised relaxing treatment, these men have often said that they do not want to be relaxed, or they would lose their punch, which, they said, was the key to their success as business executives. I explained to each that if he were relaxed and easy in his mind he would be able to carry out his executive duties even more effectively because his ability to be decisive would no longer be impeded by his inner tension. These men who tried the exercises now run their business empires without their former tension and irritability, without their ulcers, and with a good deal more graciousness to those around them.

The housewife can do her chores and still have energy left for other things; the student absorbs his studies more easily; the man at work tolerates his daily frustrations without fatigue and irritability.

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