Teen Health Issues

Teens get confused at their growth sometimes seeing girls of the same age taller than them while in adults, girls are mostly found shorter than their respective male partners. This is because girls start growing more by the time they attain puberty. Changes on their body start by this time.While boys do not attain such growth until they are more than 14, which is between 9-14 in females. But still few may be seen taller because of their genes running in them. If either or both of your parents are tall, you are most likely to become tall but if they are short, you may become short. There is no definite rule to it.
Do not run behind any exercises or magic pills that can make you tall. Be active and eat nutritious food with few recommended exercises are enough to make you healthy.

Getting muscles developed is one of the most common worry in teen boys today. It occur after they see all the sci-fi movies, action thrillers and also watching few dudes near them who have well grown muscles. Most get worried about how to look like their friends. Some boys may also start developing chest chest muscles, called the pectoralis muscles or in short ‘pecs’. Few may have developed broader shoulders, called the deltoids or in short ‘delts’. But most stay slimmer and smaller. This is because of the occurrence of puberty which takes its own time to start. You can go for exercises and weight-lifting for muscle toning but building muscles requires the onset of puberty. Do not over staring your body and muscles.

You might like watching a girl in your neighbourhood or school, feel butterflies in the stomach, your palm sweats, and almost feel really hot and happening once she comes closer or say a ‘hi’ to you. You might keep thinking about her all the time, during studies and going to bed. And to this you end up feeling ’she is my crush’.
Sometimes it also so happens that your friend keeps talking about some girl whom he feels very pretty and keep talking about her all the time. This may leave you thinking ‘why am i not able to think in this way’.
Some guys prefer talking to girls more comfortable while few other get really nervous even talking about them.
All these above situations end up with only one solution ‘ the hormones’. Your hormones start getting more active or may take some more time to get active. Again the reason comes to ‘puberty’. So no need to get worried about any such confusions.

Its only during puberty that your body hair starts growing. Guys start noticing body hairs growing around their chin, cheeks and above lips. Hairs also grows on the armpits and chest and also down in the pubic region. But there is nothing to get panicked. Its just an indication from you body saying you are approaching towards manhood. You start growing hairs at places which need to be changed in the near future. Its the action of your hormones again. Some hair growths are a result of the adrenal glands while other hormones are from the pituitary gland. This gland is located at the bottom of the Brain and the hormones secreted by it travels through the blood stream. This is how the testicles grow bigger and start releasing testosterone. Testosterone is another hormone that helps in sprouting hair in the pubic area, face and underarms.

Most people know about sweat which is also called perspiration. The perspiration occurs when the sweat comes out through tiny pores in the skin when our body gets hot. This sweat sometimes creates body odor which can be little smelly. During puberty, your body can get more sweaty. Sweat is made of water with traces of chemicals (like ammonia, urea, salts and sugar). Sweat is mostly non smelly but when it comes in contact with the bacteria, it becomes smelly. You can prevent this by taking regular bath and using deodorant under your arms.

When your penis is filled with blood, it hardens. This makes your penis become bigger and stand out from your body. Boys tend to experience more erections when they reach puberty. But this is absolutely fine, nothing to worry about. You can get many in a day and none at all. You can feel it at any time. It’s basically the reason of your age, level of activities, sexual maturity and sleep patterns. You may have erections while sleeping and wake up and find your underwear wet or bed is wet. It is called a “wet dream” or a nocturnal emission. It happens when your body discharges semen from the penis while you are asleep. This is called ejaculation. This is something which all boys experience at this age. But if any pain or problem occurs with your penis, you must consult a doctor.

Boys enter the age of puberty at the age of 11. Enlargement of testicles is the first noticeable sign of puberty in boys. This is followed by thinning and reddening of the scrotum.

Puberty in boys involves changes in the muscular built, reproductive system, changes affecting the skeletal system and nearly the overall bodily systems. The major changes are -

• Voice change - The voice box gets enlarged and the vocal cords grow. This is when the voice appears ‘cracked’. This is a normal phenomenon seen in all boys during their growth process. The voice changes eventually into a more permanent and deeper “adult male” tone.
• Involuntary Erections And Wet Dreams - During puberty, boys get spontaneous erections without any reason. This can appear very embarrassing at times, but these unexpected erections are normal. You may also get ejaculations while sleeping at night.
• Breast Enlargement – Swelling of breasts is also another sign of attaining puberty. You may feel a bump under one or both of your nipples. The breasts may be painful and tender to be touched. But this swelling will get disappeared in few months but may take a longer time. Do not panic anyways, you will not get true breasts.
• Skin – Your skin may get oily and start sweating more. Oily skin is a result of the growing oil glands and sweat glands which are also growing release sweat.
• Body Size - Significant body growth occurs in about 2 years following the beginning of puberty. Your arms, hands, legs and feet grow faster in comparison to the rest of your body.