Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 204 BOCNEWS.com JULY 2016 "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them." — Ecclesiastes 12:1 When you are a young person, ( perhaps from childhood into the forty age group), you do not think for the most part about getting sick, or even about going to see a doctor. You may even think of yourself as almost invincible as far as having a medi- cal condition is concerned. I can remember when I was a young person, I thought that the only time you had to see a doctor was if you had been injured in an accident or you just had to go because you were just too ill. There was no thought in my mind of going to a doctor when I was actually well as in getting a "check-up". I did not believe that the health conditions that older people had were any concern of mine as I was just not going to get sick! Even if people in my family got sick, I was not going to get what they had. We know now that unfortunately, illness and health conditions can affect anyone, even though we may not admit or we may ignore the fact that multiple health problems may be more apparent with age. I would just like to share information about some conditions that seem to be a growing problem among young people. High Blood Pressure: I am certain that just about every young person knows some older adult in their family who has high blood pressure. Hypertension is so common, that 1 out of three adults may have it. It is so common in fact, we may not pay attention to the fact that it is in fact a critical health issue. In addi- tion we may not be aware of the fact that high blood pressure is something you may not feel at all, even if you have seriously high readings. You can be young and athletic (so you think!) and have hypertension. You will not know you have it unless you have a reading done. I would encourage a person even in their teen years and with their parents consent to get checked. Blood pressure reading is painless and takes about a minute of your time. Remember, in the African American community, hypertension is more of an issue than for other communities. High blood pressure does its insidious work over years of time and then it may be a cause of heart attacks, strokes, kidney disease, blindness and blood vessel circula- tion issues. If you could visit an emergency room in an inner city community, you might be shocked at the young people who have serious health issues as noted due to hypertension. Anyone who has hypertension needs treatment. Habits such as eating too much salt, alcohol use, smoking, and insufficient exercise need to be dealt with. You will not know if you have hypertension without getting checked. Then if you have to take medications and change your lifestyle--Just do it! Far better to do that then suffer from the complications of uncontrolled high blood pres- sure. Type 2 diabetes: This type of diabetes accounts for 90-95% of diagnosed cases of diabetes. It is becoming all too common even worldwide. Young people are not immune to this disease! Just imagine over 29 million people in the US have diabetes and more than 8 million have it but are unaware that they have it. In adults 20 years of age or older, more than 1 in 10 suffers from diabetes You can't feel it just like you can't feel high blood pressure. You have to be in a trained medical setting, and have your blood tested to find out if you have it. You want to be diligent about doing this if it occurs in close family members. It can be controlled and prevented by a healthy diet, exercise, weight control, and moni- toring as needed. There are just too many serious complications such as heart attack, stroke, kidney diseases, limb amputation, and blindness, to take a chance on not knowing. Obesity: This just means carrying too much weight for your height. You can just look in a mirror to get a clue that there is a problem. It is a problem that is also becoming a worldwide health issue, and really does impact children as well as adults. It is not get- ting better and as time moves on it becomes more of a health issue. Obesity starting in childhood can lead to life- long health problems such as diabetes, hypertension, strokes, heart attack, and joint issues (with pain and disability). Our diets and our lack of exercise have a major role to play in obesity. Notice how the three conditions we have mentioned already are linked together, and the consequences of all three are similar. There is a complex interplay here. All of these con- ditions can by prevented and controlled by lifestyle and by just consulting a medical care provider. Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD's): This may be something we might not want to talk about, and it might seem like a forbidden topic. It is a topic we can't ignore. It might even impact a church attending person given the right circumstances. One can not assume "it can't happen to me", because it can. Moreover it is a medical condition you can have at least at first with- out any symptoms. It is even possible to have more than one STD at the same time. Young people 15-24 years of age get nearly half of all new STD's. Two of the most common STD's are called chlamydia and gonorrhea. Unprotected sex with multiple partners or with only one person is all it takes. Don't forget there are other STD's and the most ominous one is HIV infection. One potentially dangerous behavior is to ignore symptoms you can't explain and let things go on without seeking medical attention. We all know the risk and the potential sources, and it only takes one wrong contact. We will not be any more explicit than that. Young people, we all need to have a doctor even of you feel perfectly well and even if you see your pro- vider only annually. There are so many other topics we can discuss but we do not have space to do this, and some topics require discretion. Consider your own health history, your habits, your personal con- tacts and your family history (with serious illnesses being present in your family particularly at a young age.) The best advice I can give is to take care of your body and your health as if they are a gift from God. If you do this you will live longer and better. GrowingHealthProblemsforYoungPeople Dr. Conner By Byron E. Conner, M.D. HEALTH You will not know you have it unless you have a reading done. I would encourage a person even in their teen years and with their parents consent to get checked. 1. WILLIAM MURPHY - DEMONSTRATE 2. SHIRLEY CAESAR - FILL THIS HOUSE 3. DOUG WILLIAMS - CROSS OVER 4. MYRON BUTLER - ON PURPOSE 5. DEON KIPPING - SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT 6. CHICAGO MASS - WE GIVE YOU PRAISE 7. PASTOR TIM ROGERS - CHURCHIN 8. MICAH STAMPLEY - TOT HE KING VERTICAL WORSHIP 9. DA TRUTH - IT'S COMPLICATED 10 CANON - V2