How to Stay Healthy As a Teen

Adopting Healthy Habits

Get plenty of physical activity. Do cardio and strength training. Cardiovascular (or aerobic) exercise gets your heart pumping. These exercises usually involve the whole body. Strength training increases your muscle mass and helps you lose fat. In addition, try to integrate physical activity into your everyday schedule. Walk or ride your bike to school instead of driving, and take the stairs instead the elevator (unless you’re going up more than three flights). You can lift barbells, dumbbells, or kettlebells. The best strength training workout will set you on a circuit where you do 10 to 15 reps on a given machine before moving on to the next one. Swimming, running, or going for a bike ride are all great ways to keep your heart healthy. Teens should get at least one hour of exercise each day. Always warm up when you exercise. Warming up helps your muscles stretch and can reduce the likelihood that you’ll pull a muscle or strain yourself. You should especially warm up your legs, back, neck, and arms. Know your limits. Don’t exercise to the point where you’re in pain or about to collapse, and don’t obsess over your weight. If you find your exercising interferes with your school or social life, find more positive ways to integrate it into your schedule, like playing games with friends. Reader Poll: We asked 340 wikiHow readers, and 59% agreed that exercise and physical activity isn’t just great for bodily health—it’s also the most fulfilling way to practice self-care. [Take Poll]

Develop an exercise routine. Designate a few hours each day during which you can disengage from your computer and digital devices in order to go for a walk, run, bike ride, or do some other physical activity (as well as study and do homework). Unless you have your own weight set, you’ll probably need to hit the gym. If your school doesn’t have a gym, check for local gyms that allow teenage members. Don’t feel intimidated by going to the gym just because you aren’t strong or fit. Remember, people go to the gym to become strong and fit, not because they already are. Start out with a small weight limit of 10 – 20 pounds and perfect your technique before moving up to a larger weight limit. An improper technique or weights that are too heavy can lead to injury. Have a staff member or trainer show you how to use the machines before you start. They can also help you decide how much weight to start with. Add weight slowly in increments of 10 pounds or less. You’ll know when you’ve hit your lifting limit for a particular exercise or weightlifting machine when 15 reps produces significant strain. Ensure you always have a spotter to supervise your weightlifting exercise. Cut back on your screen time to make time in your schedule for exercise. Instead of playing a video game or watching a show, join an extracurricular sports team or engage in a physical activity. Alternately, exercise while watching a show or listening to a podcast. You could do this while lifting weights, running on a treadmill, or riding a stationary bike.

Try new activities. There is a whole world of exercise just waiting for you to discover it. The more kinds of exercises you do, the more flexible and healthy you’ll be, and the less likely you are to get injured. Dance, yoga, gymnastics, capoeira, and other martial arts can increase your flexibility. Have fun when exercising. If you hate swimming, try running. If you hate running, try karate. Exercise comes in many forms, so find one that suits you and stick with it. Mix your exercise routine up from time to time to keep it from getting stale. Get your friends involved. Exercising with a friend makes it more fun. Join a team, or just challenge your friends to a quick game of basketball or tag.

Get enough sleep. As a teenager, sleep is vital. With the changes going on in your body, and your early-morning school schedule, you might find yourself more and more tired as the school year goes on. Getting enough sleep contributes to both physical and mental health. If you don't get enough sleep you won't look good in the morning and you won't have the energy you need to do your best each day. Aim for at least nine hours of sleep each night. Set a sleep schedule. Set an alarm to wake up up and go to bed at the same time each day. Keep naps short. A quick 30-minute nap can help you feel more rested and relaxed for the rest of the day, but sleeping too long in the middle of the day can leave you feeling groggy when you wake up and make it difficult to fall asleep at night. Limit your caffeine intake, especially in the evening. Caffeine can keep you up far later than you want. Avoid coffee, energy drinks, and soda.

Maintain good dental hygiene. You should brush your teeth at least twice daily with a fluoride toothpaste. Brush with the bristles of your brush angled up on your upper teeth, and brush with the bristles angled down on your lower teeth. Additionally, you should floss once daily. If you don’t have time to do this in the morning, do it as part of your evening routine before bed. Drink lots of water. It helps wash out bits of food that might lodge in your teeth. As a busy teen, you might find it hard to brush your teeth regularly. Buy a toothbrush and toothpaste carrying kit so you can take them with you when you’re running late for school in the morning. See a dentist every six months for a dental cleaning and checkup.

Visit your doctor regularly. Your doctor can provide important insights into the state of your health. They can check for health problems and treat them before they become serious. You doctor will provide the needed vaccines during your teen years as well as when you are younger. Your doctor can also offer advice about healthy lifestyle choices specific to your medical history and situation. Contact your doctor if you have any medical concerns. For instance, you might ask your doctor: ”Am I at a healthy weight?” ”What should I do to protect my health?” ”How is my overall health?” ”Can you tell me why my body is growing and changing?”

Choosing A Healthy Lifestyle

Don’t drink or smoke. Teens often experiment with alcohol and cigarettes; however, don’t give in to peer pressure and use these harmful substances. Smoking can cause cancer and lung diseases. Alcohol is illegal for anyone under 21 and also has many harmful effects on your body and safety. If a friend asks you to smoke or drink, politely decline. If they try to pressure you into drinking or smoking, firmly say, “No thanks. I don’t want to harm my health. Please respect my decision.” Leave the area your friends are doing drugs in if necessary. Make sure you don't get in a car when the driver has been drinking or doing drugs. If your friends don’t respect your decision to remain alcohol- and tobacco-free, think about getting new friends.

Don’t use drugs. Drugs include any substance the Drug Enforcement Administration has deemed illegal. It also includes prescription or over-the-counter medications like painkillers and cough syrup that are abused. Drugs have many side effects, none of them good. Marijuana exposes you to cancer-causing agents and can damage your memory. It is especially harmful to teenagers, as their brains are still developing. Cocaine can lead to feelings of anger and anxiety, and can produce muscle spasms and convulsions. It can even lead to heart attacks and death. Heroin is highly addictive. Heroin addicts increase their risk of contracting HIV and AIDS because they often share needles. When a friend offers you drugs, think twice. Not only are drugs harmful to your health and well-being, but if you’re caught using drugs by the police, you could be facing criminal charges. Tell your friend firmly, “I do not want to harm myself or endanger my future by doing drugs. You shouldn’t either.”

Follow basic safety precautions. If you’re a teen, it might seem uncool to play it safe; however, accidents happen, and you’ll regret not utilizing common sense safety precautions if you’re in an accident. For instance, you should always buckle up when in a car and do not text or talk on the phone while driving. Follow the speed limit. This is for the health and safety of both you and other drivers. Wear a helmet when riding your bike. Always swim with a friend or at a location where a lifeguard is on duty.

Practice abstinence or safe sex. Sex is a healthy and normal activity that often begins in your teenage years. If you choose to have sex, it is important to avoid STDs and pregnancy. Always use a condom. Do keep in mind that abstinence is the only 100% effective way to avoid these things. Talk to your parents or a trusted adult if you have questions about sex. It’s okay to feel uncomfortable talking about sex, but you should do it anyways to ensure you’re getting reliable information. Initiate the conversation by texting or emailing your parents a link to some sexual information you read online and asking them if it is accurate. You might also talk to them about their own sexual histories by asking, “When did you start dating?” and leading to more private questions like, “When did you first have sex?” If you are a girl, talk to your doctor about getting a long-acting reversible contraceptive or a birth control prescription. Never have sex just because your boyfriend or girlfriend is pressuring you to. If you aren’t ready, be calm but firm in your refusal. Explain that you are not ready to have sex and insist that if they really love you, they will respect your decision. Remember, having sex means that you run the risk of pregnancy. The safest sex is no sex at all. Sex includes the risk of pregnancy and infection with a sexually transmitted disease.

Eating Right

Limit your sugar intake. Foods like pie, candy, and chocolate taste great, but they have few of the nutrients your body needs to stay healthy. Instead, a high sugar content leads to an accumulation of fat. Limiting your sugar intake doesn’t mean you can never eat cake or drink soda. It just means that these things should not be regular elements in your daily diet. Think of them as special treats. Other high-sugar foods you should avoid include popsicles, candy, chocolate bars, ice cream, sweetened fruit juices, cookies, and sweetened cereals. Even some foods that might seem healthy like canned fruit and dried fruit have high sugar content. Instead of eating high-sugar foods, try naturally sweet flavors like grapes, strawberries, peaches, pineapples, oranges, blackberries, blueberries, and mangos. Try artificial sweeteners like Stevia instead of sugar in drinks.

Avoid processed foods. Processed foods are high in salt and fat, which can lead to hypertension, heart disease, and obesity. Avoid fast food, potato chips, and cheese snacks. It’s okay to have these foods once in awhile, like when you’re busy all day; however, you should limit the amount of processed foods that you eat because of their serious negative health impacts over the long-term. If you’re unsure what foods are processed and which are unprocessed, look at the label. If there are lots of ingredients with long names that you can’t define (for instance, monosodium glutamate and butylated hydroxyanisole), you’re looking at a processed food. Alternately, avoid foods whose nutrition labels list fat content and sodium levels that are through the roof, especially when the serving size is relatively small. Processed foods that you should learn to avoid include potato chips, cheesy snacks, pre-packaged pastries, and gummy snacks. Ask your parents not to buy these snacks so that you don’t have to deal with the temptation of wanting to eat them. Encourage them to instead buy whole grains, fruits, and veggies. Carrots with hummus, radish slices and guacamole, and apples with a sprinkle of cinnamon make great snacks.

Eat a healthy diet. A healthy diet consists primarily of whole grains, vegetables, and fruits, with a small amount of lean protein and dairy products. You can get whole grains in whole grain bread, bagels, and pasta. Fresh vegetables like spinach, broccoli, tomatoes, and kale will keep you feeling energized. Fruit like apples, strawberries, and bananas will give you the nutrients you need to get through the day. Try to eat a variety of healthy foods each day. Swap them out from time to time so you don’t get bored with eating the same thing. If you aren’t used to eating a healthy diet, start small. For instance, instead of snacking on chips, try snacking on grapes or some crunchy carrots. Consider taking a daily multi-vitamin to ensure you get the nutrients you need. Eat a healthy breakfast. Studies show that people who eat breakfast tend to feel fuller throughout the day and eat a smaller lunch and dinner. Try granola, a bowl of tasty fruit, or some toast with jam. Avoid sugary foods like toaster treats and sweetened cereals.

Drink lots of water. Water keeps you hydrated, which is good for regulating body temperature, bodily functions, and mind. It also keeps your complexion healthy and helps you stay cool during the hotter months. For a hint of citrus flavor, squeeze a lemon into your water. Try to drink at least eight glasses of water each day. If you’re exercising a lot, drink a bit more to stay hydrated.

Eat healthy portions. Don’t starve yourself. The pressure on teens to look good is immense. Teens often try crash diets (diets that dramatically reduce daily caloric intake) in an effort to meet the expectations of their peers and society; however, these diets are not recommended and can even be dangerous. They can lead to imbalances in nutrition and leave you feeling sluggish. Crash diets can actually have an effect opposite to the one you want, since they push your body into “starvation mode” and make it temporarily impossible for you to lose weight. In addition to starvation diets, don’t engage in binging/purging (bulimia). If you suffer from an eating disorder or have body-image issues, talk to a licensed therapist or your school’s mental health counselor.

Ensuring Good Mental Health

Stay positive. Having a positive outlook is important for maintaining good mental health. Instead of worrying about what others think and about your future, focus on the here and now. Think about how much your friends and family love you, and about certain activities that you’re good at. Learn to celebrate your own success. Tell your friends and family when you’ve done something that you’re proud of, whether it’s winning first place in your science fair or getting an “A” on an essay. Contradict your negative thoughts. When you become aware of a negative thought or belief like, for instance, “I am not a good person,” think of counterexamples that prove you actually are a good person. For instance, you might think of a time you were very generous with your friends and bought them all ice cream, or a time you helped your neighbor paint their fence. Smile often.

Be confident in yourself. Being confident can help you take positive risks and maximize your potential. Don't bring yourself down. Instead, practice and perfect your skills and abilities. Whatever it is you like doing — art, music, sports — continue practicing until you feel that you’ve reached a level where you feel capable. Get into the habit of saying five things good about yourself every day. Start or end each day with a confidence-boosting mantra like “Today was a great day.” Live passionately. The teen years are often when you discover the causes, activities, and feelings that really motivate you. Identify things you’re good at and enjoy doing, and continue to do them.

Seek help if necessary. If you’re struggling with depression, eating disorders, bullying, or other issues either at school or at home, talk to someone. Be open and honest about whatever is troubling you with someone you trust. Your parents are often a good source of advice and help. However, if you don’t feel good about talking to your parents, you could turn to a school counselor or a licensed therapist. Your teen years are the best time to work through issues that might hold you back and discover coping skills for the future.

Have fun. Do things you love doing. Identify your passions by trying a lot of interesting things, then pursue your favorite activities with passion. Try out for a community play, join a soccer team, or start a recycling club. Invite your friends to join you as you have fun as a teen. Life is an adventure. Enjoy every day.

Share your feelings. Your friends and family are there for you. Just like you want to be there for them, they want to be there for you. No matter what you’re feeling, tell someone. You might share your feelings with a close friend or a parent. Don’t just share your sad or “negative” feelings — share your joy, happiness, and gratitude, too. There are lots of ways to share what you feel. Sometimes you can say, ”I love you” to your dad. Other times, it’s enough just to give your dad or close friend a hug. Both are ways of showing how you feel. Don’t feel embarrassed or bad about sharing your feelings with people who care for you. Learning to share your feelings can help you feel more confident and assertive in everyday life.