Message from the Headmaster

‘Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit’

1 Corinthians 6:19

Declining Health of Teenagers

Dear Parents and Carers,

A recent study published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health surveyed 5,000 Australian teenagers. The study has indicated that a significant number of Australian teenagers are living with a chronic disease such as irritable bowel syndrome, asthma, eczema, chronic fatigue, hay fever, or diabetes. While the frequency of these conditions is higher for girls than boys, there is no reason for complacency in this situation for Australia’s young men. The study indicated a strong correlation between some of these illnesses, and unhealthy choices such as a preponderance of highly processed food, consumption of alcohol and smoking. Evidence is emerging that, despite the claims of the marketers, vaping leads to, not away from, tobacco.

While correlation is not causation, the links between some of these forms of indulgence and an illness are strong enough to suggest causation.

No doubt the proportion of adolescents so labelled reflects better diagnosis, with the improvement of tools available to doctors and researchers. However, the sheer numbers are confronting.

The New Testament, despite the developing Gnostic presence in the First Century AD, which argued that the body was immaterial or evil, places a lot of importance on the human body, and how we use it. The Apostle Paul goes so far as to say “your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:19). This is sometimes counter-intuitive for teenagers, who, are flushed with the confidence of youth, think they are indestructible and do not plan much for a future which seems distant. There is a place here for counsel from the wiser life experience of parents.

The message from the study is that parents need to act in so far as they can to reduce some of the potentially causative factors. The study provided a clarion call that if some of these illnesses are not controlled as well as possible, there could be ongoing damage to the immune system, leading to the onslaught of more severe diseases later in life.

Regards

Dr John Collier
Headmaster