Inspiring Young Minds

I had the honor of judging the middle school students’ science projects at the Rochester Regional Science and Engineering Fair recently. I came back very impressed by the innovative research ideas and the quality of the presented work! It was also great to see the focus of many projects on adolescent health. The students are to be commended on their awareness and inquisitiveness about issues that impact their own health and well-being. Here were the highlights for me!

The use of energy drinks is quite common among adolescents. Some of my friends have leaned on them routinely to “survive” high school. The demands of the rigorous curriculum, early school start times, extracurricular activities and jobs often leave suboptimal time for rest and sleep. Most high schoolers are chronically sleep-deprived, which causes them to rely on stimulants like caffeine and others. A team of middle schoolers investigated the effect of the constituents of energy drinks on the growth of a unicellular organism, Tetrahymena thermophila. They found that caffeine inhibited the growth of the organism in moderate or higher doses. It makes you wonder if caffeine use in high amounts has similar effects on the rapidly dividing cells in our body, including the skin, hair and the reproductive organs. Definitely a subject of further study! The students are planning to study the impact of the energy drinks on the embryos of zebrafish next year. Way to go!

Another student studied yet another common theme among adolescents— the use of technology. She surveyed hundreds of students and found that excessive technology use negatively impacts the mental well-being of middle school students. A similar project highlighted the negative effect of the excessive use of technology on sleep among high schoolers. Mental health issues are common among teens, and unfortunately the problem is on the rise. Most adolescents also do not get the required 8-10 hours of sleep per night. Further, mental health and sleep are closely linked. Not only are they affected by shared influences like technology use, they impact each other independently— lack of sleep can increase the chances of depression and anxiety; and depression and anxiety can worsen or cause sleep problems. Therefore, it is a vicious cycle! 

It was inspiring to see the young scientists highlighting these important public health issues among adolescents. Raising awareness is the first step toward solving a problem! And they did a great job of that. They even had the right audience—a large body of middle and high school students from the Rochester area.  

As adolescents, I think we need repeated reminders about the things we can do to improve our health and well-being. We kicked off Mental Health Week at school recently with “pajama day.” The idea was to highlight the importance of getting the required amount of sleep and relaxation in preserving the mental health of teens. Throughout the week, the pervasive issue of sleep deprivation among adolescents came up repeatedly. I was certainly inspired to ensure my 8-10 hours of sleep every night! 

-Isha Kapoor is a senior at Mayo High School.