TOO much drink can turn teenagers into hypochondriacs.
Compared with “normal” teenagers, youths who drink heavily complain far more
of problems such as stomach pain, tiredness and shortness of breath. Although
some symptoms were due to smoking or poor hygiene, many had no physiological
basis, as measured by physical exams and blood tests, says Duncan Clark at the
Pittsburgh Adolescent Alcohol Research Center. The number of health complaints
rose with the level of depression and anxiety (Alcoholism: Clinical &
Experimental Research, vol 25, p 1350).
This doesn’t mean that a teenager’s ill health is all imagined, warns Clark.
It’s well…
