UNDERSTANDING DRUG

USE
AND ADDICTION

SUBMITTED BY:
MILA QUITA
STEM-GENEROSITY

SUBMITTED TO:
MRS.LONIE
ANN AGOSTO
PEH TEACHER

UNDERSTANDING DRUG USE AND ADDICTION

BY Thomas J, Gould. October 10.2014
Many people don't understand why or how other people become addicted to
drugs. They may mistakenly think that those who use drugs lack moral
principles or willpower and that they could stop their drug use simply by
choosing to. In reality, drug addiction is a complex disease, and quitting
usually takes more than good intentions or a strong will. Drugs change the
brain in ways that make quitting hard, even for those who want to.
Fortunately, researchers know more than ever about how drugs affect the
brain and have found treatments that can help people recover from drug
addiction and lead productive lives
Addiction is a chronic disease characterized by drug seeking and use that is
compulsive, or difficult to control, despite harmful consequences. The initial
decision to take drugs is voluntary for most people, but repeated drug use
can lead to brain changes that challenge an addicted persons self-control
and interfere with their ability to resist intense urges to take drugs. These
brain changes can be persistent, which is why drug addiction is considered a
"relapsing" diseasepeople in recovery from drug use disorders are at
increased risk for returning to drug use even after years of not taking the
drug.It's common for a person to relapse, but relapse doesn't mean that
treatment doesnt work. As with other chronic health conditions, treatment
should be ongoing and should be adjusted based on how the patient
responds. Treatment plans need to be reviewed often and modified to fit the
patients changing needs.
Most drugs affect the brain's "reward circuit" by flooding it with the chemical
messenger dopamine. This reward system controls the body's ability to feel
pleasure and motivates a person to repeat behaviors needed to thrive, such
as eating and spending time with loved ones. This overstimulation of the
reward circuit causes the intensely pleasurable "high" that can lead people to
take a drug again and again.As a person continues to use drugs, the brain
adjusts to the excess dopamine by making less of it and/or reducing the
ability of cells in the reward circuit to respond to it. This reduces the high that
the person feels compared to the high they felt when first taking the drug
an effect known as tolerance. They might take more of the drug, trying to
achieve the same dopamine high. It can also cause them to get less pleasure
from other things they once enjoyed, like food or social activities.

Long-term use also causes changes in other brain chemical systems and
circuits as well, affecting functions that include:

learning

judgment

decision-making

stress

memory

behavior

Despite being aware of these harmful outcomes, many people who use drugs
continue to take them, which is the nature of addiction.
No one factor can predict if a person will become addicted to drugs. A
combination of factors influences risk for addiction. The more risk factors a
person has, the greater the chance that taking drugs can lead to addiction.
For example:

Biology. The genes that people are born with account for about half of
a person's risk for addiction. Gender, ethnicity, and the presence of other
mental disorders may also influence risk for drug use and addiction.

Environment. A persons environment includes many different

influences, from family and friends to economic status and general
quality of life. Factors such as peer pressure, physical and sexual abuse,
early exposure to drugs, stress, and parental guidance can greatly affect
a persons likelihood of drug use and addiction.

Development. Genetic and environmental factors interact with critical

developmental stages in a persons life to affect addiction risk. Although
taking drugs at any age can lead to addiction, the earlier that drug use
begins, the more likely it will progress to addiction. This is particularly
problematic for teens. Because areas in their brains that control decisionmaking, judgment, and self-control are still developing, teens may be
especially prone to risky behaviors, including trying drugs.

As with most other chronic diseases, such as diabetes, asthma, or heart

disease, treatment for drug addiction generally isnt a cure. However,
addiction is treatable and can be successfully managed. People who are
recovering from an addiction will be at risk for relapse for years and possibly

for their whole lives. Research shows that combining addiction treatment
medicines with behavioral therapy ensures the best chance of success for
most patients. Treatment approaches tailored to each patients drug use
patterns and any co-occurring medical, mental, and social problems can lead
to continued recovery.
More good news is that drug use and addiction are preventable. Results from
NIDA-funded research have shown that prevention programs involving
families, schools, communities, and the media are effective for preventing or
reducing drug use and addiction. Although personal events and cultural
factors affect drug use trends, when young people view drug use as harmful,
they tend to decrease their drug taking. Therefore, education and outreach
are key in helping people understand the possible risks of drug use. Teachers,
parents, and health care providers have crucial roles in educating young
people and preventing drug use and addiction.

SUMMARY
This article shows the different aspects of how people should be aware of
understanding drug users and understanding how to use drug and how can
individual be addicted to it and how individual can be cured from this kind of
disease. Doesnt mean their drug addicts they are just an individual who has
low empowerment for himself or herself. Based on the article, addicted to
drug is a symptom namely chronic disease. Fortunately, researchers know
more than ever about how drugs affect the brain and have found treatments
that can help people recover from drug addiction and lead productive lives.
It's common for a person to relapse, but relapse doesn't mean that treatment
doesnt work. As with other chronic health conditions, treatment should be
ongoing and should be adjusted based on how the patient responds.
Treatment plans need to be reviewed often and modified to fit the patients
changing needs. Most drugs affect the brain's "reward circuit" by flooding it
with the chemical messenger dopamine. This reward system controls the
body's ability to feel pleasure and motivates a person to repeat behaviors
needed to thrive, such as eating and spending time with loved ones. No one
factor can predict if a person will become addicted to drugs. A combination of
factors influences risk for addiction. Results from NIDA-funded research have
shown that prevention programs involving families, schools, communities,
and the media are effective for preventing or reducing drug use and
addiction. . Therefore, education and outreach are key in helping people
understand the possible risks of drug use.

REACTION
Based of what I had read in this article, I can now truly understand why
people who is drug addicts perform sinful things like killing, harassing and
many more. I now truly understand that instead of pushing them out of the
world, we should help them because they are a victim of a disease that they
are not aware of.
Its stated that researcher found some ways to prevent this kind of disease
thats why we should encourage them also. It really surprised me with the
factors that are stated in the article.
I can now understand why do people kill their own wife, children or friends. It
is very related on my experiences from watching news. Some of the incidents
nowadays is all about murders, and the murderers are the one who are drug
users. I can now illustrate in mind why those individuals killed people,
because they are also a victim of chronic disease or addiction of something.
This is article give important details that help me to realize of how pity they
are, How struggle there lifes are.

RECOMMENDATION
Government can do to address the issue by supporting these individual who
is victim of that kind of disease, in a good way like providing some staffs of an
health center to provide some treatment for them. Killing them is not a
solution its just also a disaster for the world because they may revenge also
to others.
We all know that most of the barangays nowadays are composed of drug
users. Barangay officials should start a campaign of helping individuals to
stop using drugs. Instead of closing the door, open it for them accept them
even though theyre different. Maybe a campaign well do.
Drug users must also be respectful, and understandable. Governments,
barangay officials individuals and all people living in this world, we should
start helping them and encouraging them because they are also human, We
should stop judging them.

A FIT BODY MEANS A FIT MIND

SUBMITTED BY:
MILA QUITA
STEM-GENEROSITY

AGOSTO
TEACHER

SUBMITTED TO:
MRS. LONIE ANN
PEH

A FIT BODY MEANS A FIT MIND

By Vanessa Richardson, May 27, 2009
Forget the term "dumb jocks." According to the latest research, that's an oxymoron. New findings
from biology and education research show that regular exercise benefits the brain in numerous
ways.
Not only can regular workouts in the gym or on the playground improve attention span, memory,
and learning, they can also reduce stress and the effects of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
and even delay cognitive decline in old age. In short, staying in shape can make you smarter.
"Memory retention and learning functions are all about brain cells actually changing, growing, and
working better together," says John J. Ratey, clinical associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard
Medical School and the author of Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the
Brain. "Exercise creates the best environment for that process to occur."
Although researchers aren't exactly certain how exercise leads to better cognitive function, they
are learning how it physically benefits the brain. For starters, aerobic exercise pumps more blood
throughout the body, including to the brain. More blood means more oxygen and, therefore,
better-nourished brain tissue.
Exercise also spurs the brain to produce more of a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic
factor, or BDNF, which Ratey calls "Miracle-Gro for the brain." This powerful protein encourages
brain cells to grow, interconnect, and communicate in new ways. Studies also suggest exercise
plays a big part in the production of new brain cells, particularly in the dentate gyrus, a part of the
brain heavily involved in learning and memory skills.
It wasn't until recently that researchers turned their interest to children -- in whom exercise may
have more impact. The brain's frontal lobe, thought to play a role in cognitive control, keeps
growing throughout the school years, says Charles Hillman, associate professor of kinesiology
and neuroscience at the University of Illinois. "Therefore, exercise could help ramp up the
development of a child's brain," he says.
In a 2007 study published in the Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, Hillman put 259 Illinois
third graders and fifth graders through standard physical education routines such as push-ups
and a timed run, and he measured their body mass. Then he checked their physical results
against their math and reading scores on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test.
"There was a relationship to academic performance," says Hillman. "The more physical tests they
passed, the better they scored on the achievement test." The effects appeared regardless of
gender and socioeconomic differences, so it seems that regardless of his or her race or family
income, the fitness of a child's body and mind are tightly linked.

The bigger the dose of exercise, the more it can pay off in academic achievement. In a
study published the same year in the Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport,
researchers found that children ages 7-11 who exercised for 40 minutes daily after
school had greater academic improvement than same-aged kids who worked out for just
20 minutes.

Phillip Tomporowski, professor of exercise science at the University of Georgia, and one
of the team members who conducted the study, says much of the research today seems
to negate the old notion that recess sends kids back to class more hyper and rowdy. "It
appears to be the other way around," he says. "They go back to class less boisterous,
more attentive, and better behaved compared with kids who have been sitting in chairs
for hours on end."
Hillman also tested that notion in a study published this year in Neuroscience and found
that kids had more accurate responses on standardized tests when they were tested
after moderate exercise, as opposed to being tested after 20 minutes of sitting still. His
results lend support to the idea that just a single aerobic workout before class helps
boost kids' learning skills and attention spans.
Exercise in School
Naperville Central High School, in Naperville, Illinois, has put that idea into practice for
nearly four years. It started when officials created learning-readiness PE in 2005, an
early-morning class for 12 students who needed extra help with literacy skills.
For 30 minutes, they rotated through aerobic activities, wearing heart monitors to ensure
that their heart rate was in the target zone of 160-190 beats per minute. Then they joined
other students, who had not exercised, in a special literacy class.
According to Paul Zientarski, the school's instructional coordinator for physical education
and health, students who took PE prior to class showed one and a quarter year's growth
on the standardized reading test after just one semester, while the exercise-free
students gained just nine-tenths of a year.
He then used the same approach for math-troubled students, scheduling some in PE
before an introductory algebra class. The results were even more dramatic; exercising
students increased their math test scores by 20.4 percent, while the rest gained 3.9
percent. "It doesn't matter if they work out in the morning or afternoon, just that they're in
the class right after PE," says Zientarski. "It calms them down, it makes them more
willing to learn, and they feel good about themselves."
So, which types of exercise are best for brainpower? Hillman and other researchers tout
aerobic and cardiovascular activities, such as running, swimming, and playground
games. "In my studies, only cardiovascular exercise was related to higher academic
performance," he says.
Naperville also focuses on cardiovascular exercise. However, in addition to running
sprints and jumping rope, students do juggling, gymnastics, and tumbling, which require
concentration and provide positive stress to the brain, which helps learning.
PE on the Chopping Block
Zientarski's program is an admired model for gym classes nationwide, and it's all the
more notable at a time when schools are cutting back on PE and reducing recess hours.
In fact, Illinois is the only state that requires daily PE for all grades.
"Others are working toward it, but it's a huge challenge with budget restraints and No
Child Left Behind," says Shanna Goodman, communications manager for PE4life, a

nonprofit organization in Kansas City, Missouri. Her organization has trained some 250
schools nationwide to create productive PE classes and recess activities.
One inner-city school in Kansas City, after implementing PE4life, boosted PE from one
day to five days a week. In a year, cardio fitness scores shot up 200 percent, and the
school saw a 59 percent decrease in disciplinary incidents. In rural areas, PE4life has
helped schools such as Titusville Middle School, in Pennsylvania, incorporate activities
including snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, and skateboarding into PE.
Of course, teachers can reap rewards from exercise just as their students do. To
manage body weight and prevent unhealthy weight gain, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture recommends 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise most days.
Researchers believe that the more regular your exercise routine, the more long-term
benefits your brain will get. So it's important to keep working out regularly. Try your own
20-minute romp around the playground or the gymnasium. A regular workout will make
both you and your students feel like "smart jocks" for the rest of the school day.

SUMMARY

This article tackle the exercise that are best for your brainpower or regular
exercise benefits the brain in numerous ways. stated by Different Researchers. Like
.Aerobic Exercise, it can help us in the way that blood is pumped out through
the body. Studies is also an exercise, it plays a big part in the production of
new brain cells particularly in the dentate gyrus. Another thing, exercise
could help ramp up the development of a childs brain. Researchers found that
children ages 7-11 who exercised for 40 minutes daily after school had greater academic
improvement than same-aged kids who worked out for just 20 minutes. All of the
researchers explained their topic briefly, they provided their different opinions of exercise
that are best for brainpower.
Not only can regular workouts in the gym or on the playground improve attention span,
memory, and learning, they can also reduce stress and the effects of attention-deficit
hyperactivity disorder and even delay cognitive decline in old age. In short, staying in
shape can make you smarter

REACTION
I know Im being odd because honestly, I didnt know that exercise also can
be a good brainpower. I cant also believe that studies is also a factor of an
exercise that can also help to empower children brain. If Im still at age
between 7-11 years old I will merely exercise because it can help us to
improve our academics .But still even if Im 16 years old I will still apply some
factors stated in this article we dont know that it may help me also like
improving my academics, reducing my stress and staying my perfect shape
even if when I get older.
When I was still at 7-11 years of age, I can remember some things that is not
so good for my body and for my academic skills.I just keep on playing my
dolls and robots inside my room, my grandmother doesnt allow me to go out
because im an asthmatic person,
She did not let me experience some exercises or outdoor games. I really
regret of not doing that kind of activities the article provided, maybe if I
perform that during my past years, I think Im fully active and smart. Thats
why I really like this article.

RECOMMENDATION
Regarding in this issue, for me the government can solve it by providing
some staffs that will help the children to experiences exercises in order for
them to commit a goal for oneself like brain empowering , academic
improvement and many more. Governments should atleast give time to the
children in the world, not just to their own children but also for all children.
For barangay official also, they can just also provide a welfare or community
programs like Pe4life that will guide and help the children in the community in
performing activities in order for them to be mentally healthy and in order for
them also to have a fit and shape body, that they can bring when there still
growing.
My suggestion Is, children may also follow or perform this activities because it
can truly help them while they keep on growing, they should also be aware
with this kind of ideas. This brain empowerment is a way, where students or
children becomes active in everyday of going to school. Instead of playing
dota or other computer games, they should give time on their body.