There’s nothing new about teenagers doing anything they can to stay up all night and get their work done (remember No-Doz?). What’s so worrisome now, though, are the reports surfacing about the huge surge in teen abuse of ADHD medications, with sometimes fatal results. Of course, lots of kids take prescription drugs just to get high, and that’s a hugely disturbing problem. But what worries me in a different way are the kids who aren’t necessarily on people’s radar — the high-achieving students with no history of drug use who are taking the ADHD meds as study and performance aids, and putting themselves at enormous risk.

The New Yorker did a disturbing piece on this subject recently that focused on college-aged students’ off-label use of medications like Adderall and Ritalin to become hyper-focused and hyper-productive. What these students don’t realize, according to multiple studies cited by the article, are the unpleasant side-effects these medications carry, and their real potential to create dependency.

Clearly there’s more education to be done. I have talked to my own kids about this before, but I’ll be bringing it back up again for sure.

The latest study on kids and Vitamin D is truly astonishing, claiming millions of children between the ages of 1 and 21 exhibit dangerously low levels, potentially increasing their risk of heart disease, bone problems, diabetes, and other illnesses. Of course, we all know kids have too many reasons to stay indoors (I would have barely seen the light of day if Halo had been around when I was 13). And we are all conditioned now to never neglect sunscreen. So how do we ensure that our children are getting this vitally important nutrient?

No supplement or fortified food is going to take the place of sunlight. There’s a range of opinion about SPF levels and sufficient protection, and of course so much depends on the fairness of your child’s complection. Your goal should be to achieve a level of adequate protection that allows for safe sun exposure ( The Vitamin D Cure covers this topic pretty well).  And here’s a no-brainer for kids old enough: if they are headed somewhere that’s safe to walk or bike to, don’t climb back in the car. Let them walk or bike in the sunshine, and get a little exercise while they’re at it.

When sunshine is scarce, it’s tough to rely on Vitamin D-rich foods – even fortified ones – to give your child enough Vitamin D. An entire quart of milk only contains 400 units, for example, and the recommended dose for a child is 1000-2000 units per day. (And plenty of kids are lactose-intolerant, which complicates things further.)  And other than fortified breakfast cereals and eggs, most of the Vitamin-D rich foods aren’t necessarily kid-friendly: cod, sardines, shrimp, salmon (even my adult staff are wrinkling their noses).

Luckily, supplements are so much easier and kid-friendly than they used to be; droppers of tasteless liquid Vitamin D can be mixed into food, and 1000 unit caplets are an easy solution for kids old enough to swallow pills. There are even topical creams on the market that are safe for children to use.