Chapter 1 Taking Charge of Your Health

Chapter 1: Taking Charge of Your Health Chapter Objectives: ○ Define wellness as a health goal ○ Explain two major efforts to promte national health ○ Describe factors that influence wellness ○ Explain methods for achieving wellness through lifestyle management ○ List ways to promote lifelong wellness for yourself and your environment Wellness as a health goal ○ Health: the overall condition of a person’s body or mind and to the presence or absence of illness or injury. ○ Wellness: Expands the idea of good health to include living a rich, menaingful, and energetic life. ○ Difference between health and wellness ■ Health can be determined or influenced by factors beyond your control, such as your genes, age, and family history. ■ Wellness is determined largely by the decisions you make about how you live. ○ Risk Factors: a condition that increases your chances of disease or injury ● Dimensions of Wellness ○ ○ Physical Wellness ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ■ Your physical wellness includes not just your body’s overall condition and the absence of disease but also your fitness level and your ability to care for yourself. ■ The decisions you make now, and the habits you develop over your lifetime, will determine the length and quality of your life. Emotional Wellness ■ Trust, self-confidence, optimism, satisfying relationships, and self-esteem are some of the qualities of emotional wellness. ■ Fluctuates with your intellectual, physical, spiritual, culutrual, and interpersonal health. ■ Self-acceptance: personal satisfaction, excludes society’s expectations ■ Self-esteem: the way you think others perceive you ■ Self-confidence: a part of both acceptance and esteem. Intellectual wellness ■ Constantly challenge their mind. Interpersonal wellness ■ Satisfying and supportive relationships are important to physical and emotional wellness. Learning good communication skills, developing the capacity for intimacy, and cultivating a supportive network are all important to interpersonal (or social) wellness. ■ Social wellness requires participating in and contributing to your community and to society. Cultural wellness ■ The way you interact with others who are different from you in terms of ethnicity, religion. Gender, sexual orientation, age, and customs. ■ Accepting and valuing the different cultural ways people interact in the world. Spiritual wellness ■ Is to process a set of guiding beliefs, principles. Or values that give meaning and purpose to your life, especially in difficult times. ■ A spiritually well person focuses on the positive aspects of life and finds spirituality to be an antidote for negative feelings such as cynicism, anger, and pessimism. ■ Religion is not the only source or form of spiritual wellness through loved ones, nature, art, meditation, or good works. Environmental wellness ■ The livability of your surroundings. ■ You can lean about and protect yourself against hazards in your surroundings and work to make your world a cleaner and safer place. Financial wellness ■ Refers to your ability to live within your means and manage your money in a way that gives you peace of mind. ○ Occupational wellness ■ The level of happiness and fulfillment you gain through your work. ■ An occupationally well person enjoys his or her work, feels a connection with others in the workplace, and takes advantage of the opportunities to learn and be challenged. ● The Long and the Short of life expectancy ○ Our genes can determine up to 25% of the variability in life span. ○ ○ Promoting National Health ● ○ The U.S. government has financial and humanitarian interests in it. ○ Poor health drains the nation’s resorces and raises health care costs for all. ○ Community and government levels ■ Public health policies ■ Agencies that identify and discourage unhealthy and high risk behaviors. ■ Provide incentives for positive health behaviors ○ Federal level ■ The national institutes of health (NIH) ■ Center for disease control and preention (CDC) ● Health insurance options ■ Affordable Care Act (ACA) or Obamacare was signed on March 23, 2010 ○ Finding a plan ■ Those who are below income requirements are eligible for federal help with premiums. ■ Many employers and universities also offer health insurance to their employees and students. ○ Benefits to college students ■ The ACA continues to permit students to stay on their parents’ health insurance plans until age 26 - even if they are married or have access to coverage through an employer. ■ ACA’s 10 essential benefits ● Preventive care ● Outpatient care ● Emergency services ● Hospitialization ● Maternity care ● Lab tests ● Mental health and substance use treatment ● Prescription drugs ● Rehabilitation services and devices ● Lab servies ● Prediatric care ● The Healthy People initiative ○ The national Healthy People initiative aims to prevent disease and imporve Americans’ quaity of life. ○ Healthy People 2030 10 year agenda states ■ Eliminate preventable disease, disability, injury, and premature death. ■ Achieve health equity, eliminate disparites, and improve health literacy. ■ Create social, economica, and physical enviornments that promote good health for all. ■ Promote healthy development and healthy behaviors across every datage of life. ■ Engage leadership and the public to design effective health policies. ■ ● Health issues for Diverse Populations ■ Many health conditions are a function of biology and culture combined ■ Health Disparity: a health difference linked to coail, economic, or enviornmental disadvantage that adversely affects a group of people. ■ Example: the fact that women have a higher rate of breast cancer than men is a health differnce but not considered a disaparity. In contrast, the higher death rates from breast cancer for black women compared with nonhispanic white women is considered a health disparity. ○ Sex and Gender ■ Sex: refers to the biological and physiological characteristics that define men, women, and intersex people ■ Gender: encompasses how people identify themselves and also the roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for them. ○ Race and Ethnicity ● Sickle-cell diseas = Afican ancestry ● Tay-sachs = eastern european jewish heritage and french canadian ● Cystic fibrosis = northern europeans ■ African Americans ■ American Indians and Alaska Natives ■ Asian Americans ■ Native HAwaiian and other pacific islander Americans ■ Latinos ○ Income and Education ■ Groups with the highest poverty rates and the least education have the worse health status. ■ Are faced with more day-to-day stressors and less access to health care services. ■ Researchers setimate about 250,000 deaths per year can be attributed to low educational attainment, 175,000 to individual and community poverty, and 120,000 to income inequality. ○ Disability ■ About 1 in 4 people in the United States has some level of disability, and the rate is rising. ○ Geographic Location ■ About 1 in 4 Americans currently live in a rural area. ■ People living in rural areas are less likely to be physically active, use seat belts, or obtain screening tests for preventive health care. ● OK but like this just isn’t true. ■ The difference between children living in safe and nonsafe places. ○ Sexual orientation and gender identity ■ Not much on the LGBT community because they are not real and don’t matter so there have been no studies done on them and no one cares. Factors that Influence Wellness ● ○ More than 34 million American adults have diabetes, and 21% of them don’t know it. - CDC, 2020 ● Health Habits ○ Poor health habits take hold before many Americans reach adulthood. ○ Regular exercise is good as well as a balanced and varied diet ● Heredity/Family History ○ Genome: consists of the complete set of genetic material in your cells - about 25,000 genes, half from each of your parents ○ Genes: control the production of proteins that serve both as the structural material for your body and as the regulators of all your body;s chemical reactions and metabolic processes. ○ Errors in our genes are responsible for about 3500 clearly hereditary conditions, including sickle-cell disease and cystic fibrosis. ○ 60% increaes in diabetes since 1990 because of increased rates of obesity and poor dietary choices and lack of physical activity. ● Enviornment ○ Your environment includes substances and conditions in your home, workplace, and community. ■ Crime in community ■ Tobacco smoke ■ Access to nature ● Access to health care ○ Adequate health care helps imporve both quality and quantity of life through preventive care and the treatment of disease. ○ Wellness matters for college students: ○ ○ College stats ■ 23% of college students are overweight and 14.9 are obese ■ Only 43.4% of students reported that they used a condom during sex in the past 30 days ■ About 16% of studens had 7 or more drinks the last time they paries ■ 6% of students had smoked cigarettes at least once during the past month, 13% used an e-cigarette; and 22% used marijuana. ● Personal Health behaviors ○ Behavior can tip the balance toward good health, even when heredity or enviornment is a negative factor. Reaching Wellness through lifestyle management ● ○ Moving in the direction of wellness means cultivating healthy behaviors and working to overcome unhealthy ones. ○ Behavior Change: a lifestyle management process that involves cultivating healthy behaviors and working to overcome unhealthy ones. ● Getting serious about your health ○ Examine your current health habits ■ How is your current lifestyle affecting your health today and in the future? ■ Health risks are very real and can become significant while you’re young; health habits are important throughout life. ■ Quick stats: for the first time in 28 years, drug overdoses decline in 2018! ○ Choose a target behavior ■ Target behavior: an isolated behavior selected as the object for a behavior change program. ■ Build on your success ○ Learn about your target behavior ■ Once you’e chosen a target behavior, you need to learn its risks and benefits - both now and in the future. Ask these questions: ● How is your target behavior affecting your level of wellness today? ● WHich diseases or conditions does this behavior place you at risk for? ● What effect would changing your behavior have on your health? ○ Find Help ■ Locate community resources, consult with your physician or the internet ● Building motivation to change ○ Examine the pros and cons of change ■ Health behaviors have short term and long term benefits and costs. ■ General strategies for health-related information ● Go to the original source ● Watch for misleading information ● Distinguish between research reports and public health advice ● Remember that anecdotes are not facts ● Be skeptical ● Make choices that are right for you ■ To successfully change your behavior, you must believe that the benefits of change outweigh the costs. ○ Boost self-efficancy ■ Locus of control ● Who do you believe is controlling your life? ● Locus of control: the extent to which a person believes he or she has control over the events in his or her life. ● People who beelive they are in control of their lives are said to have an internal locus of control. ○ Reinforces motivation and commitment. ● An external locus of control can sabotage efforts to change behavior. ■ Visualization and self-talk ● One of the best ways to boost your confidence and self-effacacy is to visualize yourself successfully engaging in a new, healthier behavior. ● Self-talk: the internal dialogue you carry on with yourself, to increase your confidence in your ability to change. ■ Role models and supportive people ■ Identify and overcome barriers to change ● Don’t let past failures at beahvior change discourage you. ● Transtheoretical model of behavior change ● ● Enhancing your readiness to change ○ Precontemplation ■ At this stage you think you have no problem and don’t intend to change your behavior ■ Raise your awareness by researching your target behavior. ■ Look at the mechanism you use to resist change, such as denial or rationalization. ■ Seek social support ○ Contemplation ■ You now know you have a problem and within 6 months intend to do something about it. ■ You acknowledge the benefits of behavior change but are also aware that the barriers to change may be difficult to overcome. ○ Preparation ■ You plan to take action within a month or you may already have begun to make small hanges in your behavior. ● Work on creating a plan ● Make change a priority ● Practive visualization and self-talk ● Take small steps ○ Action ■ You outwardly modify your behavior and your environment ● Monitor your progress ● Make changes ● Find alternatives ● Reward yourself ● Praise yourself ● Involve your friends ■ Don’t get discouraged, real change is difficult ○ Maintenance ■ You have maintained your new, healthier lifestyle for at least 6 months. ● Keep going ● Be prepared for lapses ○ Termination ■ You have exited the cycle of change and are no longer tempted to lapse back into your old behaviors. You have a new self-image and total control with regard to your target behavior ● Dealing with relapse ○ Research suggests that most people make several attempts before they successfully change a beahvior. ■ ○ Don’t give up!! ● Developing skills for change: Creating a personalized plan ○ Monitor your behavior and gather data ○ Analyze the data and identify patterns ○ Be “SMART” about setting goals ■ Specific ■ Measurable ■ Attainable ■ Realistic ■ Time frame-specific ○ Devise a plan of action ■ Get what you need ■ Modify your environment ■ Control related habits ■ Reward yourself ■ Involve the people around you ■ Plan for challenges ○ Make a personal contract ■ The date you will start ■ The steps you will take to mesure your progress ■ The strategies you will use to promote change ■ The date you expect to reach your final goal ● Putting a plan into action ○ You need commitment Being healthy for life Summary: ● Wellness is the ability to live life fully, with vitality and meaning. Wellness is dynamic and multidimensional. It incororperated physical, emotional, intellectual, interpersonal, cultural, spiritual, enviornmental, financial, and occupational dimensions. ● As chronic diseases have emerged as major health threats in the United States, people must recognize that they have greater control over, and greater responsibility for, their health than ever before. ● With nre health insurance options and the Healthy People initiative, the U.S. government is seeking to achieve a better quality of life for all Americans. ● Health-related disparities that have implications for wellness can be described in the contect of sex and gender, race and ethnicity, income and education, disability, geographic location, and sexual orientation and gender identity. ● Although heredity, enviornment, and health care all play roles in wellness and disease, behavior can mitigat to help you change ● You can increase your motivation for behavior change by examining the benefits and cots of change, boosting self-efficacy, and identifying and overcoming key barriers to change. ● The “stages of change” model describes 6 stages the people move through as they try to change their behaviors: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance, and termination ● You can develop a specific plan for change by (1) monitoring your behaviors by keeping a journal; (2) analyzing that data; (3) setting specific goals; (4) deciding strategies for modifying the environment, rewarding yourself, and involving others; and (5) making a personal contract. ● To start and maintain a beahvior change program, you need commitment, a welldeveloped plam, social support, and a system of rewards. ● Although you cannot control every aspect of your health, you can make a difference in helping create an environment that supports wellness for everyone.