The Importance of Health and Wellness in Everyday Lives - Essay Example

? THE IMPORTANCE OF HEALTH AND WELLNESS IN EVERYDAY LIVES PHED 1112: Physical Education Catherine Kakpovbia Section: ID: Major: Assignment: Health and Wellness (30%) Introduction A better and healthy lifestyle improves the quality of our lives. It is important for us to understand health and wellness early on because this would lead us in doing the right practices, habits and self-care. By avoiding unpleasant habits and learning the right practices would then help us enhance the chances of preventing serious illness and diseases in the future. In this assignment, I am going to discuss health and wellness by describing its composition and the factors influencing it; stressors and how to manage stress; diabetes, its complications, types and prevention; and lastly the effects of tobacco on our health and how to break-free from nicotine addiction. Health and Wellness Health and wellness is a major determinant of the quality of our lives. Being healthy and well allows us to perform in the best possible condition at school or in our jobs and at the same time; we would have sufficient vigour to do activities after office such as socialization, leisure and hobbies (Corbin, et al., 2009, page 4). Health deals more on the physical, mental and social aspect of our being, ei., if we are free of illness and diseases, our capacity to deal with people and being in the proper state of mind. But equally important to this is wellness, the outlook about life or the state of how we see our lives. A person free of illness may still not be able to perform well if he/she has a negative disposition in life (Corbin, et al., 2009, page 6). Wellness has been divided into six dimensions and our satisfaction and fulfilment in these individual aspect sums up to our outlook in life. The six dimensions are: physical, spiritual, emotional-mental, intellectual and social (Corbin, et al., 2009, page 4). To be called ‘well’ we must have a positive attitude in all these aspects of our life. Factors affecting health and wellness could either come from us or from the environment. Internal factors may include genetic causes, or the physical traits that we inherit from our parents like predisposition to several sicknesses. It also includes personal behaviour or habits such as attitudes, diet, drinking, smoking, etc. Factors from the external environment may also affect our health and wellness. This may include the environment where we live in, the people surrounding us, animals, disease-causing microbes, pollution and even socio-economic factors like income, work, availability of health services, etc. (Corbin, et al., 2009, page 8). Stress Management Stress comes from the challenges that we face everyday. Stress has always been used in the negative connotation, but actually, stress can also be beneficial to us. At moderate levels, stress brings positive effects on our wellbeing. Right amount of physical stress like exercise would make us more physically fit. Mental stresses on the other hand, like reading or solving puzzles and problems could make us learn something new and improve our minds. But on detrimental levels, stress may affect our health directly or indirectly. Stress may affect the functioning of our immune system that would lead us to be susceptible in many diseases. Being exposed extensively to stress may also lead to poor appetite so our health will again be affected (Corbin, et al., 2009, page 348). We have different thresholds in the amount of stress that we can handle depending on the age, gender, ethnicity and previous exposures to the said stressor. For example, physical stresses such as running may not be stressful to people of younger age group but are already stressful to the older cohort. People living in cold environments may find temperatures at 30°C already stressing compared to people at the tropics. The stressors that I have mentioned are examples of physiological and environmental stress respectively. The other type of stressor, the most frequent and major source of stress is the emotional or psychosocial stressors (Corbin, et al., 2009, page 348). Stress, depending on the severity and magnitude, if not properly managed, can cause health related issues. Corbin et al., 2009 (page 362), recommends physical activity such as regular exercise to combat stress. Engaging to routine exercise would make us less responsive to physiological stresses and decreases anxiety and depression. I think it is most important to take adequate amounts of rest after a stressful situation. This part varies highly from a person to another. Some people would resolve to treating themselves to a good spa or massage, some will get a vacation, others will opt to just sit back and relax in the couch with a good movie but the most important is to get a good sleep (Corbin, et al., 2009, page 363). Diabetes Diabetes is an incurable but a manageable condition. It occurs when glucose, the sugar found in the blood, is abnormally high. There are three major types of diabetes. The first, Type I diabetes, is detected in people in younger years (age 30 and below). In this type, the body of the patient cannot produce insulin, the hormone that regulates the glucose level in the body, leading to high glucose level in the blood. In Type II diabetes, is characterized by low insulin in the blood or the individual's resistance to insulin. This type of diabetes can be very much controlled by a change in lifestyle such as limiting our intake of carbohydrates and sugary sweet foods. The third type is known as gestational diabetes mellitus where a woman without prior history of diabetes develops the disease during pregnancy (Corbin, et al., 2009, page 436). Diabetes has been reported to cause several life-threatening and disabling conditions. It has been shown that diabetics have higher risk of developing heart-related diseases, high blood pressure and kidney failure (Corbin, et al., 2009, page 436). Diabetes may also lead to blindness and leg amputation and complications in pregnancy. While diabetes poses unpleasant complications, we can have simple solutions to diabetes. Changing our lifestyle and habitual day to day activities such as diet can be a very good factor in the prevention of diabetes. Controlling our body weight is the best preventive measure for diabetes. This could be done by engaging in physical activities such as sports, or regular exercise, reducing body fat, and by reducing the intake of dietary fat in order to limit calorie the daily calorie intake. Once predisposition to diabetes has been recognized, we must be responsible in getting regular consultations to physicians in order to manage the disease (Corbin, et al., 2009, page 436). Tobacco Tobacco posses a great risk to the health of smokers as well as the persons receiving second-hand smoke. Smokers should be reminded that the list of the health risks of tobacco smoking is getting longer and longer with new researches without a single health benefit. So why do people smoke? I say people smoke for personal reasons. It could be curiosity at first or peer-pressure and the feeling of wanting to ‘belong’ to the group, and then it turns to a habit and then they will not notice that they are already addicted to it. Other people turn to smoking as a substitute for food because they want to stay slim (Corbin, et al., 2009, page 389). It is never too late to quit smoking. Even if you have just started smoking or have been smoking for several years, studies have shown that quitting smoking has immediate health benefits (Corbin, et al., 2009, page 385). However, quitting smoking early on is easier compared to the persons who have been smoking for years and are already addicted to nicotine, the addictive compound in tobacco. Of course, it is still best to never start. In quitting smoking, I think it is of most importance to have discipline in oneself. You should be decided to stop the habit and you must recognize the advantages of quitting, or else, you will be tempted immediately with the sudden urges to smoke. In page 390 of the book, Corbin, et al., (2009) stated several ways on quitting smoking like enrolling in a support group, avoiding reminders or temptations, using distraction when feeling the urge to smoke and considering getting a prescription substitute such as nicotine patch. I would also like to add that it is best to stay out of activities that entice smoking such as drinking alcohol. Conclusion Health and wellness is a key factor for us to live our lives to the fullest. By being aware of the benefits of being healthy and well, we would understand the importance of doing the right practices that are beneficial to our health. Knowing the level of stress that we can adapt can make stress beneficial for us. In case of uncontrollable amounts of stress, we must learn how to correctly manage it and to take proper amounts of rest. Tobacco addiction as well as diabetes could also be managed properly given the adequate help and information. Upon completion of this assignment, I now have a better appreciation of health and wellness and how much it will improve my life. Reference Corbin, C. B., Welk, G. J., Corbin, W. R., Welk, K. A., Sidman, C. L. (2009). Concepts of Fitness and Wellness A Comprehensive Lifestyle Approach. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Read More