Making Wellness a Lifestyle

Unit 2

Unit Objectives

Explain the physical, mental and social aspects of wellness.

List factors that contribute to disease. Predict how lifestyle choices you make

will affect your health. Describe the relationship between

nutrition and health.

Lesson: What is Wellness?

Unit: Benefits of Wellness

What is Wellness?

The state of being in good health.

What is Quality of Life?

Refers to a person’s satisfaction with his or her looks, lifestyle and response to daily events.

Vocabulary Activity:

Prepare a two-column chart to compare and contrast the meanings of the terms wellness and quality of life.

Use phrases from the text and from other relevant sources in their contrasts and comparisons.

You should have at least 5 total thoughts.

Note: a person’s wellness is a factual condition. In contrast, a person’s quality of life is affected by his or her perceptions. The difference is one of objective fact versus subjective opinion.

Trying to achieve a high level of wellness is one way to improve quality of life.

Reflect:

On a scale from 1 to 10, how would rate your current personal quality of life?

Think about the reasons for your ratings.

Write your thoughts down on paper.

The Wellness Continuum

Take a look at the four aspects of health status

Energy levelFrequency of illnessStress managementSocial relationships

Conclusion

Complete the following sentences:

“When I am feeling at my very best I feel . . .”

And “When I am feeling my very worst I feel . . .” 

When people are in good health

They have a desire to stay fit and live a healthy lifestyle.

They are able to successfully meet the challenges of each day.

Life’s events are easier to handle and manage.

Most people want to continually improve their quality of life as they grow and mature.

Lesson: Aspects of Wellness

Unit: Benefits of Wellness

What are the three major components of wellness? Physical Health Mental Health Social Health

•What are the three major components of wellness?Physical HealthMental HealthSocial Health

Physical Health – refers to the fitness of your body.

Mental Health – is related to the way you feel about yourself, your life, and the world around you.

Social Health – describes the way you get along with other people.

Describe how being tired, skipping breakfast and having a family argument can each affect physical, mental and social health.

Stresses teens face daily

What are stresses teens face daily? How do these stresses affect teens’

mental health and overall wellness levels?

Describe some social skills that can help improve social health.

Which of these skills would be least difficult and which would be most difficult to improve?

Holistic Medicine

What does this term mean? It is an approach to health care that

focuses on all aspects of patient care – physical, mental and social.

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: A person who practices a holistic approach to wellness is able to see the “big picture” when it comes to health care.

To summarize lesson:

Develop a graphic organizer to represent the three aspects of wellness ~ physical, mental and social health ~ and factors related to each You can create any design you feel is best for

you to organize and present the information. Make sure you explain the differences among

physical, mental and social health. Challenge yourself to paraphrase the definitions

given in the text. Include 3 points for each aspects of wellness.

Lesson: Factors that Affect Wellness

Unit: Benefits of Wellness

Why is it important to recognize the impact of health-related decisions at your age?

How do lifestyle choices affect a person’s likelihood of getting diseases?

Choosing Wisely!

Making a habit such as eating wisely, exercising, managing stress will lead to better health later in life.

Bad Habits

Bad habits can be hard to break, especially if it has been around for awhile.

With a little will power and 21 days it can be broken!

If you have a habit you would like to change, don’t do it for 21 days and see what happens!

Of course some may take more than just changing for 21 days, but it is worth a try!!

Factors that Contribute to Disease

What is a risk factor? A characteristic or behavior that

influences a person’s chance of being injured or getting a disease.

Analogy

Complete the following with your own thoughts:

Risk factor is to getting disease as _____________ is to staying healthy.

Researchers study the risk factors of certain groups of individuals by studying their: Lifestyle choices Environmental quality Health care Heredity

Unhealthy Lifestyle Choices

What are the three major causes of death among adults in the United States? Heart Disease Cancer Stroke

Causes

These diseases are caused by lifestyle choices such as: Smoking Poor Eating Habits High Levels of Stress Not Being Physically Active

On the other hand . . .

Choosing not to smoke Eating whole grains and fresh fruit

and vegetables and limiting fats and sugars

Managing time to help your stress level

Adding activity to your daily life can help us to avoid health issues.

Poor Environmental Quality What is environmental quality?

Refers to the state of the physical world around you.

Including concerns such as: Safety of the water we drink The air we breathe Exposure to the elements Pollutants and contaminants we come into

contact with Poor housing Job hazards

Jobs that might be bad on a person’s health:

Factory workersMinersJobs that deal with chemicals

Inadequate Health Care

Accounts for about 10% of the risk factors that contribute to the leading causes of death.

Health Care Responsibilities

Remember, medicine is not an exact science.

Doctors are not fool proof and do not always diagnosis or find a problem.

On the other hand, patients can interfere with their own care by failing to get a regular check-up, not seeking health care when symptoms occur or share completely with their health care professional.

Heredity

Write a response to the following statement:There is absolutely nothing you can do about the influence of genetic risk factors on your health.

Heredity

Accounts for about 25% of the factors that lead to death.

The genes you receive from your parents affect your probability of developing certain health problems.

But even we cannot change who our biological parents are we can keep ourselves in good physical condition.

Heredity

This may not keep a person from developing a disease due to heredity but it will improve your body’s ability to handle diseases if they do develop.

Health-Promoting Choices

Studies show that we do have a lot of control over the factors that influence our health.

Health experts recommend adopting the following practices into your lifestyle: Provide your body with fuel throughout

the day by eating three or more regular spaced meals, including breakfast.

Supply your body with needed nutrients to support health, growth and development.

Sleep eight to nine hours each night. Maintain a healthy weight.

Stay active. Accumulate at least 60 minutes of physical activity most days of the week.

Do not smoke Avoid drinking alcoholic beverages Do not use street drugs. Carefully follow

your physicians instructions when using prescription drugs.

Journal:

Which healthful lifestyle practice do you feel is the most difficult to follow? Why?

Why do many people ignore the recommendations of experts and continue to make unhealthful lifestyle choices.

Activity:

Use the list of healthful lifestyle practices as an self-evaluation.

For each practice, write almost always, sometimes, rarely or almost never to show how regularly you follow the practice.

Other Habits to Consider to Promote a Healthy Lifestyle

Resist negative peer pressure

Improve you environment

Choose quality health care

Assignment:

Look back over the practices for wellness and quality of life.

Develop your own top 10 list of tips for wellness.

Explain why each tip is important to your personal wellness.

Lesson: Making a Change

Unit: Benefits of Wellness

Making one change in your life can affect all aspects of your health.

Plus this in turn can increase your motivation to make positive changes a habit!

Example

You may have heard eating breakfast can help you concentrate better in school (mental health).

But would this be enough to encourage you to eat breakfast?

Eating breakfast can also help you maintain a healthy weight (physical health).

It can moderate mood swings and help your interact more positively with others (social health).

Knowing all these reasons may be just the incentive that a person needs to start eating breakfast on a regular basis.

Reflect:

Identify one change that would improve your health.

How should you react when you make an unhealthful lifestyle choice in the midst of your efforts to make a positive lifestyle change?

Remember

First of all one day off is not going to hurt your efforts. Just as long as it doesn’t snowball and you don’t get back on track.

Setting Goals

Why is it essential to write specific steps to take in order to reach an identified goal? Research shows that individuals who

write down specific goals and steps to achieving their goals will be more apt to accomplish them.

Lesson: Nutrition and Wellness

Unit: Benefits of Wellness

Journal

Use the words nutrition and nutrient in sentences to demonstrate your understanding of differences in meaning between the two terms.

What’s the difference?

Nutrition is the sum of the process by which a person takes in and uses food substances.

Nutrients are the basic components of food that nourish the body.

What is the meaning of the term epidemiology?

Is a branch of science that studies the incidence of disease in a population.

What does it have to do with nutrition?Sometimes nutrition studies involve comparing the effect of various food choices.

Which many could be related to disease and illness.

One approach. . .

Is to use scientific method to discover important aspects of food science and nutrition.

Scientific Method

It is important to remember that experiments to test hypotheses do not always result in the formation of theories.

Sometimes hypotheses are rejected when findings of experiments do not support them.

Findings evidence that a hypothesis is not likely to be correct can be just as important as finding evidence to support the hypothesis.

Researchers have discovered many facts from their studies so far.

Examples: How eating patterns are linked to certain

diseases. The effects of food choices on health.

Unanswered questions about nutrition and wellness will continue to be focused on by researchers.

THEORY = FACT??

Write true or false next to this statement.

List your reasons for your response.

Problem Solving

Katrina read a report of a nutrition study for a class assignment. The study was done by a company that markets dietary supplements. It involved 15 elderly women and reported rather dramatic effects when specific supplements were taken regularly. After reading the study, Katrina decided to start taking the supplements herself.

What are some of the major nutrition problems in the United States today?

An estimated 65% of US adults are overweight; of these 30% are considered obese.

About 1/3 of the people in the United State eat an inadequate diet.

Popular lifestyles include less and less physical activity.

Important nutrients are missing from the diets of some groups of people such as teens and older adults.

Fat, cholesterol, sodium and sugar intake are higher than recommended.

Why do you think some of these problems exist?

Not enough money Lack of information Some people do not believe they need to

change their diets. Others may simply ignore the nutritional

information. Other?

How can you tell what to believe when there are so many conflicting nutrition messages in circulation? Be informedEducate yourself

Why is education so important in interpreting all the messages out there?

Vocabulary:

In your own words explain the following question: What is the relevance of each of the following words to the meaning of the term Life expectancy? Environment Wellness Age Habits

Assignment:

For Friday: Be able to define Genetically Modified

Organisms.▪ Do an internet search and find two recent

article about Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO). One article should in support of GMOs and the other should be non-support of GMOs

Bring the articles to class to evaluate.

Assignment. . .

Read the section on “Evaluating Research Reports” on page 22 of your textbook.

Complete “Evaluating Health and Nutrition Information”

Evaluating Health Information Why might someone seek the

information you found in your internet search?

Are Americans interested in health information?

Evaluating Health Information

More and more people are aware of the relationship between diet, disease prevention and optimal health.

Consumers today are taking greater responsibility for their health care decisions, creating a demand for information about nutrition.

Evaluating Health Information

However, this demand for nutrition information also creates an opportunity for fraud and quackery to flourish.

What is fraud, or quackery?

Fraud

Technology is a great tool for accessing information quickly and easily.

But, the amount of questionable, downright inaccurate and potentially dangerous sites providing information is huge.

How do you tell good from bad sites?

Accuracy of information appearing on web sites is not regulated.

Consumers need to learn ways to discern credible from questionable sources.

Evaluating Health Information What criteria should you use to decide if

the information you find is trustworthy? Authority – Know the author and domain Accuracy – Look at the sponsoring

organization Objectivity – Look at the perspective –Fact?

Opinion? Bias? Goofiness? Currency – Consider the timeliness/copyright

of the information Coverage – Look at the design of the page and

ease of navigation

Info to distrust . . .

Recommendations that promise a quick fix.

Dire warnings of danger. Dramatic statements refuted by

scientific organizations. Recommendations based on studies

with no peer review. Recommendations from “studies”

that are anecdotal or personal testimony.

Info to distrust . . .

Claims that sound to good to be true. Simplistic conclusions drawn from a

complex study. List of “good” and “bad” foods. Recommendations make to help sell

a product.

Remember to look for . . .

Web site has a professional credible appearance.

Recommendations are backed by current scientific research.

Recommendations supported by credible organizations.

Recommendations are positive, practical and personal.

Information is current

Assignment:

Using the internet, find two article dealing with GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) and their impact on the food industry.

One article should be pro-GMO and the second against the use of GMOs in foods.

Evaluate your articles using “Evaluating Health and Nutrition Information” worksheet.

Print and bring articles with worksheet to class tomorrow.