What A ffects Your H ealth

1. What Affects Your Health Warm-up: Your health is affected by many factors, some are controllable and some are not. Discuss three controllable factors that contribute to your health as well as three factors that you cannot control.

2. Objectives • Define health status. • Identify factors that affect a person’s health status.

3. Health & Wellness • Yesterday – Health Triangle & Wellness scale. • Today’s lesson is about what affects your position on the wellness scale. • Factors that affect your health status • Influences on your health

4. Health Status – The sum of the positive and negative influences on a person’s health and well-being. • What are some positive influences? • What are some negative influences?

5. Factors That Affect Your Health Status • Health knowledge • Access to health information, products and services • Communication skills • Decision-making • Health advocacy skills • Random Events • Influences on your health

6. Health Knowledge • What you know and understand about health and health products. • By understanding information about a health product, you promote your own good health and prevent disease. • i.e. Protein Powder – • Understand what you are putting into your body.

7. Access to Reliable Health Information & Products • What kind of health information do you have access to? • i.e. phone numbers to local services – list several sources. • Others? • What health products do you have access to? • Can you think of areas in the world that might not have access to these things? What is the quality of their health status like?

8. Communication Skills • Communication – how well you listen and communicate can affect relationships with other people (family/social health). • Resistance skills – • Learning how to say no in risky situations. • Conflict-resolution skills – • steps that can help one settle a disagreement in a healthful, and less stressful way. • How does technology affect communication skills?

9. Decision making • May cause one to take actions that affect one’s health status. • Compare two types of decisions. • What are some examples of responsible and irresponsible decisions? Responsible DecisionsIrresponsible Decisions • Promote health • Can harm health • Keep safety in mind • Result in unsafe behaviors • Follow laws • May be illegal • Show respect for self • Show disrespect for self and others and others

10. A Person’s Advocacy Skills • Skills used to influence the health behavior and decisions of others (i.e. personal trainer, nutritionist). • A health advocate is a person who influences the health behavior and decisions of others and advances certain health-related beliefs and concerns. • Is there a famous person you could think of who advocates for the health of others? • What can you do to be a health advocate?

11. Random Events • Random event – an incident over which a person has little or no control. • Fire • Car accident • Natural disaster

12. Influences on your health • The following factors influence how you live and the health decisions you make: • Heredity • Environment • Attitude • Behavior • Media/Technology • Understanding how and what influences your health can help you make healthy decisions.

13. Heredity influences • Heredity – refers to all the traits that were biologically passed on to you from your parents. • What traits and/or disorders might someone inherit from their parents? • Knowing what you may be at risk for can help you make decisions or take actions to stay well and healthy.

14. Environmental influences • Your environment is everything that makes up your surroundings. • Physical environment • Physical factors that can affect your health include: • Neighborhood and school safety • Air and water quality • Availability of parks, recreational facilities and libraries. • Access to medical care.

15. Environmental influences • Culture • The collective beliefs, customs, and behaviors of a group. • This group may be an ethnic group, a community, a nation or a specific part of the world. • May include the language you speak, the foods you eat, and the traditions you practice.

16. Attitude • Your attitude or the way you view situations can have a big effect on your health. • If you feel strongly that healthy habits will benefit your health then you are more like to practice those healthy habits. • Optimists are usually in better health than pessimists.

17. Behavior influences • Some factors you don’t have much control over like heredity and some of your environment. However, you can choose to avoid high-risk behaviors in favor of healthful behaviors, like: • Choosing low-fat nutritious foods • Participating in daily physical activity

18. Media influences • One of the most powerful influences today on your health! • Media – various methods of communicating information. • Media personalities might be seen as role models because they get a lot of attention. • You watch a commercial for pizza, then order the pizza from that same place. Was your behavior influenced by the advertisement you saw? • How can media be a positive influence on our health?

19. Technology influences • Radio, television, and the internet, etc. • The Internet has an unlimited amount of health information that may or may not be reliable. • How do you know if it is reliable? • Stick to sites that have .gov or .edu in their address • How can technology be a positive influence on our health?