Take Charge of Your Health
Main Idea: You are responsible for your own health.
You probably have several ideas about what makes somebody healthy. Do you picture a healthy person as someone who is physically active and involved in sports? Do you think that a healthy individual gets along well with others and generally feels good about himself or herself? These images are all part of the “big picture” of health, the combination of physical, mental/emotional, and social well-being. Every day, you make decisions that shape your health. That’s what this book is all about: giving you the knowledge and skills you need to take charge of your health for a lifetime.
When you are in good health, you have the energy to enjoy life and pursue your dreams. So, what can you do to stay healthy? Start by understanding the three areas of health.
These include your physical health, mental/emotional health, and social health. It’s important to pay attention to all three areas of your health triangle. If you concentrate too much or too little on one area, the triangle can become unbalanced.
Physical health is all about how well your body functions. Having a high level of physical health means having enough energy to perform your daily activities, deal with everyday stresses, and avoid injury.
What does it take to get and keep a healthy body? Here are five important actions you can take:
Mental/emotional health is about your feelings and thoughts. It’s a reflection of how you feel about yourself, how you meet the demands of your daily life, and how you cope with the problems that occur in your life.
People who are mentally and emotionally healthy:
Mental and emotional health also includes spiritual health, a deep-seated sense of meaning and purpose in life. Being spiritually healthy does not necessarily mean that you belong to a religious group, although it could include being a member of a spiritual community. Spiritual health involves having a feeling of purpose and a sense of values.
Getting along with others, also known as social health, is as important to your overall health and wellness as having a fit body and mind. Your social network includes your family, friends, teachers, and other members of your community. You don’t need to have lots of friends to have good social health. Sometimes just having a few special people with whom you can share your thoughts and feelings is enough. Maintaining healthy relationships is one way of caring for your social health.
This involves:
When your health triangle is balanced, you have a high degree of wellness, an overall state of well-being or total health. Wellness comes from making decisions and practicing behaviors that are based on sound health knowledge and healthful attitudes. Maintaining wellness means keeping a balance among the three components of health.
Think about someone whose friends are the most important part of her life. She enjoys spending a lot of time with them, but she doesn’t always get the rest she needs. Her social health is fine, but her physical and mental/emotional health are suffering.
What about a teen who spends all his time working out? He may be physically fit, but he doesn’t have many friends, so he sometimes feels lonely and depressed. This teen pays too much attention to his physical health at the expense of his mental/emotional and social health.
Ignoring any area of your health triangle affects your total health. To keep a balance, you need to pay equal attention to all three areas of your health. Throughout this book, you will learn how to make responsible decisions and practice healthful behaviors that will help you keep a balance and maintain your wellness.
Main Idea: Healthful behaviors will promote your wellness.
Your health and wellness are always changing. For instance, you may feel great one day and catch a cold the next. Your health at any moment can be seen as a point along a continuum, or sliding scale, The continuum spans the complete range of health, from a loss of health and wellness at one end to high-level wellness at the other.
As you mature, your position on the continuum continues to change. Many Americans, unfortunately, start moving toward the lower end of the continuum. One-half of all American adults live with a chronic disease, an ongoing condition or illness such as heart disease, obesity, and cancer.
The leading risk factors for many chronic diseases are smoking, lack of physical activity, poor nutrition, being overweight, and lack of health screenings. However, by making a lifelong commitment now to practice healthful behaviors, you will be more likely to maintain a high level of wellness and stay at the higher end of the continuum.
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