student

Question 1
Health means different things to different people. To be healthy you have to consider that you are in a healthy state. For young people health revolves around physical activity and being in a good shape, whereas for someone who is elderly will class there health as being able to still walk around the house or streets without something to aid you. Some factors of health are a choice you can make like dietary and physical activity but there are many factors of a person’s health that are hereditary e.g. women often inherit breast cancer from their families gene pool. This can have effects on more than one of their different aspects of health. These diseases are unavoidable; this is one of the reasons why health is so dynamic. Dynamic means it is always changing, health is always changing and just because you might be healthy one day you might not be healthy the next day or stay healthy for the rest of your life e.g. Geoff hugel an Australian swimmer was healthy all his life but once he ceased his swim training he began to gain weight fast this is because he had become accustom with his eating habits but did not change them once his dietary intake was needed to be reduced. Health is all ways changing due to the aspects of your life will never stay the same, health relies on the individuals levels of fitness and dietary needs therefore health will always be changing i.e. You have a young family, the majority of your time will be revolve around your child’s health and often people forget or run out of time to keep their health in check because they are looking after the wellbeing of their family before their own. The dynamic nature of health’s definition from WHO (World Health Organization) defines health as 'a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity'. This statement means that a person cannot be considered healthy unless they have a complete state of well-being. This poses many questions, can a person who is diabetic, epileptic or recovering from a stroke or heart attack, be considered healthy or unhealthy. Our state of health and well-being changes over time, so we can say health is dynamic. There are many different aspects of health e.g. social, mental, physical and spiritual. If one aspect of health is compromised, the other aspects will be affected to. For instance, when we have a severe cold, we are less likely to consider going out to a pub for a few beers, so your physical health has affected your social and mental health. The natures of health are forever changing there for health is dynamic, when a person is unhealthy many of the other aspects of the health will be effected for example if you have depression your mental health will then effect your ability to socialize (social health) which will then effect your physical activity (physical health), the affect one sickness may play on one aspect of your health which will create a chain reaction until all aspects of your health have deteriated. Health is always changing therefore by nature it is dynamic, even though health is not always something that you have control over, health needs to be worked on and always improved. What one person may think is healthy another person may see as unhealthy. Health may refer to a person's physical condition, but may also refer to his mental, spiritual and social health, often these aspects will tie together. To be considered healthy by the national guidelines one must exceed in all these aspects of life.

Question 2

There are many factors that influence my perceptions on health; health is forever change so often my perceptions on health are changing. My views on health are often influenced by my family and community group members, I have been brought up in a time when health concerns are on the rise because more and more people are switching there vegetables for chips and grilled meals for deep fried causing major rises in obesity over the past 5 years. E.g. I have observed that more people would much rather go out and by take away then have a home cooked meal, meaning that the salads are being switched for oil. This is because its easier to take your family out the to have a home cooked meal. Many factors have influenced my perceptions on health, the biggest influence to change my perceptions on health is schooling. At school you are taught the positives of eating healthy e.g. going 2 for 5 , 2 serves of fruit and 5 serves of vegetable, mixed with 60 minutes of physical activity everyday will lead to a healthier you and the negatives of the unhealthy choices of life e.g. smoking can lead to cancerous diseases because of these unhealthy choices many people have shortened there life. School has educated me to widen my views on health, helping me make more sound choices when it comes to my health because the decisions I make now could have major effects in the future.

Another factor that has influenced my perceptions on health is the media coverage on health promotion ads, every day or night the TV is flooded with advertisements showing me the warnings and consequences of certain lifestyle choices that can be avoided e.g. the slip, slop, slap, wrap sun safe campaign and the tanning skin cells in trauma has taught me the risks and dangers of tanning, every time I go outside without sun protection my body is slowly burning and growing melanoma’s. The slip slop slap campaign has opened my knowledge on what I need to do to keep my skin safe and healthy from the sun. the smoking ads on tv have expanded my knowledge on the consequences on smoking, the smoking campaigns have showed me the risks of even one cigarette on my body. E.g. the smoking kills ads have shown me the vast devastation that smoking can have. The media can also have negative effects on people’s health, The media puts out images of skinny young pretty girls , this then causes problems with many young girls because they think they have to be anorexic like all the girls on tv. E.g. commercial editors used to photo shop their models to look like unrealistic girls with their standards set high this creates a bad perception of what younger girls health should be like.

While I believe I will always have a strong positive perspective on health issues there will be time throughout my life where they will be influenced by different things such as media, campaigns, community groups and in cases where health problems have affected someone close to me.

Question 3
Health is socially constructed with people having different levels of control over their own health because of their different levels of education levels, employment, geographic locations, gender, beliefs, hereditary factors, income and lifestyle choices. the lower the levels of education a person has, will lead to them being less likely to access support services to help raise health status for example; someone who is educated about the right dietary needs and the time they should spend exercising will live longer then someone who doesn’t have much knowledge about health who will make bad decisions about their health. This is because they have been educated on what is safe for their health needs.
Being unemployed greatly increases the chances of having a poor health status. Employment is important so Food/ housing/ shelter/ security will be easier to gain access to. Gaining employment will lead to a steady income which will lead to the ability of being able to afford the basic health needs of society. E.g. an unemployed person will more likely let their health expire quicker more than an employed person because they will be able to afford their everyday needs.

The greater access to money, the greater opportunity for better health and access to health professional’s etc. income is important, income creates the opportunity’s to be able to afford the bonuses of life e.g. many healthy foods and fitness equipment is expensive and often people who don’t have a steady income or a regular income will struggle to keep their health intact because it is much cheaper and quicker to buy unhealthy foods.

The geographic location , where you live will greatly affect your health status, your access to certain health services will be limited. Many rural country towns do not have a general practitioner or any health service at all and have to travel long distances just for a basic check-up. This is why many rural farmers die from diseases that could’ve been easily treated if the farmer had quick access to a doctor. For example a farmer may suspect that he has something internally wrong with his organs but he cannot afford to waste a minimum of one day traveling to see a doctor, so the farmer will just not worry about it. This is mainly because a day’s work is loss of income to his family so his health will slowly start to deteriate just because he doesn’t have access to the doctors.

Inherited diseases or health conditions are factors of health that usually cannot be prevented because the disease is within your genes but the diseases and conditions can be healed if they are detected early enough. E.g. many women inherit breast cancer, breast cancer is one of the most common diseases that are passed down through the family lines, a males weight gain = high blood pressure = heart attack. It’s common for men to gain weight as they age often high blood pressure can be inherited and if not monitored properly then it could lead to a heart attack.

Personal lifestyle choices are one of the biggest health concerns in the world. Even if a person has employment, income etc they still believe in smoking or eating fast foods. This is again because they have not been educated on whats right and wrong, whats going to help them get healthier opposed to whats quick and easy and in this case addiction to alcohol and smoking . addiction to these substances can lead to disease and sickness, often people die because they have made poor lifestyle choices throughout their life.

People’s health in society is shaped by the perceptions developed in their own experiences. The environment you can grow up in will shape your perceptions of health e.g. whether your parents / g - parents are active, healthy and have strong positive health practices. They will have their own positive perception of health. Vice versa if you have negative influences in your house - e.g. smokers /poor diet/ lack of physical activity, can influence this particular person to think that all these unhealthy factors that their parents practice will lead them to believe it is good. The way you grow up in society can have major effects on your perceptions of health whether it is having a wide understanding of health or growing up thinking smoking is a part of your everyday life. Health is socially constructed in different ways for different people depending on their lifestyle choices and the aspects of their life that they chose. Individuals and groups produce their own conceptions of health, and that knowledge itself is the product of social dynamics of health. The human beings health and views on what health is, is always changing. How people chose their lifestyle from there employment status to their geographic location will change their views and their level of control over their health. Nutrition / diet , Physical activity, Sleep, Recreation, Drug use, Sexual activity, these are just a few of the modifiable aspects of our life. Hereditary factors , genetics, Disability ( wide variety of both physical and intellectual ), Cultural issues, as you can see the number of aspects of health that we do not have control over is smaller then the aspects we have control over and will be able to change to become healthy. If you make poor lifestyle choices, your health will not be as high as it should be but if you make good life style choices then your socially constructed health will be up to the national standards. Society sets the standards for health making them always changing.

Sources http://www.studymode.com/course-notes/Year-11-Pdhpe-Course-Work-Limited-1182548.html http://www.who.int/en/ http://www.livestrong.com/article/301901-how-is-health-dynamic-to-an-individual/