Warm-Up: What are some of your responsibilities you have at home or with in your family?

Unit 4: Personal Health & Decision Making

LESSON 1: TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS Do you think you are a responsible person? What does it really mean to be responsible? Pg. 28 (3 paragraphs) RESPONSIBILITY is the ability to make choices and to accept the results of those choices. read about it.

RESPONSIBILITY OF YOUR OWN HEALTH As a teen, you have an important responsibility: your own health. Accepting this responsibility means that you will make decisions that will promote your good health. These decisions involve: your physical health. your habits. the activities in which you participate. your mental and emotional health. your social health.

MAKING HEALTHFUL CHOICES Healthful choice will promote your overall wellness. Making these decisions shows that you take your own health seriously. With a high level of wellness, you will make positive contributions to your family, friends, and community. Sleep Risk Protection Exercise Hygiene Diet

KNOWING AND USING YOUR ABILITIES Another way in which you can take responsibility for your health is to use your abilities to their best advantage. How do you know what your abilities are? *Think about the activities you enjoy* Which ones do you think you are best at? Which ones do you receive compliments on? Ask family and friends for their opinions. In what areas do they think you are skillful? DO SOMETHING YOU’RE GOOD AT!

RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE HEALTH OF OTHERS Besides being responsible for your own health, you also have a responsibility for the health and well-being of others. Many of your actions and the choices you make affect other people. Those effects may in turn create additional effects. You see, one thing leads to another! YOURSELF You decide to participate in a walkathon to fight cancer. You feel good about your decision. YOUR FAMILY Your parents support you decision to walk. They pledge money and are pleased you want to give your time to help others. YOUR FRIENDS Some of your friends pledge money, too. Your closest friend decides to walk with you. YOUR COMMUNITY You have raised money that will help save lives. You have also encouraged other people to do so.

LIVING WITH CONSEQUENCES As you have just seen, your actions have effects on both yourself and others. Even when choices are made without thinking, they have consequences, which are the effects or results of actions. Consequences can be positive or negative. Accepting consequences of your actions is an important part of becoming an adult. Taking responsibility allows you to take credit for a positive outcome, but it also means that you may have to take the blame for a negative one. Taking responsibility means that you can be proud when you live up to your ideals, but then you will feel disappointment when you do not. Taking responsibility means that you can feel good when you make a friend happy, but that you will feel sad when you disappoint someone.

FACTORS YOU CAN’T CONTROL No matter how responsible you are, some things are beyond your control. Your heredity and your environment may be such factors. You may have a tendency toward certain disease because of your heredity. Your environment may contain pollution or be prone to tornados. In addition, other people’s decisions, actions, and errors are generally beyond your control. You can manage your life by following these rules: Be careful. First, do all you can to protect yourself against illness and accidents. Don’t take unnecessary chances. For example, wear a bike helmet, practice good hygiene, and never drive with someone who has been drinking. Be prepared. If you know how to handle emergencies, you will be better able to deal with them if they occur. Know what to do if you or another person should become ill or experience an injury.

LESSON 2: RECOGNIZING AND MANAGING HABITS What is a habit? How can you establish good health habits? How can you change harmful habits? Pg. 34 (3 paragraphs) A HABIT is a pattern of behavior repeated frequently enough to be performed almost without thinking. read about it.

FORMING HEALTHFUL HABITS The key to establishing good health habits is repetition. The more often you perform an action, the more natural it will seem. Soon the action will become a part of your everyday life - something you don’t even think about anymore. 1 CHOOSING The first step is to decide what you want to achieve. Having a clear idea of the end result you want will help you reach it. Wanting to be in better shape or to become skilled at a sport are examples of good goals. 2 REMEMBERING At first, you may have to make a real effort just to remember to perform the action. Reminders from parents, teachers, and friends can be helpful. Making your own reminder list or schedule can also keep you on target. 3 PERFORMING The next step is to make an effort to do a good job of performing the action. This can take time and energy. You need to make a commitment to yourself and stick with it. 5 GROWING Your overall feeling of well-being increases. In addition, your confidence grows because you know that your are in control of this area of your health. 4 REPEATING As time passes, you get used to remembering and performing the action. It becomes more and more natural. You may begin to plan around your exercise sessions,. You know that you are doing something good for your health.

Warm Up: What is a habit? List the five steps to forming healthful habits

CHANGING HARMFUL HABITS Everyone has habits that they would like to break. It is important to learn how to break habits that may threaten your health or life. A life-threatening habit is one that may cause death (such as smoking, drinking, or using drugs). It is very difficult to break this type of habit on your own. You can, however, work toward changing other, less serious behaviors. Here are some tips to follow: Pg. 37 Identify the habit. Analyze the habit. Consider the future. Set goals. Ask for help. Find a substitute behavior. Be patient.

GOING TOO FAR Even good habits can become harmful. People sometimes become too strongly focused on a certain behavior. For example, a person may become so worried about getting cavities that he brushes his teeth until his gums bleed. Actions that begin as habits sometimes take control of a person. The individual may not feel able to change the habit. In these cases, the habit can become life-altering, or capable of changing a person’s day-to-day existence. In many cases, professional help is needed o break the habit.