1. Taking Charge of Your Health
Chapter One

2. Wellness: The New Health Goal
Six Dimensions of Wellness:
Physical
Emotional
Intellectual
Spiritual
Social
Environmental .
How is wellness defined?
Transcends the idea of health, or the absence of physical disease and is determined by an individual’s personal decisions and includes a life lived in optimal personal, interpersonal and environmental well-being
The Six Dimensions of Wellness
Physical – Requires eating well, exercising, avoiding harmful habits, making responsible decisions about sex, learning about and recognizing the symptoms of disease, getting regular medical and dental checkups and taking steps to prevent injuries at home, on the road and at work.
Emotional – Optimism, trust, self-esteem, self-acceptance, self-confidence, self-control, satisfying relationships and an ability to share feelings are some qualities/aspects of emotional health.
Spiritual- To possess a set of guiding beliefs, principles or values that give meaing and purpose to your life and others, esp. during difficult times. Involves the capacity for love, compassion, forgiveness, altruism, joy and fulfillment
Intellectual- An openness to new ideas, a capacity to question and think critically, and the motivation to master new skills as well as a sense of humor, creativity and curiosity.
Interpersonal and Social -Satisfying relationships. Satisfying the need for loving, supportive people in our lives.
Environmental or Planetary-Safety of the food supply to the degree of violence in a society. Safety from UV radiation and air and water pollution, lead in old house paint and second-hand tobacco smoke in indoor air. Learning about and reducing exposure to such hazards

3. Wellness: The New Health Goal
The six dimensions of wellness interact continuously influencing and being influenced by one another.
Making a change in one dimension often affects some or all of the others
Ex. Improving on your spiritual wellness may help increase your interpersonal and social wellness
The Wellness Continuum

4. Wellness: Then and Now In the1900’s Since the 1900’s
Infectious disease
Since the 1900’s
Chronic disease
In the 1900’s people struggled just to stay alive into their 50’s due to infectious disease
The development of vaccines and antibiotics helped reduce the number of deaths due to infectious disease
Today chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease and stroke are the leading causes of death, all of which can be prevented to some degree;
The best treatment for these is prevention
Smoking is the leading preventable cause of death
Followed by obesity and alcohol use

5. Leading Causes of Preventable Death in the United States

6. The Healthy People Initiative
Healthy People 2010 has 2 goals:
1) Increase quality and
years of healthy life
2) Eliminate health disparities among Americans
Why would the U.S. government be concerned about a healthy population?
A healthy population is the nations’ source of vitality, creativity and wealth and poor health among the population drains the nation’s resources and raises health care costs for all
There are two broad goals in the Healthy People 2010 Initiative:
Increase quality and years of healthy life. Sick days among Americans is a measure of how we can’t function normally due to illness. Although life expectancy has increase poor health often limits those who live longer so that’s why quality of health is just as important as increasing life expectancy.
Eliminate health disparities among Americans. Many health problems affect certain populations disproportionately, like ethnic populations, people of low socioeconomic status or educational attainment and people with disabilities. Healthy People 2010 calls for eliminating disparities in health status, health risks, and use of preventitive services among all population groups.

7. A Sampling of Healthy People 2010 Objectives

8. A Sampling of Healthy People 2010 Objectives

9. Factors That Influence Wellness
Health habits
Heredity/Family history
Genome
Environment
Access to Health care
There are many examples of how health habits are related to our health
Health habits
Cancer and smoking
Unhealthy diet and obesity
Sedentary lifestyle and obesity/heart disease
Walking and maintaining our weight
Balanced diet and preventing many chronic diseases
Heredity/Family History
Consider the genome which is the complete set of genetic material in your cells. And Genes control the production of proteins that play a structural and regulatory role in your body.
Errors in genes are responsible for ~3500 hereditary conditions
Ex. Sickle cell and cystic fibrosis
Environment
What you are exposed to at home, in the workplace in the community you live in impact your wellness
Family members that may abuse alcohol or drugs
Access to health care
Access to health care helps to prevent many diseases
Ex. Vaccinations, regular checkups

10. Getting Serious About Your Health
Examine current health habits
Choose a Target Behavior
One behavior you want to change; start simple
Learn About Your Target Behavior
Find Help

11. Precontemplation Contemplation Preparation Action Maintenance
Transtheoretical Model of Health Behavior Change
Precontemplation
Contemplation
Preparation
Action
Maintenance
Termination

12. Changing Your Behavior
Setting Realistic Goals
What do I want?
Which change is the greatest priority at this time?
Why is this important to me?
What are the potential positive outcomes?
Are there family or friends whose help I can enlist?

13. Taking Charge of Your Health
Chapter One