1. Mental and Emotional Health “ A Healthy Mind” C.J. Starnes Lacey Head Brittany Vance

2. The Simple Facts  An individual who works out on a daily routine will experience a decrease in stress, anxiety, and depression levels.  During sleep the brain and body are able to renew their energy stores and rebuild mental energy.  Through challenging mental activities, new connections between nerves are made that improve our ability to retrieve information.

3. The Simple Facts  Addictions affect the way an individual thinks and feels and also causes the individual to neglect relationships, friends and people at work and school.  Alcohol can affect retrieval of verbal and non verbal information, performance on learning tasks as well as many other areas of the brain.  Being socially active maintains feelings of self worth and over time can help with maintaining memory and cognitive function.

4. The Proof  According to Chapter 5 from the book; Comprehensive School Health Education, social interaction is a leading factor in the fight against depression.  The following is the statistics for children with major depressive disorder. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/statistics/1MDD_CHILD.shtml

5. The Proof The following link discusses the importance of social interaction with health: http://psychology.uchicago.edu/people/faculty/cacio ppo/CHASRS.shtml http://psychology.uchicago.edu/people/faculty/cacio ppo/CHASRS.shtml

6. Skills to Practice  Go outside and be active and exercise everyday even if for only 60 minutes. The goal is to be active  Get a good nights sleep for elementary students at least 9 or more hours.  Attempt challenging word puzzles, or learn to play an instrument.

7. Skills to practice  Learn a new hobby such as painting or drawing.  Be social with the people in your life such as parents, friends, and teachers.  Volunteer to help friends or classmates with any work they may have.  Stay away from alcohol and addictions because as seen nothing good comes from either of these things.

8. References  n/a, n/a. "Alzheimer's Association." alz.org. Alzheimer's Association, 07/25/2011. Web. 1 Nov 2011..  ReportedMerikangas KR, He J, Burstein M, Swanson SA, Avenevoli S, Cui L, Benjet C, Georgiades K, Swendsen J. Lifetime prevalence of mental disorders in U.S. adolescents: Results from the National Comorbidity Study-Adolescent Supplement (NCS-A). J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2010 Oct;49(10):980- 989.0246810121416Lifetime  Meeks, Linda. Comprehensive School Health Education. 7/e. 98-102. Print.  Cacioppo, John. "Chicago Health Aging and Social Relations Study." University of Chicago department of Psychology. University of Chicago, n.d. Web. 1 Nov 2011.