Wellness and Fitness for life:
objectives:
 Identify benefits of living a wellness lifestyle
 Describe the dimensions of wellness
 Describe the major lifestyle threats that lead
to disease in Americans
 Describe what is an internal locus of control
 Describe the goals of Healthy People 2010
Benefits of living a Wellness lifestyle:
 Increases energy level and productivity
 Decreases absenteeism from work and
school
 Increases the ability to communicate
emotions to others assertively rather than
aggressively or passively
 Promotes the attitude that life’s difficulties are
challenges and opportunities rather than
overwhelming threats
A “well” individual may display:
 An appreciation of all living things, no matter
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how ugly or beautiful, how great or how small.
The ability to laugh, cry and genuinely feel
emotions without getting lost.
The ability to maintain healthy relationships.
An appreciation for one’s role in preserving
the environment.
A deep satisfaction with life and life’s stages.
Operates from an internal locus of control.
More benefits of Wellness lifestyle:
 Increases the ability to cope with stress and
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resist depression
Improves physical appearance
Promotes self-confidence
Delays the aging process
Decreases recovery time from illness or injury
Promotes social awareness and the ability to
reach out to understand and care about
others
Dimensions of wellness:
 Physical
 Emotional
 Social
 Environmental
 Occupational
 Intellectual
 Spiritual, zest for life
 Financial
Modifiable behavioral risk factors that
contribute to death and disease:
 Tobacco 20%
 Poor diet and exercise 14%
 Alcohol 5%
 Infectious agents 4%
 Pollutants and toxins 3%
 Firearms 2.5 %
 Motor vehicles 1%
 recreational drugs 1%
Leading causes of death:
 Heart disease
 Cancer
 Stroke
 Chronic lower respiratory disease
 Unintentional injuries
 Diabetes
 pneumonia
Examples of health promoting
behaviors:
* exercise
 Adequate sleep
 Avoiding processed sugar
 Fiber in the diet
 Brush 2-3 times/day and floss teeth 1-2
 Avoid driving under the influence of drugs and
alcohol
 Express anger in healthy ways
 Interested the the views of others
•Health promoting behaviors continued:
 Close intimate relationships
 satisfied with study habits
 Satisfied with spiritual life
 Promote a clean and safe environment
 Drive within the speed limit
 Always use a seat belt
 Avoid tobacco
 Drink less that 4 alcoholic drinks per week if
over 21 years of age.
What is a health disparity?
 Differences in the incidence(frequency
of occurrence), prevalence(number of
cases of a disease in a specified
population , mortality, and burden of
diseases and other health conditions
that exist among specific population
groups in the U.S.
The National Institute of Health has identified 6
areas of disparities among ethnic minorities:
 Infant mortality
 Cancer screening
 Cardiovascular disease
 Diabetes
 HIV infection/AIDS
 Immunizations
Healthy People 2010, leading health
indicators:
 1. Physical activity
 2. Obesity
 3. Tobacco
 4. Substance abuse
 5. Responsible sexual behavior
 6. Mental health
Health indicators, continued:
 7. Injury and violence
 8. Environmental quality
 9. Immunizations
 10. Access to health care
Achieving a healthy lifestyle:
• Lifestyle choices are learned, begins at
birth and throughout our lives.
• Learned and programmed,
unconsciously and consciously.
• Subliminal advertising: messages,
words and symbols are embedded or
hidden in advertisements.
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Homework:
 Bring in an ad that promotes something
unhealthy.
Health behavior is influenced by
many complex forces:
 Family, role models, social pressure,
advertising, psychological needs.
 What are some of the needs that are
met with tobacco use?
 What are some of the needs that are
met with gang behavior and violence?
Needs:
family
Gangs
 Acceptance
 Acceptance
 Belonging to a
 Belonging to a
group
 Love
 Support
 Common values
group
 Love
 Support
 Common values
So with any type of behavior change one has to
become aware of why the behavior exists:
 Precontemplation stage-no intention of
changing, denial and defensiveness,
need to raise
consciousness/awareness.
 Contemplation stage, aware of serious
problem. Increase knowledge, and
understanding that behavior is
inconsistent with values. Social
strategies help, like AA.
Preparation Stage:
 Plan to take action, develop a plan,
think more about the future than the
past.
• Most people make the mistake of
unrealistic goals and expect miracles.
• Setting goals that are too ambitious,
often guarantees failure and also lowers
self-esteem.
Preparation stage continued:
 People often view lifestyle change as
temporary instead of lifelong, this
accounts for the tendency to revert to
the old behavior.
 In this stage, a specific goal and
interventions are designed.
For example:
 Goal: gain 10 # by December 15, 2006
 Eat 3 nutritious meals per day(all
portions should fit on a plate) and 3
non-junk food snacks
 Do not count calories
 Weigh self on same scale once a week
 Drink lots of water, 6-8 glasses per day
Action stage:
 Actively engage in new behaviors, others can
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see
Try to implement rewards and incentives
Making changes in the environment
Avoidance of certain places and/or people
Make sure to have reminders-daily planners
Make a contract with self
New behavior gets gradually integrated
Maintenance stage:
 Retain the gains that were made during the
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action stage
Change never ends with action
Many people may experience a relapse and
return to the previous stages
Learn from relapse, instead of reacting to it
Success=maintaining goal for at least 2 years
Make sure to keep up avoidance, support
groups, contracting, etc.
Termination Stage:
 Person feels confident that change is
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successful
Sometimes you do not completely fail or
succeed, it is important to keep a positive
outlook, try not to feel guilty
Goals may have been too general or
unrealistic
Interventions must be relevant
Reassess entire program
Changing self-talk:
 Rational-emotive therapy, based on the
premise that there is a close connection
between what people say to themselves
and how they feel.
 Everyday emotional problems stem
from irrational thinking, when there is a
difference between what you think
should happen and what happens.
In summary:
 Quality of life can improve by increasing
ones wellness.
 Wellness involves many dimensions.
 Success in achieving wellness goals
increases if you are specific and write
them down.