Health and Well-Being Flashcards

Health and Well-Being

Influences on Health: Biology, Psychology, and Social Factors

• Traditional Western medical model:
  • Health is seen as the absence of disease.
  • Patients are passive recipients.
  • Focus on medical treatments (e.g., drugs).
  • Health professionals are assumed to have primary control.
• Integrated approach (psychologists and health-care professionals):
  • Individuals play a more active role.
  • Attitudes and behaviors are critical for health, recovery, and flourishing.

Health Psychology and Well-being

• Health psychology:
  • Integrates research on health and psychology.
  • Applies psychological principles to promote health and well-being.
• Well-being:
  • A positive state involving striving for optimal health and life satisfaction.

Biopsychosocial Model

• Biopsychosocial model:
  • Integrates biological, behavioral, and social factors on health and illness.
  • Central to the difference between the traditional medical model and health psychology.

Eating Problems

• Obesity:
  • Body weight is 20% or more over the ideal weight for a person’s height (definitions vary).
  • A state of excess body fat determined using the Body Mass Index (BMI).
  • Represents a major health risk.
• Reasons for the rise in obesity:
  • High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) consumption.
  • Excessive calorie intake.
  • Insufficient exercise.

BMI Calculation

• BMI Calculation:
  • Formula: weight (lb) / [height (in)]^2 \times 703
  • Example: Weight = 150 lbs, Height = 5'5" (65")
    • Calculation: [150 ÷ (65)^2] \times 703 = 24.96
  • Metric Formula: weight (kg) / [height (m)]^2

Body Mass Index Categories

• BMI Categories:
  • Underweight: < 18.5
  • Normal: 18.5-24.9
  • Overweight: 25-29.9
  • Obese: 30-34.9
  • Extremely Obese: 35<

Statistics:

• Increase in eating disorder threefold in last 50 years.
• 10% of population has eating disorders.
• 90% of cases are young women and adolescent girls.
• Up to 21% of college women show sub-threshold symptoms.
• 61% of college women show some sort of eating pathology

Three Types of Eating Disorders

• Three Types of Eating Disorders:
  • Anorexia nervosa: Pursuit of thinness that leads to self-starvation.
  • Bulimia nervosa: Cycle of bingeing followed by extreme behaviors to prevent weight gain, such as purging.
  • Binge-eating disorder: Regular bingeing without purging behaviors.

Anorexia Nervosa

• Anorexia Nervosa:
  • Begins with restricting certain foods, like dieting.
  • Restriction of high-fat foods first.
  • Food intake becomes severely limited.

EDNOS

• EDNOS: Eating Disorders Not Otherwise Specified.

Eating Disorders in France

• France bans fashion models who are too thin.
• Models need a medical certificate showing a BMI of at least 18 before being hired.
  • Around 121 pounds for a height of 5.7 feet.
• Agencies that violate the law may face imprisonment of up to six months and a fine of 75,000 euros ($82,000).
• Websites inciting excessive thinness by encouraging eating restrictions may face up to a year in prison and fines up to 100,000 euros.
• Anorexia affects 30,000-40,000 people in France, mostly teenagers.

Male Eating Disorders

• Male eating disorders are not just female problems

Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs)

• Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs):
  • Infections transmitted through sexual contact.
• STI Statistics:
  • Nearly 20 million new cases of STIs each year in the United States.
  • About 54,000 people are diagnosed with an STI each day.
  • About half of new infections are in people aged 15 to 24 years old.
  • Young males and females contract STIs at about equal rates.
  • Over the course of their lives, 1 in every 2 people will get an STI.

Common Sexually Transmitted Infections

• Common Sexually Transmitted Infections:
  • Chlamydia (2,860,000 new cases/year):
    • Bacterial infection.
    • Symptoms: Often no symptoms, but may include thin, clear discharge from vagina or penis, irritation during urination.
    • Treatment: Easily cured with antibiotics.
  • Gonorrhea (820,000 new cases/year):
    • Bacterial infection.
    • Symptoms: Sometimes no symptoms, but may include painful urination, abnormal discharge from vagina or thick discharge from penis, swollen testicles.
    • Treatment: Two different antibiotics at the same time.
  • Syphilis (55,400 new cases/year):
    • Bacterial infection.
    • Symptoms: Painless, round sores around the genitals; skin rash and fever; large sores on other body parts.
    • Treatment: Long-acting antibiotic.
  • Trichomoniasis (1,090,000 new cases/year):
    • Parasitic infection.
    • Symptoms: Most people do not have symptoms; itching, burning, or unusual discharge in the genitals; pain during sexual activity.
    • Treatment: Easily cured with drug therapy; all sexual partners must be treated.
  • Human Papillomavirus (HPV) (14,100,000 new cases/year):
    • Viral infection.
    • Symptoms: Usually no symptoms; itchy genital warts; throat warts; various cancers.
    • Treatment: Treat symptoms; vaccinations may provide protection.
  • Herpes (776,000 new cases/year):
    • Viral infection.
    • Symptoms: Burning or itching at site of infection; painful blisters that break and then crust over; fever and flu-like symptoms; body aches and swollen glands.
    • Treatment: No cure for the virus; infections can spread when blisters occur; antiviral drugs may relieve symptoms.
  • Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) (41,400 new cases/year):
    • Viral infection.
    • Symptoms: Often no initial symptoms; flu-like symptoms; fatigue; weight loss; persistent headaches; can progress to AIDS without treatment.
    • Treatment: No cure for the virus; long-term treatment with multiple antiretroviral drugs controls HIV; without treatment, progression to AIDS is often fatal.

Prevention of Sexually Transmitted Infections

• Safer Sex:
  • Sexual behaviors that decrease the likelihood of contracting an STI.
  • Methods:
    • Abstaining from sex or limiting the number of sexual partners.
    • Getting information about their sexual health and the sexual health of their partner(s).
    • Receiving vaccinations against HPV and using barrier methods.
• Barrier methods of protection
• Oral sex is not safe—HPV can be transmitted through oral sex and is associated with a large increase in mouth and throat cancer.

COVID-19

• COVID 19 Statistics available at the links

Stress

• Stress: An Everyday Event

Impact of Stress

• Major life stressors: Large disruptions, especially unpredictable and uncontrollable catastrophic events, that affect central areas of people’s lives.
• Daily hassles: Everyday irritations that cause small disruptions, the effects of which can add up to a large impact on health.
• Primary appraisal: When encountering a stressor, a person judges its potential threat and then determines if effective options are available to manage the situation.
• Stress is likely to result if a stressor is perceived as extremely threatening or threatening with few or no effective coping options available.

Student Stress Scale

• Next to each event is a score that indicates how much a person has to adjust as a result of the change.
• Both positive events (outstanding personal achievement) and negative events (major personal injury or illness) can be stressful because they require us to make adjustments.
• Add together the life change unit scores to determine how likely you are to experience illness or mental health problems as a result of the stress of these events.
• 300 life change units or more: A person has a high risk for a serious health change.
• 150-299 life change units: About 1 of every 2 people is likely to have a serious health change.
• 149 life change units or less: About 1 of every 3 people is likely to have a serious health change.

Stress and Health

• Physical reactions to stress and health:
  • general adaptation syndrome:
    • alarm reaction
    • resistance stage
    • exhaustion stage

Reactions to Stress

• Physical reactions to stress and health:
  • general adaptation syndrome:
    • alarm reaction
    • resistance stage
    • exhaustion stage
  • GAS and the immune system
• Fight or Flight vs Tend and Befriend

Influence Factors of Stress

• personality characteristics and stress reactions:
  • Type A personality:
    • competitive
    • rushing
    • workaholic
    • speaks loudly or “explosively”
    • perfectionistic or demanding
    • hostile and aggressive
• prior experience with the stress
• developmental factors:
  • age
• predictability and control
• social support:
  • someone to talk to
  • receiving advice and solace

Coping

• Types of coping
  • Emotion-focused coping: A type of coping in which people try to prevent an emotional response to a stressor.
  • Problem-focused coping: A type of coping in which people take direct steps to confront or minimize a stressor.
    • Downward comparison: You would focus on possible good things—the proverbial silver lining—in the current situation.
    • Another strategy is to give positive meaning to ordinary events.

Positive Psychology

• Positive psychology
  • The study of the strengths and virtues that allow people and communities to thrive
    • According to positive psychologists, happiness has three components:
      • Positive emotion and pleasure
      • Engagement in life
      • A meaningful life
• Well-Being Index investigates people’s sense of well-being across six areas:
  • Life evaluation
  • Emotional health
  • Work environment
  • Physical health
  • Healthy behavior
  • Basic access to housing, food, and water

Stress Management Techniques

• Stress Management Techniques
  • Physical
    • Exercise
  • Psychological
    • Progressive relaxation
    • Meditation
    • Imagine a calm environment
    • Try to be optimistic
    • Be spiritual
    • Laugh
  • Social
    • Manage time wisely
    • Develop social support
    • Talk with friends
    • Find community
• If all else fails Get a Dog

Effective Stress Management

• Effective Stress Management
  • Reduce daily hassles
  • Know your limits
  • Follow a reasonable schedule
  • Take frequent breaks
  • Develop more effective time-management skills
  • Learn to prioritize
• Develop relaxation skills
• Take care of your body
• Gather information
• Expand your social network
• Prevent burnout
• Replace stress-inducing thoughts with stress-busting thoughts
• Don’t keep upsetting feelings bottled up

Controlling Type A Behavior

• Take things slower
• Read books for enjoyment
• Leave your computer at home
• Avoid rushing meals
• Engage in enjoyable activities
• Develop relaxing interests
• Set realistic daily goals