By Jacob Rabasca
Health promotion is helping people change their lifestyle, environment and social norms to move forward toward a state of optimal health. Only 10 percent of the United States’ population can be found in the top level of wellness. Everyone else is found in the lower two levels of Health and Wellness. There is a difference between all of these categories. Health is the state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing, and Wellness is an integrated and dynamic level of functioning oriented toward maximizing potential. As a whole, we need to push ourselves and get past the second level. The more people that achieve the third level, the faster every one of us will grow together and become a healthier people.
Life expectancy in the U.S. is 77.9 years, 75.4 for men and 80.4 for women. Women are expected to live five years longer than a man the same age. One reason why, is because women are way less likely to be daredevils as they grow up. Unintentional injuries are the third leading cause of death in men and the sixth with women. Males also develop slower in the womb than females do. They are more likely to die from underdevelopment of the lungs or brain. Men also hold most of their stress in their chest and don’t have many social ties, while women reach out and talk to others.
The top five causes of death for all ages are heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic respiratory disease, and motor accidents. Almost all of those can be avoided by changing our lifestyles and helping others get to where you are physically and emotionally. Heart disease is commonly found in those with an unhealthy diet, lack of exercise, being overweight, and smoking. Replace those with a healthy diet, daily exercise and an alternative habit to smoking, and you’ll prevent heart disease. Everyone knows that the best way to keep a healthy heart is healthy food and cardio. Eat some oatmeal for breakfast and take a jog every morning, start your day right and carry your healthy decisions throughout your day.
It’s overlooked that fitness isn’t only about physical wellness, but it is also about the wellness of our mind and emotions. In order to be in the top level of health, we have to have physical and emotional stability, and we have to have our lives together in order help others. Suicide is the third leading cause of death in teens. If people in our communities were more involved with each other and were more about helping one another, we wouldn’t have the issues and news that we do today. People need other people in life. We get through things together.
We forget to realize that we make the decisions that get us where we are. We should only worry about the things that we can control. We can physically get better by changing what and how we eat. We can also hit the gym and exercise daily. We can help anyone with their problems just by offering them someone to talk to. We can be that person that lifts them up out of the hole they are in. It’s all of our choices to make this world a better place.
All of this information is knowledge I have attained in my wellness class by taking notes and reading out text, “A Wellness Way of Life” by Gwen Robbins, Debbie Powers, and Sharon Burgess. The Huffington Post was also very helpful providing articles that explain the reasons women outlive men. Some of this information is my prior knowledge from past experiences while I was fascinated with health and physique.
I spend a lot of time thinking, most of the time I am thinking about something that needs a solution. A few months ago I was depressed and wasn’t really trying to do anything for anyone, or even myself. Then one day I looked at myself in the mirror, and I thought about everything I had been doing. I wasn’t in the best shape physically and I wasn’t too happy with things in my life.
It hit me that I needed to change. I then made the goal to get a better physique and get myself to think happier. I have been going to the gym and have been working out at home. I have made it a point to read more and expand my ways of thinking. I now read philosophical books that help me understand more about myself and the world around me. I want to be the best version of myself, and I won’t stop working on myself until I feel I have achieved that.
