Lesson Health Risks Your Behavior WARM UP Write

Lesson: Health Risks & Your Behavior

WARM UP • Write out the following quote and respond by telling me what you think it means and if you agree with it or not and tell me why. • “We are free to choose our paths, but we can't choose the consequences that come with them. ” Sean Covey The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective Teens

BEHAVIORS • Behavior • The way you act or choose to act in a situation. • Behaviors can be healthful, or they can put you or others at risk. • They can be learned and become habit. • Healthful behaviors • Behaviors that promote health, prevent injury and premature death, and improve the quality of the environment. • It is more beneficial to your health status to learn and practice healthful behaviors.

IDENTIFYING HEALTH RISKS • Every day you are faced with some degree of risk. • What kinds of risks do you face on a daily basis? • Risk behaviors – actions that can potentially threaten your health or the health of others. • It is important to recognize that you can control most risk behaviors. • By understanding the risks associated with certain behaviors, you can make safe and responsible decisions about which risks to avoid.

RISKS AND CONSEQUENCES • Risk behaviors carry significant consequences. Both the short-term and long-term consequences can harm your health. • Before you engage in risk behaviors, its important to evaluate the consequences. • For example, smoking can have immediate health consequences, such as bad breath, yellow teeth, and headaches. The long-term consequences of smoking can include lung cancer, emphysema, and heart disease. • Risks can add up over time. Cumulative risks are related risks that increase in effect with each added risk. • For example, eating an occasional high-fat meal at a fast food restaurant probably won’t permanently affect your overall health. However, if you regularly eat high-fat meals, the negative affects accumulate and could lead to serious health problems.

RISKS & CONSEQUENCES • Cumulative risks also increase when several risk factors are combined. • For example, using a cell phone while driving carries risks. So does speeding. If an individual engages in both of these risk behaviors, the chance of getting into a car accident becomes even greater. • What are other examples of cumulative risks? • “You have freedom of choice, not freedom of consequence. ” • Nick Saban, Alabama Head Coach

TOP TEN TEEN RISK BEHAVIORS ØAlcohol ØEating Disorders ØTobacco ØDrug Abuse ØSTD’s ØTeen Pregnancy ØObesity ØAnemia ØDepression ØDiabetes

RISK BEHAVIORS 1. This item causes more problems than any other and has tremendous consequences to society (dependency, accidents, violence, and many deaths). q Alcohol 2. This addicting drug affects 30% of the population, and 90% of users begin by the age of 19. It is the leading contributing factor to death in the United States. q Tobacco 3. Every year 2. 5 million teens contract this disorder, which leads to many health problems, including sterility, cancer, latent diseases, and death. q STD’s

RISK BEHAVIORS 4. Studies show that around 30% of American teens suffer from this health problem, which leads to heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and stroke. The amount of exercise and diet are the key factors. q Obesity 5. This serious problem often goes unrecognized in teens but is a major contributing factor to fatigue, personality disorders, and even suicide. q Depression 6. This health risk pertains mostly to females (90%) and is the third most common form of mental illness. Eventually it causes metabolism and digestive tract problems, and about 12% of those who have it die. q Eating Disorders

RISK BEHAVIORS 7. This health problem has genetic tendencies that eventually lead to three terrible outcomes: jail, hospital care facility, or death. q Drug abuse 8. About a million teenagers a year suffer from this situation, which leads to medical problems like anemia, situation-induced hypertension, predisposed diabetes, cervical trauma, and a high rate of miscarriage. q Teenage pregnancy 9. This health problem occurs from frequent dieting, sporadic eating, and a diet low in iron. Symptoms include chronic fatigue, irritability, dizziness, shortness of breath, and headaches. q Anemia 10. This is the newest high-risk disorder to appear among teenagers. Its occurrence is directly related to the amount of refined sugars in the teenage diet. This overload in the blood cannot be neutralized by the person’s own insulin production. q Diabetes

RECOGNIZING RISK BEHAVIORS • The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has identified six risk behaviors that account for most of the deaths and disability among young people under age 24. • These risk factors can lead to heart disease, cancer, and other serious illnesses later in life: • Behaviors that contribute to unintentional injuries and violence • Sexual behaviors that contribute to unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV infection • Alcohol and other drug use • Tobacco use • Unhealthy dietary behaviors • Inadequate physical activity

HOW TO AVOID OR REDUCE RISKS • You can take action to reduce your exposure to health risks. • You can reduce health risks through prevention: • Taking steps to keep something from happening or getting worse. • For example, getting regular medical exams and dental checkups.

HOW TO AVOID OR REDUCE RISKS • You can also reduce health risks through abstinence: • A deliberate decision to avoid high-risk behaviors, including sexual activity and the use of tobacco, alcohol and other drugs. • All areas of your health triangle benefit when you prevent and abstain from high risk behaviors. • You protect yourself from injury and chronic diseases, you feel good about yourself, which strengthens your mental/emotional health and social relationships.

WHERE DO YOU STAND IN TERMS OF YOUR HEALTHFUL BEHAVIOR? • Health Behavior Inventory • Each of you will assess your present health status in 10 categories described by current research. • Because the assessment is 100 questions, it is fairly accurate. The more elements an assessment has the more accurate it is likely to be. • The most comprehensive medical evaluations include 600 or more questions. • This health appraisal uses several questions from other appraisals and simplifies them.

TOTAL HEALTH ASSESSMENTS 1. Take your time and be honest. 2. At the end of each section you should tally your score in that particular section. 3. At the end of the assessment, create a bar graph and graph your scores. • The idea behind the graph is to see whether any area of your health is greatly out of alignment with the others. • Balance in all areas of health is the ultimate goal. 4. After you finish your graph answer the questions on the back.

TOTAL HEALTH ASSESSMENT GRAPH EXAMPLE