blog 3- Promoting Overall Health

     In general, I like to think of myself as a pretty healthy person. I do my best to keep health on my mind and prevent unnecessary issues with me that are within my control. Some of the questions in the self-assessment I looked at are a "yes" on some days/weeks/months and a "no" on others. I think it is difficult to incorporate every little thing into our daily lives to promote and prevent our own health. Personally, I do try to eat a healthy diet..I cheat and slip here and there though because I know I will work it off at the gym...In eating well and exercising I also am trying to set a good example for my kids. Obesity in children is a scary thing and I feel it's manageable and the responsibility of the parents. I know I have never seen a 5 yr old grocery shopping on their own or driving the car thru the drive-thru at fast food chains! Sleep is now an issue. Majority of my studies take place at night and then we have early wake up calls in my house. As for the rest of the assessment, I did pretty well. I don't smoke or do drugs, my alcohol intake is very occassional and usually with my girlfriends, and I definitely wear my seatbelt and find my downtime.
     Modeling healthy behaviors for adolescents is a key way to teach them about living a healthy life. It starts at home much like everything else (i.e. morals, values, relationship, habits, learned behaviors, etc). Parents need to be willing to be disciplined and strong enough to set important boundaries for their teenagers. Limit the inactivity and TV time daily and force more active choices. One hour of TV after school is enough when there is homework, dinner, extra curriculars, and a decent time to go to bed to be considered. Parents should cook healthy meals and provide healthy options. I do think it is fine to have "junk" in the pantry but in that case, teaching about moderation needs to be going on all the time. I think just by providing easy to read and appealing material to read from educators and doctors is a good way to continue getting the message across. Media is the problem. Highlighting the trendy diets and promoting skinny, photo-shopped images of beautiful people and celebrities encourages teens in a negative way. It's called instant gratification. Don't eat, take pills, run like crazy and maybe I will look like her and that's what the world sees as beautiful. How sad is that? I'm sure I was caught up in that at one point, but thank goodness it wasn't extreme.
     I found an article online talking specifically about women around the world: The Importance of Women's Health (http://www.globalhealth.org/womens_health/). It's a great article just pointing out the fact that women are the anchor for the health of their immediate families and communities. Therefore, if the health of women deteriortate then the health of their families deteriorates too. There are so many preventable health issues going on in the developing world, one being, maternal health. If those women just had the access to prenatal care, obstetric services, and education, so many deaths wouldn't happen as a result of pregnancy. I thank my lucky stars that I am not in the position of those women in developing countries and I have the option and education for prenatal care and when to begin (before pregnancy, mind you). It's overwhelmingly disturbing to scroll through the hundreds of articles and statistics of life-altering situations for women in less fortunate countries knowing that I am scrolling from my laptop at home, with a light on, a clean glass of water, and an insurance card in my wallet.

 “Healthy Women, Healthy World”
a slogan from the article discussed: "The Importance of Women'sHealth"
(http://www.globalhealth.org/womens_health/).