Lesson 3: Let’s Be Health Aware!
Activity 1: Describe Me in My Picture
Directions: Describe the picture below. Can you tell what causes this person to act
this way? Write your thoughts about it in the space provided.
Many of us try to live a healthy lifestyle. We do various things to become fit
and to achieve our desired physique — oftentimes without first knowing and
understanding the consequences. Our health becomes at risk and prone to different
risks that can affect our capacity to do daily physical activity. We need to realize that
there are some common health practices — particularly when dealing with stress—
that need to be corrected right away, especially among the young ones. Some
stress-coping measures affect or show in a person’s eating or sleeping habits.
Eating Habits, Sleep, and Stress Management: What Goes Wrong?
Eating Habits
We can always eat the food that we want. There is nothing wrong with eating.
It only goes wrong if we consume less or more than what our body needs; also
when we eat unhealthy food. This can lead to being underweight, overweight, or
even obese. It is alarming to see that many are suffering from malnutrition,
overweight, and obesity.
Underweight people are often found to suffer from malnutrition due to lack of
adequate nutrients in the body. Many of them do not get the right amount of
calories to fuel their bodies thus, they tend to lack the energy to do regular tasks
at home, school, and work. Their immune system also gets weak and
compromised, making them prone to health risk issues such as anemia and
osteoporosis.
Anorexia (an-o-REK-see-uh) nervosa is an eating disorder wherein a person is abnormally
underweight, has an intense fear of gaining, and an abnormal understanding of body
weight, often due to coping with emotional problems stemming from self-worth.
People with anorexia use extreme efforts to prevent weight gain and keep on losing weight
by restricting food intake, exercising excessively, or misusing diet aids, diuretics, and
laxatives. These tend to significantly interfere with activities in their lives.
(http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/anorexia/home/ovc-20179508)
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Overeating is also found to be one of the leading causes of overweight
and obesity. Eating too much, especially processed food and sugary drinks,
coupled with a sedentary lifestyle contribute significantly to weight gain. The
calories consumed, particularly from fats and sugars, have to be burned off
through physical activity or exercise. Otherwise, these calories will be just be
stored in the body as fat.
Overweight and obese people often encounter a lot of physical and
emotional struggles in their daily lives. They often have a hard time doing simple
tasks such as tying their shoelaces or walking up a short flight of stairs. They also
find themselves the subject of bullying. Furthermore, they are also at risk of
developing other health conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes,
among others.
Sleep Management
Sleep is essential to everyone’s health. Normally, we need about 6 to 8
hours of night sleep everyday to allow the body to rest and regenerate. When we
wake up in the morning after a good night’s sleep, we feel fresh and energetic.
We become effective and productive in our daily activities. However, a lot of
people, in particular teens, practice bad sleeping habits such as the following:
1. Staying up all night - This is the most common bad sleeping habit of most
people. In order to submit a project, a paper, or some other work at the last
minute, they cram to finish it, staying up all night until they are done. Some
people just spend the night reading or doing other stuff that they just do not
want to postpone for another time.
2. Internet Addiction - Social media is massively addictive. Many people
would spend a lot of their time browsing social media sites such as Facebook
and YouTube. They are awake all night to converse and play with their friends
and forgo sleeping on time. This results in tiredness and unproductiveness in
work, in school, and even at home.
3. Eating Before Sleeping - Eating could be one of the things we do that give
us comfort—but should be discouraged just before bedtime. Eating before
sleeping can cause discomfort preventing us from falling asleep easily. When
we eat too close to our bedtime, it means that we go to our bed while
digesting. This can cause acid reflux which makes a person lose sleep. It is
best to eat 4 hours before falling asleep so we can be sure that our digestive
system has done its job.
Stress Management
We need to deal with the fact that stress is part of our lives. Stress
happens for many reasons – environmental factors, fatigue, too much work,
illness, and loneliness. It is inevitable; hence, needs to be handled properly.
Handling stress seems to be tough to do but we need to learn how to cope
with it the right way. If not properly dealt with, it can lead to many health
concerns—difficulties in sleeping, poor immunity, hypertension, and even
heart disease. One may also perform poorly in physical activities because of
stress. However, while some may be able to deal with stress, others may not
and resort to ineffective—or worst, unhealthy—means of dealing with stress.
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Examples of such means that can be detrimental to health are the following:
1. Smoking
2. Bad Eating Habits – Skipping meals and/or overeating
3. Excessive alcohol intake
4. Excessive sleeping
5. Procrastinating – Trying to hide and escape the problem using delaying
tactics rather than facing the problem
According to the World Health Organization, in 2012, out of 56 million
deaths worldwide, 38 million were due to cardiovascular diseases. Knowing this,
making the decision to be aware of our health and to change to a healthier
lifestyle—through balanced diet, regular physical activity, and enough sleep—
would be to our advantage.
Activity 2: “Let’s Be Health Aware” Essay
Directions: Imagine that you are writing an article for a health magazine. Your task is
to write a persuasive essay about health awareness. Remember to point out the best
practices on how to maintain good health and bad health habits. Your essay should
be brief and easy to read.
Summary
Skipping meals, overeating, too much intake of processed food, lack of sleep, staying
up late, and the inability to cope with highly stressful environment are all part of
having an unhealthy lifestyle. This can lead to the failure to perform daily tasks as
these affect the physical and even emotional state of a person. Chronic conditions
such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases may also develop and even
compromise your immune system. It is therefore a wise decision as early as now to
be aware of your health, and to correct bad health practices, rather than to suffer the
consequences later on.
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References
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habits-and- how-to-break-them.aspx
Martinez, Eliza. What Are The Dangers of Being Underweight?.
Retrieved from http://healthyliving.azcentral.com/dangers-
being-underweight-8137.html
What are the Health Risks of Overweight and Obesity?.
Retrieved from
https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-
topics/topics/obe/risks
Obesity and Overweight. (2015. Jan). Retrieved from
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/
Causes of Obesity. (2016. Jun 15). Retrieved from
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Five Bad Sleeping Habits That You Should Stop Doing Right Now. (2014. July 14)
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sleeping-habits-you-should- stop-doing-right-now/
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with-stress/
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nutrition/healthy- food-choices/healthy-ways-to-gain-weight-if-youre-
underweight.html
What is Anorexia Nervosa?. (2016).
Retrieved from
http://www.bulimia.com/topics/a
norexia/
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/anorexia/home/ovc-20179508
Balentine, Jerry R. (DO, FACEP). Obesity. (2015. Dec 9). Retrieved from
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Eikermann, Doug. Twenty Disadvantages to Being Overweight. (2013).
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Cline, John D. (Ph.D).Sleep and the Internet Addict. (2011. Sep 11) Retrieved
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Elgan, Mike. Social Media Addiction Is A Bigger Problem Than You Think. (2015. Dec 14).
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from
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