AZERBAİJANİ UNİVERSİTY OF LANGUAGES

FACULTY: Education 1
SUBJECT : Analytical reading
İNSTRUCTOR : Vafa Bagirova
GROUP: 406B
STUDENT: Gasimova Mahinur
TOPİC: Lifestyle , healthy lifestyle

Lifestyle is the interests, opinions, behaviors, and behavioral orientations

of an individual, group, or culture. The term was introduced by Austrian
psychologist Alfred Adler in his 1929 book, The Case of Miss R., with the
meaning of "a person's basic character as established early in childhood". The
broader sense of lifestyle as a "way or style of living" has been documented
since 1961. Lifestyle is a combination of determining intangible or tangible
factors. Tangible factors relate specifically to demographic variables, i.e. an
individual's demographic profile, whereas intangible factors concern the
psychological aspects of an individual such as personal values, preferences, and
outlooks.
A rural environment has different lifestyles compared to an urban
metropolis. Location is important even within an urban scope. The nature of the
neighborhood in which a person resides affects the set of lifestyles available to
that person due to differences between various neighborhoods' degrees of
affluence and proximity to natural and cultural environments. For example, in
areas near the sea, a surf culture or lifestyle can often be present.
A lifestyle typically reflects an individual's attitudes, way of life, values,
or world view. Therefore, a lifestyle is a means of forging a sense of self and to
create cultural symbols that resonate with personal identity. Not all aspects of a
lifestyle are voluntary. Surrounding social and technical systems can constrain
the lifestyle choices available to the individual and the symbols they are able to
project to others and themself.
The lines between personal identity and the everyday doings that signal a
particular lifestyle become blurred in modern society. For example, "green
lifestyle" means holding beliefs and engaging in activities that consume fewer
resources and produce less harmful waste (i.e. a smaller ecological footprint),
and deriving a sense of self from holding these beliefs and engaging in these
activities.Some commentators argue that, in modernity, the cornerstone of
lifestyle construction is consumption behavior, which offers the possibility to
create and further individualize the self with different products or services that
signal different ways of life.
 Lifestyle may include views on politics, religion, health, intimacy, and
more. All of these aspects play a role in shaping someone's lifestyle. In the
magazine and television industries, "lifestyle" is used to describe a category of
publications or programs.
A healthy lifestyle can help you thrive as you move through your life's
journey. Making healthy choices isn't always easy – it can be hard to find the
time and energy to exercise regularly or prepare healthy meals. However, your
efforts will pay off in many ways, and for the rest of your life.
Steps you can take:
Be physically active for 30 minutes most days of the week. Break this up
into three 10-minute sessions when pressed for time. Healthy movement may
include walking, sports, dancing, yoga or running.
Eat a well-balanced, low-fat diet with lots of fruits, vegetables, and whole
grains. Choose a diet that's low in saturated fat and cholesterol, and moderate in
sugar, salt and total fat.
Avoid injury by wearing seatbelts and bike helmets, using smoke and
carbon monoxide detectors in the home, and using street smarts when walking
alone. If you own a gun, recognize the dangers of having a gun in your home.
Use safety precautions at all times.
Don't smoke, and quit if you do. Ask your health care provider for help.
UCSF offers a smoking cessation program.
If you drink alcohol, drink in moderation. Never drink before or when
driving, or when pregnant.
Ask someone you trust for help if you think you might be addicted to
drugs or alcohol.
Help prevent sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV/AIDS by
using condoms every time you have sexual contact. Keep in mind, condoms are
not 100 percent foolproof, so discuss STI screening with your provider. Birth
control methods other than condoms, such as pills and implants, won't protect
you from STIs or HIV.
Brush your teeth after meals with a soft or medium bristled toothbrush.
Also brush after drinking, before going to bed. Use dental floss daily.
Stay out of the sun, especially between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. when the sun's
harmful rays are strongest. Don't think you are safe if it is cloudy or if you are in
the water, as harmful rays pass through both. Use a broad spectrum sunscreen
that guards against both UVA and UVB rays, with a sun protection factor (SPF)
of 15 or higher. Select sunglasses that block 99 to 100 percent of the sun's rays.
Healthy Outlook
You may feel pulled in different directions and experience stress from
dealing with work, family and other matters, leaving little time for yourself.
Learning to balance your life with some time for yourself will pay off with big
benefits – a healthy outlook and better health.
Steps you can take:
Stay in touch with family and friends.
Be involved in your community.
Maintain a positive attitude and do things that make you happy.
Keep your curiosity alive. Lifelong learning is beneficial to your health.
Healthy intimacy takes all forms but is always free of coercion.
Learn to recognize and manage stress in your life. Signs of stress include
trouble sleeping, frequent headaches and stomach problems; being angry a lot;
and turning to food, drugs and alcohol to relieve stress.

Good ways to deal with stress include regular exercise, healthy eating
habits, and relaxation exercises such as deep breathing or meditation. Talking to
trusted family members and friends can help a lot. Some women find that
interacting with their faith community is helpful in times of stress.
 Get enough sleep and rest – adults need around eight hours of sleep a
night.
Talk to your health care provider if you feel depressed for more than a
few days. Depression is a treatable illness. Signs of depression include feeling
empty and sad, crying a lot, loss of interest in life, and thoughts of death or
suicide. If you or someone you know has thoughts of suicide, get help right
away. Call 911, a local crisis center or (800) SUICIDE.
Being healthy is about more than getting fit and feeling better, it’s about
staying that way too.
Tips for staying healthy:
Here are some tips to help you stay motivated to be healthy.
Think about why you want to be healthy
There will be times when you don’t feel like bothering, and are tempted
to slip back into old, unhealthy habits. When this happens, think about why you
wanted to be healthier in the first place.
Join a group
Joining a group where others are trying to reach the same goal can give
you the extra push you may need to keep going. This might be a gym, a
gardening club, a neighbourhood house or whatever suits you.
Get support
Having someone to support you can be a big help in getting started, and
can make a real difference to keeping you on track too. Let a family member,
friend or health worker know how you’re getting on and encourage them to
support you.
Look after your mental health
Remember to keep an eye on your mental as well as physical health. If
you start to feel down and like not bothering, it could be a sign that your mental
health needs some extra care, so make sure you tell your doctor or case manager
about it.
 Relaxing matters too
Remember that relaxing and not getting stressed are essential parts of
being healthy. There are lots of free and easy ways to stay relaxed, for example:
 going for a walk
 meditating
 deep breathing exercises
 yoga
 reading
 listening to relaxing music.
Rewarding yourself
Being healthy can change the way you feel about your whole life. The
very point of it is to make you feel good, not to ‘punish your body’. That’s why
making sure you reward yourself for developing healthier habits is important.
When you’re spending less on cigarettes and other things that aren’t
healthy, you can spend more on treating yourself. Here are some examples of
rewards you can give yourself which are enjoyable and cost little or nothing:
 a long relaxing bath with your favourite music playing in the
background
 organising a simple picnic
 making yourself comfortable with a new magazine and a cup
of tea or hot chocolate
 dinner with a friend-seeing a movie
 a walk on the beach-catching up with someone you like.
Overcoming slip-ups
There are bound to be times when you feel like giving up and going back
to old habits. It’s only natural. Try the following tips to deal with these times.
Just start again
 When you do slip up – skipping a walk or having a cigarette, for example
– don’t think you’ve failed. Look at how far you’ve come and what you want to
achieve, and just start again.
Be realistic
More than one slip-up could mean that you’re expecting too much of
yourself. Think about how realistic you’re being about changing to more
healthy habits, and that you do need to be flexible.For example, if replacing
coffee with herbal tea isn’t working, switch to de-caff instead.
Don’t punish yourself
Getting healthy isn’t about feeling guilty. If you do have slip-ups, don’t
waste time telling yourself that you’re hopeless. Guilt won’t help you get
healthy. Concentrate instead on the progress you’ve already made, and on
getting back into your new habit.
Learn from your slip-ups
Be positive about slip-ups – they can help you in the long run. Thinking
about why they happened will help you learn to avoid them in future.
For example, if you visit a friend in the evenings and they like to smoke
cannabis at the end of the day, it can be hard to say no. A lesson from this could
be to meet them in a café or in the afternoon when you won’t be tempted. Ask
them not to offer you a smoke too – a true friend will respect this.
As a result, we see that health is one of the main reasons for happiness
and cheerfulness. In order to maintain our happiness, we must first take care of
our health.
Sources:
 www.sane.org
 www.news-medical.net
 www.nvbi.nlm.nih.gov
 www.theguardian.com