Introduction
Whenever the term health is mentioned, people tend to attribute it to being free from pain, injury and diseases. However, the term health broadly means being physically, socially and mentally well and not just being free from infirmity or disease (Corbin et al, 2009, p. 22). Many strategies are used in promoting health and wellness. These are both physical and mental strategies. The term ‘health triangle’ is used to refer to these strategies. We need to understand that maintenance of health and wellness is a continuous process that comprise of personal strategies as well as assistance from healthcare providers. This paper aims at looking at some of the health problems such as stress, diabetes and tobacco related problems. It will also focus on their causes, effects and ways of controlling or managing them.
Health and wellness
There is no clear distinction between health and wellness. The terms health and wellness are broad and covers social, intellectual, physical and spiritual aspects. Wellness refers to how we take life and our ability to work effectively. Health and wellness depend on personal qualities (Corbin et al, 2009, pp. 64-69). Hence, it is wrong to compare ourselves with others since we have distinct qualities. Instead, we need to concentrate on our strengths and work on our weaknesses.
Dimensions of health and wellness
Health and wellness have physical, intellectual, social and emotion dimensions. The physical dimension involves the state of the body while intellectual dimension entails the ability to build up skills and knowledge to improve our life. Emotional health and well being refers to our ability to deal with our emotions as well as the emotions of those around us. Social dimension entails the ability to build and maintain friendly relationships with others ((Corbin et al, 2009, p. 74). Health and wellness are not complete without the spiritual dimension. This is the ability to cope with our beliefs.
Factors that influence health and wellness
There are copious factors that influence our health and wellness. Our eating habits as well as regular exercise influence our physical health. Moreover, our intellectual wellness is influenced by attitude such as positive thinking when faced with problems. Our ability to handle stress and cope with our weaknesses greatly affects our emotional wellness (Corbin et al, 2009, pp. 70-76). Embracing diverse cultural practices and having positive self esteem significantly influence our social health and wellness.
Stress Management
It is difficult to overcome stress in our day to day life. Generally, we tend to look for ways of living with stress rather than struggling to overcome it. However, it is imperative to note that there is hope of overcoming stress if proper stress management strategies are implemented. To effectively deal with stress, we ought to first identify its origin and evaluate the methods we use to overcome it. There are numerous sources of stress that range from domestic crisis, financial problems to working environment (Corbin et al, 2009, pp. 309-312). Some of the symptoms that we use to determine if we are suffering from stress include suffering from back pain and stiff neck, having rapid heart beat, frowning face and having sweaty hands.
Physical and emotion problems caused by stress
Stress leads to both physical and emotional health problems. One of the physical health problems associated with stress is high blood pressure. Stress leads to the body releasing adrenalin which constricts the blood vessels eventually rising blood pressure. If this condition continues for long, it may lead to one suffering from hypertension. Apart from physical health problems, stress leads to emotional health problems. One of these problems is depression (Corbin et al, 2009, p. 315).
Stress management strategies
Several measures can be taken to manage physical and emotional health problems associated with stress. For instance, stress emanating from working environment may result from poor organization. To avoid this, we need to manage our time well and come up with a time schedule. This is to help us in ensuring that we are not overwhelmed by work. Emotional stress results from our perceptions about life. It is imperative that we change our perceptions about life so as to set ourselves free from stress (Corbin et al, 2009, pp. 316-319). This is by taking life positively and living within our standards.
Diabetes
Diabetes (at times referred to as diabetes mellitus) refers to a group of diseases which result from excess blood sugar in the body. This may result from failure of the body to produce insulin or failure of the cells to respond to produced insulin. Diabetes is divided into three types. These are Type 1 diabetes, Type 2 diabetes and Gestational diabetes. Type 1 diabetes comes as a result of body’s failure to produce insulin. Normally, the disease is diagnosed at childhood. It may also occur at adulthood especially in people who consume a lot of alcohol. Type 2 diabetes results from failure of the body cells to use the secreted insulin (Corbin et al, 2009, pp. 95-98). At times, this diabetes is known as insulin resistant. The disease is mostly diagnosed at adulthood. Gestational diabetes occurs in pregnant women. Despite the disease healing after the women delivers, a woman suffering from this type of diabetes is susceptible to suffering from type 2 diabetes. Women suffering from gestational diabetes tend to give birth to huge babies.
Effects of diabetes
All forms of diabetes harbor long-term complications. Type 1 and type 2 diabetes lead to a condition known as hyperglycemia. If this condition lasts for long it leads to damage of nerves, blood vessels and eye retina eventually causing blindness. It may also damage kidney vessels leading to kidney failure. Nerves damage may lead to patients getting paralyzed (Corbin et al, 2009, pp. 99-101).
Coping with diabetes through changing our lifestyle
Complications associated with diabetes have called for people to change their lifestyles. In our study, we have learnt that some of the causes of diabetes include eating habits and weight gain (Corbin et al, 2009, pp. 101-104). Consequently, we ought to change our eating habits and be physically active to avoid suffering from diabetes. It is the high time that we star enrolling in aerobics and participating in resistance training. We need to eat foods with high fiber content such as whole grains, vegetables, nuts and fruits. This will help in regulating blood sugar in our bodies.
Tobacco
Tobacco is the sole cause of avertable death in the world. There are numerous fatal illnesses that result from tobacco smoking. These illnesses normally affect lungs, heart and at times hands and feet. One of the major health problems that result from tobacco smoking is cancer. Lung cancer is the most prevalent problem. The problem does not only affect those who directly smoke tobacco but also those who inhale tobacco smoke (Corbin et al, 2009, p. 382). For women who smoke tobacco, they are likely to suffer from cervical cancer and miscarriages. Another problem associated with tobacco smoking is cardiovascular disease. Carbon monoxide gas found in tobacco smoke leads to reduction in amount of oxygen in blood. In addition, tobacco contents narrow blood vessels leading to their blockage and subsequent heart attack or stroke.
Strategies for breaking from nicotine addiction
Prolonged tobacco use leads to nicotine addiction which becomes hard to detach from. Numerous strategies are employed to break from nicotine addiction and they all need to be implemented for a long time. Some of the strategies involve training our brains to use only the required amount of nicotine which is referred to as nicotine replacement therapy. This method uses nicotine patch or nicotine gum which when used release limited amount of nicotine to the bloodstream. Nicotine patch is applied on the skin and absorbed by the body (Corbin et al, 2009, pp. 384-388). There are also non-nicotine pill that are used to cut down our longing for nicotine as well as withdrawal signs. Examples of the pills are Bupropion and Varenicline. Despite the pills helping in alleviating nicotine addiction, they have their side effects such as insomnia, head aches, skin rashes and change in appetite.
Conclusion
Health and wellness maintenance is a continuous process that comprise of personal strategies as well as assistance from health care providers. To ensure our health we ought to understand the underlying factors that may compromise our health. For instance, we need to understand causes of stress so that we cope with it. Managing our time well and changing our perceptions about life will go a long way in helping us manage stress. Problems such as paralysis and blindness caused by diabetes can be avoiding by changing our lifestyle and eating habits (Corbin et al, 2009, pp. 101-104). Moreover, we need to check on our tobacco consumption so as to avoid suffering from cancer and cardiovascular diseases associated with tobacco. The above discussion has greatly helped in identifying the various problems associated with tobacco consumption, stress as well as diabetes. Besides, we have learnt on measures we can use to prevent these problems as well as importance of ensuring that we live a healthy life.
Reference List
Corbin, C., Corbin, W., Welk, G. & Welk, K. (2009). Concepts of Fitness and Wellness. New York, USA: McGraw-Hill.