Introduction
Human health is a vital aspect of human life since it can not be replaced once wasted. People try to stay healthy through various means and thus try to find possible solutions to health complications. It is not enough to eat a balanced diet in order to be healthy. There are other aspects of concern that individuals must address in order to attain healthy standards. People become what they are due to what they consume. Those who consume cautiously live careful lives than those who eat what they get. This discussion focuses on physical activities and diet as measures towards achieving healthy standards of living.
Analysis
The high rate of multiple dietary and physical activity behaviors that have led to chronic illnesses among adolescents in the UK has greatly increased. During a survey where 51% of the 176 participating adolescents were girls, the adolescents were asked to wear accelerometers and later fill out a questionnaire after a week. This was done to assess their breakfast, fruit, and vegetable consumption (Anderson 2012).
They were required to fulfill a given amount of physical activity (≥ 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per day), fulfill a breakfast recommendation (eating breakfast on ≥ 5 days per week), and a fruit and vegetable recommendation (portions of fruit and vegetables per day). It was found that boys were more active than girls and the younger adolescents were more active than the older ones. Boys also ate more breakfast than the girls did while the older adolescents ate more fruits than the younger ones.
Multiple risk behaviors were found on more than half of adolescents, meanwhile, only 6% were able to follow all requirements. Compared to boys, girls had more risk factors. Most girls had a two behavioral risk that paired breakfast consumption and physical activity as they were prone to skip breakfast more which led to low energy levels hence low physical activity. It has been found that physical tasks along with a healthy diet which includes sufficient and regular breakfasts and adequate levels of fruit consumption cause short and long-term health effects in youth. Cardiovascular disease risk factors may be prevented by good physical activity hence influencing health in adulthood (Jolan 2011).
It is also possible for young people to take regular breakfast to be overweight compared to those who prefer skipping breakfast. Most data in the UK show that 40% of girls and 30% of boys do not meet the present guidelines of physical activity. Also, it has been shown a prominent correlation between dietary behaviors and physical activities in youngsters. Low fruit and vegetable consumption lead to low levels of physical activities while frequent skipping of breakfast led to infrequent physical activity (Johnson 2011).
Though health-promoting programs try to frequently target multiple behaviors, there has been no best way found to stimulate the behavior change in adolescents. Most of the common cluster for young people with two risk behaviors were caused by an inability to meet the level of fruits and vegetable consumption along with recommendations regarding physical activities.
Conclusion
This implicates that multiple health behaviors should be intervened to address health behaviors individually. However, it is found that these physical and dietary behaviors do not occur while in isolation hence it would be advisable to find the best ways to achieve these changes in adolescent boys and girls.
Works Cited
Anderson, O. (2012). The Flat Belly Formulae: Diet, Breath and Gravity (No Nonsense Health and Fitness). Massachusetts: Wadsworth Publishing.
Johnson, A. (2011). Be Your Own Personal Trainer: The Anatomy of Personal Training. New York: Cengage Learning.
Jolan, J. (2011). The Ultimate Diet Guide: For Busy Women! No Starving, No food Restrictions, No Gym Workouts Required. New York: Make Right Publishing.