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Reflecting back on this weeks input in society and lifestyle, I learnt a lot about the behaviours and actions people take that can put themselves or others at risk. I was astonished to find out that men and women on average live until 77.1 and 81.1 years, retrospectively in Scotland and this may be down … Continue reading At Risk Behaviour’s In Society 13/02/2017 →

Many people will argue the matter that Scotland is in fact a ‘healthy country’ or an ‘unhealthy country’, people will take into account their own health without looking at the people around them.  From analysing and taking into account the statistics from the Scottish Health Survey I have made generalisations and assumptions based on the question ‘Is Scotland Healthy?’.

Firstly, the Scottish Health Survey proposed the question ‘Would you describe your health as good or very good, bad or very bad?’ From a sample of 4894 adults, 74% of them assessed their health as good and very good with only 8% of them admitting to having a bad or very bad health. Looking at the children statistics out of 1139 children, 95% of children agreed they had a good or very good health and an astounding 1% admitted that they had a bad health. From looking at these statistics I am amazed at the amount of people who have openly admitted to having a healthy diet when Scotland has got such a high mortality rate with a consequence of this being due to peoples health. This does not mean however, that some of these people do not have a good health. Many people in Scotland will have a good healthy lifestyle and likes to exploit that however, I believe some of these people are covering up their bad health.

Mental Health is the first category highlighted in the survey and I feel this is a vital part of a healthy lifestyle. It is agreed that around 1 in 10 adults had two or more symptoms of depression. I personally believe mental health is becoming a huge impact on peoples health in Scotland, many people I know have suffered depression in various ways at some point in their life. 5% of the sample has also admitted to attempting suicide at some point or harming themselves one way or another. Many other issues of health was covered such as child obesity and dental health, they all highlighted in some way this was still happening in Scotland. The support for mental health is forever growing from call lines to help groups in spite of this I still feel mental health is a problem in Scotland that is dampening peoples health.

By looking at the diet of the sample, it highlighted that only 3.2 on average of adults ate the recommended portions of fruit and veg a day and children eating 2.7 portions a day. Another statistic that came to my attention is that over 25% of adults in Scotland in 2013 were classed as obese. In Scotland it is becoming severe issue that every second shop you pass is a take away of some sort with so much of these being fatty foods. Around 34% of children admitted to eating cakes at least twice a week. This shows that many children follow in the foot steps of their parents, the full family suffer because the parents are unwilling to maintain a healthy diet. It is vital to maintain a healthy diet to avoid suffering from heart diseases and various other health problems. In Scotland it is clear that many peoples diet is very unhealthy.

A final aspect is the lack of exercise in Scotland. The survey shows that 64% of adults claim to meet the recommended weekly guidelines of exercise. I feel that this statistic is a positive one as it shows that more than half of the sample admits to exercising weekly and being active. Although it can be argued that half of the sample is not meeting this guideline which shows that many people are not taking in the recommendations of physical health and this will show on their overall health. Again, along with your diet, it is clear that if your parents lack motivation and are unwilling to exercise it is more than likely that you will follow this and not complete the recommended weekly exercise. I personally feel Scotlands physical health needs to increase because of the lack of people attending for example games hall facilities which are now being closed down and giving less opportunities for children to exercise.

Overall, taking into account all of these statistics I personally feel that if you have been brought up around people who are unwilling to eat healthy or exercise this will pass down the line and ultimately decrease your motivation to become healthy. I think it is fair to state that Scotland is not in fact healthy nor unhealthy.

 

 

Learning and developing an about what impacts a child’s ability to learn is extremely important for my future career. The environment they are surrounded by has a major impact on children and their behaviours. The focus of the lecture today was about “At Risk Behaviours and Society”. This topic is of extreme interest to me as […]

‘The Glasgow Effect’

As part of today’s input we were asked to read the document ‘The Glasgow Effect’, that looked in detail to similar income deprivation prevailed amongst Glasgow, Manchester and Liverpool and the strong links that income can have on poor health and morality, however what this document highlighted was despite the three cities having the same income deprivation poor health and morality is significantly higher in Glasgow.

The main findings of the ‘Glasgow Effect’ is that there are strong and well established links between inequality and health. The document analysed income rate of the three cities to be almost identical, however premature deaths in Glasgow is 30% higher than the cities of comparison, there are countless reasons for these statics for instance behaviour risks and lifestyle.  What is startling being the number of deaths in Glasgow caused by drug misuses is 2.5 times higher and alcohol misuse 2.3 times higher than Manchester and Liverpool. Drug and alcohol misuse is known as ‘excess deaths’.

As the document progress and in-depth analysed lifestyle choices such as smoking, binge drinking and eating, Glasgow percentages where majority lower compared to the Liverpool and Manchester, for instance the percentage of Glasgow that smoke is 32.5% which is lower than Liverpool population who smoke 34.3%.  The static that stood out to myself was 20.7% of Glasgow eat healthy and 22.8% of Glasgow population is classed as obese, conversely 21.5% of Manchester eat healthy, but 25% of Manchester population is classified as obese.

A pivotal factor is social environment and education attainment, in Glasgow there is a higher number of the population with no qualifications compared with Liverpool and Manchester, having no education could possibly have a knock-on effect and people may become stuck in the inequality cycle, as they may find it difficult to find well paid employment, which could possible lead to income deprivation, they may be unable to afford healthy foods, join fitness clubs or socialise that could perhaps consequent in poor health.

After reading this document I found that deprivation could impact on poor health and morality, however deaths in Glasgow are more likely to be ‘excess deaths’ compared to Manchester and Liverpool. In conclusion, there is a range of problems and underlying factors that could inflect poor health and income deprivation is not a solo factor.

Walsh, D. Bendel, N. , Jones, R. , Hanlon, P. ‘The Glasgow Effect’.

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Available: http://moodle.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/712075/mod_resource/content/1/The%20Glasgow%20Effect.pdf. Accessed on 13/02/2017

 

Are Scottish People Healthy?

I did ponder over this question as I do find it rather ambiguous and open to opinions.  To a certain extent Scottish people and some are not. Some people may choose to lead a healthy lifestyle- eat healthy, eat their five-a-day, exercise to daily guidelines, drink little or no alcohol and don’t drink alcohol, some people in Scotland may lead their life in contrast.

As stated in the ‘Glasgow Effect’ some people may have no control over what they eat and exercise due to economical burdens, which could lead to an unhealthy lifestyle. It is important that local authority provide free or cheap sport facilities to promote an active and affordable lifestyle for all. Also, healthy foods are more expensive to buy than unhealthy and convince foods, which could engender people who have low incomes to buy unhealthy foods that could lead to an unhealthy lifestyle.

Therefore, as a prospective teacher/ student teacher it is important that I promote a healthy lifestyle and demonstrate this within the classroom. I believe it is important to make exercise fun and enjoyable that can be adapted to ranging physical abilities. I also believe that exercise should not be persevered just for Physical Education but can interwoven throughout the curriculum areas and some learning can be completed kinetically and moving around the classroom.

The Glasgow Effect

 

The Glasgow Effect is a report exploring the reasons for the poor health status of Glasgow and why, when compared to equally deprived UK cities, Glasgow has a shockingly high level of premature mortality.

The report looks at many statistics for Glasgow – including poverty (fig.1 and fig.2) and mortality rates (fig.3 and fig.4) – and compares them to similar statistics for two other similarly deprived cities, Manchester and Liverpool. By comparing the three cities it becomes easier to understand ‘The Glasgow Effect’ as although the cities display similar levels and patterns of deprivation, the number for premature mortality is much higher in Glasgow. As stated in the report, “deaths among Glaswegians (relative to residents of Liverpool and Manchester) 27% higher in relation to lung cancer, 32% higher for external causes, almost 70% higher for suicide, 2.3 times higher for alcohol-related causes, and almost 2.5 times higher for drug-related poisonings.”

Perhaps these shocking statistics presenting the high number of premature deaths could also be related to Scottish Culture. When many people think of Scottish Culture they immediately think of a variety of unhealthy food and drink. Irn Bru, Whiskey, Tablet and deep fried food to name a few. Not only are these damaging to our health but many unhealthy food and drink is available at the touch of a button. With the introduction of takeaway apps and delivery services, we don’t even need to leave our house to get access to such foods. In addition to this, binge drinking is also a serious problem in Scottish Culture. Many people nowadays tend not to drink in moderation but drink to get drunk. This, for most people, involves consuming unhealthy amounts of alcohol.

 

 

 

Are Scottish People Healthy?

 

I find this question to be incredibly broad and I don’t think there is a definite answer to the question. There are many people in Scotland who live an incredibly healthy lifestyle – exercising daily, not smoking or using drugs, and eating a balanced diet. On the other hand, many people live very unhealthy lives – binge drinking, smoking, rarely exercising and eating unhealthy food.

In today’s lecture, we spoke about how unhealthy habits established in childhood often contribute to dietary habits, smoking, alcohol use and inactivity. As a future teacher, I think it is incredibly important to encourage children to live a healthy and active lifestyle.

The ‘Glasgow Effect’ is a government paper which explores different equally deprived UK cities and how they each experience different health outcomes. The study compares various groups in Glasgow, Manchester and Liverpool, showing that although all three cities show almost identical levels of deprivation, the results in health largely differ.

The results highlight that all-cause mortality in deaths under 65 for Glasgow is more than 30% higher compared to Manchester and Liverpool. Glasgow was also seen to have a higher percentage (14%) in the all deaths category with a higher suicide rate and alcohol/drug related death rate out of the three cities.

These results emphasize that despite the three cities showing almost identical levels of deprivation, Glasgow has the most problems in regards to: binge drinking, drug addiction and suicide. To provide fuel to the fire, Scotland as a whole is seen as the unhealthiest country in Europe, we have extremely poor health habits in regards to eating right and exercising regularly. This though, is just seen to be part of Scottish culture, with the famous ‘deep fried Mars bar’ coming to mind, each possibly playing an influence in the results of the ‘Glasgow Effect’.

I believe that although, Scotland as a country is deemed the unhealthiest country in Europe, it is important to remember that not everyone in Scotland has that mind-frame. It is all to do with attitude towards health in general as well as an individual’s socio-economical background. The government are taking precautions and setting new legislations to help the young people of Scotland, providing more opportunities for them to take part in sport and to gain the information they need about healthy eating and diets.