Society and Lifestyles

Healthy Lifestyle

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There are many factors that can have a negative effect of your health, some of these factors include: loneliness, lack of social support, lack of human contact/touch, normative life transitions and non-normative life transitions.

Loneliness is often confused with alone.  Being alone means that you are by yourself e.g. sitting alone, reading alone etc. and it is a choice, you can choose to be alone.  Whereas loneliness is the felling that no matter how many people you are surrounded by or how many friends you have, you still feel lonely.  Loneliness can have negative effects on your health as it can cause major depression, diminished immune function, promotes unhealthy behaviours, causes excessive reactions to stress and you are 4 times more likely to get sick.

Social support is having someone you can talk to about all your problems and the things that are bothering you, this can include your family, friends, colleagues, help lines (ChildLine), help groups (AA), teachers/teaching staff or you partner/husband/wife.  When someone doesn’t have any social support, it can affect their health, it can lead to negative feelings about oneself, more at risk of stress, decreased life expectancy, longer recovery times from surgery, increase need for medication in some chronic illnesses and promotes negative health practices.

Human contact/touch is a vital part of our human nature, it conveys emotion and allows us to connect with those around us.  Human touch also has many positive effects on our health such as: stronger hearts, lower blood pressure, decreased stress levels and reduced overall tension.  However, if someone isn’t exposed to human contact then they do not receive these benefits thus reducing their health.

Normative life transitions, for example retirement or moving home, are life events that we can predict and expect.  These kinds of life event can cause stress which negatively effects the person’s health, but these affects are not as great as those that come from non-normative life transitions.  Non-normative life transitions, for example divorce or loss of a job, are life events that cannot be predicted and cause even greater negative effects on the person’s health.  These effects include: neurotic impairment, coronary heart disease, cancer and many others.

Here are some factors that can help in supporting a healthy lifestyle:

  • Religion and spirituality
  • Family support
  • Physical fitness
  • Coping mechanisms
  • Sense of control
Society and Lifestyles

Holmes-Rahe Reflection

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After adding up my score on the Holmes-Rahe Scale I had a total of 146, this implies that I have had a relatively low amount of life change and have a low susceptibility to stress-induced health breakdown.  I’m quite happy with this score as it means that my stress levels haven’t been too high over the past year.  Well actually, although the scale tells me that my stress levels have been pretty low, I know for a fact that they have been much, much higher over the past year.  As much as I think the Holmes-Rahe Scale is a useful tool, it doesn’t take into account the stress from other life events such as exams, personal anxiety or depression as examples.  I think if these were also options on the scale, my score would be much higher, as I struggled with exam stress not once but twice last year and I was also affected by some anxiety issues as well which caused stress in other areas such as holidays, social interaction, finishing high school, moving away from home, starting at university and even going out in public.  More recently however I have been stressing about University work and the upcoming exams, as well as having these exams to study for, I have also been stressed over the Literacy resit that I have to do as well.  It gets to the point where I stress so much about having to study for all these exams that I end up doing no studying at all and I begin to lose sleep too, which is not good!  Relieving stress is something I find quite difficult, because I live away from home I don’t really get the chance to confide in my family and I don’t want to burden my friends because I know that they have their own problems to deal with and exams to study for.  So really the only way I have to get rid of stress is either to bottle it up or to comfort eat, which is also not good.  That’s usually my way to resolve stress that has built up over time but I have some other ways of relieving stress as it happens, for example giving a presentation.  This is where I either take deep breaths in fresh air, fidget (wring my fingers), bob my leg up and down or sometimes if I’m really stressed I’ll dig my fingernails into the backs of my fingers or the palm of my hand.  I know that some of my tactics are not the greatest but they seem to work for me, which is all that really matters.

Society and Lifestyles

at risk behaviours and society

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This week’s class was all about at risk behaviours and societies, we talked all about the different behaviours that can put people at risk, how society influences these people to put themselves at risk and how society affects these people at risk.  We also looked at the ‘Glasgow Effect’, which is what this blog will focus on.  The ‘Glasgow Effect’ is a paper that explores why equally deprived UK cities experience different health outcomes.  In the study, various groups around the same number in Glasgow, Manchester and Liverpool were compared.  The study shows that all three cities show almost identical levels of deprivation, but results in health differing quite vastly.  The results show that all-cause mortality in Glasgow is more than 30% higher in relation to deaths under 65 compared to Manchester and Liverpool, Glasgow was also higher, by 14% in the all deaths category.  Glasgow also has a higher suicide rate and alcohol/drug related death rate compared to the other two cities.  This goes to show that although all three cities have almost identical levels of deprivation, Glasgow has the biggest problem with binge drinking, drug addiction and suicide prevention.  As well as alcohol and drug issues Glasgow and even Scotland as a whole is seen as the unhealthiest country in Europe, we have very poor health habits when it comes to diet and exercise.  We have a love of deep fried food, copious amounts of alcohol and a carefree attitude when it comes to health, these issues may be a major influence in the conclusion of the ‘Glasgow Effect’.

I thought this way before, but after reading through the ‘Glasgow Effect’ I am absolutely certain that Scotland is not as healthy as it should be.  The government are taking precautions and setting new legislations to help the younger generation of Scotland to become healthier, but this positive attitude towards food and drink doesn’t seem to be rubbing off on the adults of Scotland and this needs to change if we are to thrive as a nation!

If you would like to have a read of the ‘Glasgow Effect’ paper, you can find it here.

http://moodle.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/712075/mod_resource/content/1/The%20Glasgow%20Effect.pdf

Society and Lifestyles

Inclusion and Equality

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This week’s class was all about inclusion and equality, we looked at what inclusion and equality are, the three levels of inclusion, why inclusion and equality are important, the equality act (2010) and Allport’s scale of prejudice and discrimination.  We also looked at a couple of the theorists who worked on the different aspects of inclusion and equality.  I had a pretty god idea of what inclusion and equality are but I never realised all the aspects involved in Allport’s scale of prejudice and discrimination.  Allport’s scale has five levels: antilocution, avoidance, discrimination, physical attack and extermination.

Antilocution – making jokes and insensitive remarks about another group; expressing opinions that reflect negative stereotypes and negative images based on preconceived judgements rather than facts; expressing hateful opinions about another group; name calling, ridiculing, verbal abuse and insults

Avoidance – actively ignoring specific individuals and groups; maintaining social distance, isolating, marginalising and excluding = Apartheid

Discrimination – denying equal access to opportunities, goods and services = Segregation in the USA

Physical attack – persecution, assault, vandalism and hate crimes = KKK

Extermination – genocide, ethnic cleansing = The Holocaust, Rwandan Genocide

Here is a visual representation of what inclusion and equality look like.

inclusion-background

untitled

 

Society and Lifestyles

RELIGION, CULTURE AND ‘UNCHURCHED’ SPIRITUALITY

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Today’s class was again a head spinner in which we covered a lot of information on religion, culture and ‘unchurched’ spirituality.  Before attending today’s class I knew very little about what ‘unchurched’ spirituality is, now however I know a lot more about what ‘unchurched’ spirituality is.  We learned what ‘unchurched’ spirituality is, some definitions, how and why it came about, the characteristics and some of the criticisms of this concept.  As well as learning about ‘unchurched’ spirituality, we also learned about religion and culture and where the two meet.  We looked at a few of the theorists who wrote about religion and culture, these theorists include: Max Weber (1864-1920), Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Bruce Lincoln (1948-present).  I am still a little fuzzy on what the clear definition of ‘unchurched’ spirituality is, but to remedy this I will look into it in more detail so as to clarify the meaning in my mind.  I think that having attended the previous classes on religion has allowed me to broaden my mind on religion, and I think this open mind will be very useful in the classroom.  It will allow me to teach children about religion with an unbiased opinion of my own and hopefully my open mind will rub off onto the children, thus making them more open the concept of religion and how the various religions differ from each other.  This in turn should hopefully make them more accepting of people’s opinions and their beliefs.

Society and Lifestyles

Religion, Society and Diversity

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Today’s class was certainly a head spinner, there was a lot of information thrown at us and a lot of (mental) questions asked.  One thing the class wasn’t however was boring, we covered the meaning and function of religion, the different types of religion, religious diversity and some of the theorists who covered the aspects of religion in their work.  I looked at one of these theorists, Bronislaw Malinowski, and his work on religion in more detail.  He was known as the founder of social anthropology and for many years he lived alongside and studied the Trobriand islanders.  Malinowski believed that religion serves particular needs of society and that it fulfils the biological and psychological needs of the human race.  After today’s classes I can see the relationship between religion and culture is much stronger than I first thought, it can bring people together in times of need and it can also give strength and individuality to a person.  I also now know that there are three types of religion, established religion, sect and cult.  Before today I was only aware of two of these types of religion, established and cult, so sect is a new concept for me and I think I will research more into it and cult as I am interested by what they mean.  Today’s class has given me more inspiration of how religion can be taught to children, there are so many ways in which you can explain to them the different types of religion and even how on a basic level they are a little similar.  I can understand that some parents/educators don’t like the idea of teaching children about religion as it is a choice for them to make whether they follow or believe in a religion.  However, I do think that teaching children about the different types of religion in the world they live in can have a very positive effect on them as it can open their minds and allow them to respect other people’s beliefs and views.  After all they do say that the greatest cause for conflict between religions is a lack of understanding of each other’s beliefs.

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Personal Response to ‘Room’ by Emma Donoghue

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For years now I have greatly enjoyed reading both fiction and non-fiction books, with fiction being my favourite.  I used to be an avid reader sometimes going through several books a month, nowadays however I find that I don’t read as much as I would like to, probably because I don’t have enough time and because I’ve read most of the books in my house, several times.  As I said, fictional books are my preferred choice of reading, with the Harry Potter series being my absolute favourite and The Maze Runner Series coming in second.  Although I prefer fictional books I do quite like to read non-fictional books too, I like how they are based on fact and open your understanding on certain topics that you have some previous knowledge on or have no understanding of at all.  Reading non-fictional books can also widen your search for topic work in a classroom as you could be inspired to choose a topic that you ordinarily wouldn’t have chosen either because you didn’t know enough about it or didn’t know anything at all about it.  Most of the fictional books I read are chosen because they are based on events that would be extremely unlikely to happen in real-life (e.g. Harry Potter), however some fictional books are based on real-life events but have a twist or are developed from true stories.  ‘Room’ by Emma Donoghue falls in to latter category, a fictional book inspired by a true story.  This book was particularly fascinating as the story line was gripping and really interesting.  I really liked how it was all written from Jack’s point of view although this did make it quite hard to read and understand in places because of the language he used.  Also, I liked how you got a good setting of what it was like before Jack was born and how Joy ended up in room.  I would definitely recommend this book to someone else, even if they have already seen the film, because you get more information in the book than you do from the film as you hear all of Jack’s thoughts which you don’t get from the movie.  One aspect of the way ‘Room’ that was challenging for me was the way it was written from Jack’s point of view, because he’s only five the language that he used and the way that some of his words were jumbled up or he had the wrong word for certain things was a little confusing.  This meant that when reading the book, it took a little while to into the way in which he spoke, so sometimes I would have to go back and re-read parts again because I hadn’t understood the first time.  I think ‘Room’ has developed my reading skills as it has given me the opportunity to read a book that is unconventionally written in a way that I’ve never seen before (written from a child’s point of view).  This book has inspired me to read more books that are like it, more grown-up and loosely based on true stories.  ‘Room’ was very useful when it came to understanding language acquisition and development as it allowed you to see in context what the certain aspects of language development/acquisition are, for example, over-generalisation.

Professional Goals and Reflection on Placemet

Reflection on Placement

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The school I visited for my 1st year week long placement was a small rural primary school with an incorporated nursery that had approximately two dozen pupils split into two classes; P1-3 and P4-7.  I worked alongside both teachers and a fellow student throughout the week, interacting with all the pupils of the school and of the nursery as well as interacting with the teachers in the classroom and staffroom.

Strengths

I would say that my main strength is that I am an effective communicator, I can effectively explain to children what their tasks are and what is expected of them throughout these tasks.  I can also successfully describe to a child the steps for getting to the correct answer of a question using creative and interactive methods.  For example, there was one child; let’s call her Jane.  Now jane was stuck on the following mental question 5 – ? = 0, she was struggling to mentally subtract to get to zero.  I came up with the idea to use concrete material (pencils) to physically show the calculation needed, the situation went as follows.

Jane – I’m stuck on this question (5 – ? = 0)

Myself – alright, well if I have 5 pencils (holding 5 pencils in my hand) but I don’t want any, how many do you have to take away from me so that I have no pencils.

Jane – I’m not sure

Myself – ok well you take them from me, physically take the pencils out my hand and count as you do so.

Jane – one (takes away 1 pencil), two (takes away another pencil), three (takes away another), four (takes away another), five (takes away the last pencil, looks up and smiles).  Five, the answers five.

Myself – well done that was good.

I used this process repeatedly when Jane became stuck on similar questions and also when other students in the class became confused as well.

 

Area of Most Progress

I would say that my confidence in working with the children, using behavioural management techniques and also interacting with the teachers on a professional level as I had never experienced anything like that before progressed as the week went on.  At first I struggled with interacting with the children as I didn’t know them, as in the school I previously did work experience in I knew 90% of the students which made connecting with them particularly easy, but in this case I had no prior knowledge of any of the children which made me less confident in interacting with them.  This lack of confidence did however decrease over the course of the placement as I spent more and more time with the children every day and built up trust.  I also became more confident in using behavioural management techniques as the week progressed as in the beginning I was reluctant and unsure whether to use them as I am only a student and I am not yet qualified so don’t have the authority to punish bad behaviour.  I was however reassured by the teacher that if I saw any bad behaviour I was to deal with it in a manner I saw fit, this usually consisted of me having a quiet word with the misbehaving pupil.  Interacting with the teachers on a professional level was quite difficult to get my head around at first because I had never experienced anything like it before, but after a few days I realised that I was viewed as an equal to the teachers and was trusted with personal and sensitive information about the students and was also asked for my opinion on situations and how to handle them.

 

Area Requiring Progress

I would say that the area that needs the most improvement is my ability to self-reflect on my experiences.  At the moment I can reflect and find all the negatives of what do but I really struggle with identifying the positive aspects, this is probably due to a lack of self-confidence and self-worth.  This lack of confidence also affects my ability to present in front of my peers.  Children that are younger than me and my elders don’t make me nervous at all but when it comes to presenting to a group of people my own age that I don’t know or aren’t comfortable around I get really nervous and sometimes I’m even ill from the stress.  So this is one area that I would really like to improve on as it will be relevant to my future career and experiences.

 

Action Plan

My plan of action is to film myself presenting to groups and watch it back and note down what I did well and what I didn’t do so well, I’ll also do this when I’m in everyday situations such as paying for shopping.  This practise in everyday and formal settings will give me the chance to review everything I do right and wrong and should hopefully help me get better at giving myself positive feedback.  For the confidence side of presenting I’m going to practise talking in front of a mirror and also build myself up to presenting to groups I am uncomfortable rather than jumping in at the deep in.

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