Emma Bowie Society & Lifestyles

In this weeks lecture we focused on stress to start off with. We had to identify the things that made us stressed, if they were good or bad and how we could help prevent them. We discussed stress triggers such as job stress, daily hassles and age related stress (this being something I had never thought about before). We then spoke about our responses to stress. This is where I found out that I didn’t deal with stress very well, I just cry, although after going though the slides and hearing suggestions from others in my year, I have thought about more positive ways to deal with stress such as going a run or seeking social support. We also looked at mental health and how religion and spirituality could help this. Next we looked at how mental health affects physical health, having positive mental health means that the person feels;

• Sense of empowerment and personal control
• Sense of connectedness
• Sense of purpose and meaning
• Hope

This then means that they use less health services, meaning less stress on the government. They also have positive recovery rates as they feel in control and  they know they can get better. Lastly we spoke about the importance of social support and why it is vital that people feel like they have someone to talk to, so that it doesn’t lead to being lonely and feeling excluded.

Holmes Rahe Inventory

In the tutorial we were asked to complete the Holmes Rahe Inventory to work out our stress levels and the affect this could have on our health. Shockingly I scored 265, this meant I feel into the category 150 to 300 points meaning a 50% chance of health breakdown in the next 2 years. I was very shocked to be placed in the category, and as far up in it. I do feel stressed at this time although not as much as it is suggesting and it is scary to this that this could mean I have a 50% chance of having health problems in the years to come.

I feel like one of the main things I get stressed about it work, uni work and my job. I need to work so I can earn money although working too much means I don’t have enough time for my studies. This does put a lot of stress on me and it is something I struggle to balance and cope with. I think I noticed this as I started having an increase in arguments with my friends and family, this is when I noticed that I had so much going on in my head that I was taking it out on other people.

I feel like to combat this I need to be more effective with my time management. I need to create a timetable of what I am going to study and when so I can fit my job around this (as my university work comes first). I also need to ensure I leave enough time in the week to get out of the house and do things, even if it is just going a drive with my friends I have released that this was part of the reason I was so stressed, because I was over working myself.

In the future I also aim to do more exercise when I am stressed. I would say I live a fairly active lifestyle although when I am stressed or feel overwhelmed I hope to make an effort to get out the house even if it is for a walk, as it is benefiting me in more ways than one. I will also trying listening to music to calm me down, this is something that I have never tried before so I hope to try this technique to see if it works for me.

Stress Hardiness Article

From reading this article in the tutorial I have a deeper understanding of the term ‘hardiness’ and its three components, control, commitment and challenge. I learnt that a ‘hardy’ individual is someone who tackles stress and takes on challenges for personal growth. This article highlighted how major life events can cause stress in certain people, it also discussed how several factors can have a negative effect on your health.

One factors discussed that can negatively impact your health is normative transitions. These are life events that are expected to happen, for example retirement and moving house. These types of events are likely to cause stress to the individual, however the impact doesn’t tend to be long-term or cause much damage.

Next non-normative transitions. These have more of a serious effect on peoples life. Non-normative events include a divorce or loss of job, they are unpredictable. The effects are long term and are things such as coronary heart disease and cancer. It causes high stress levels for anyone involved.

Loneliness is another factor that could negatively impact on health. As we previously learned being alone and being lonely are completely different. Being alone means being psychically alone, for example in a room, however someone could feel lonely even when surrounded with a room full of people. It is the feeling of not being able to speaking to anyone around you. This can cause major depression, promote unhealthy behaviours, such as drinking, and cause excessive reactions to stress. Feeling lonely also means that you are 4 times more likely to get sick. This in turn can effect your health majorly in the long run.

Another factor that can negatively impact your health is lack of human contact. From a hug to a high five to a pat on the back this allows emotion to be shown and for people to connect with others around them, basic human contact daily can have many benefits. Simply touching someone can decrease stress levels, lower blood pressure and reduce overall tension. Lack of this means they are not receiving the benefits that this brings which could intern effect there mental health in the future.

Social support is the last factor that I will talk about that can effect our health negatively. Having social support means that you have someone to talk to and you know is there for you when you need them. These people can include friends or family, colleagues at work, help lines / groups and professionals. Lack of social support in someones life could negatively impact them as they may start to experience higher stress levels, decreased life expectancy and feeling down about themselves. This may also mean that it takes them longer to recover as they don’t feel obliged to get better for someone else, it could also increase the need for medicine in some long term illnesses, thus negatively impacting their health.

However, from what I have learned today I now know of many different way to combat these problems and methods that could support a healthy lifestyle.

One being finding the right coping mechanisms for you. Some include getting enough sleep, managing your time and keeping a stress diary. The next is physical fitness, exercising is a good way of releasing stress and getting fit and healthy at the same time. Exercising releases happy endorphins making you feel more positive about yourself. Social support from family and friends is another way that could help support a healthy lifestyle. Knowing you have someone to talk to and help you through your problems makes you feel safe which should in turn make you worry less. Religion could also help. Researching and attending church is a good way of keeping a healthy lifestyle, it means you are less likely to take part in risky behaviours and it gives you a senses of personal control and connectedness. A last way that could help support a healthy lifestyle is through learning to be optimistic. Being optimistic means you believe in yourself, you realise and make small changes, set goals and stay flexible. This means you look on the positive side of things and overall you believe in your self which in turn should decrease the chance of stress and support a healthy lifestyle.

During this weeks lecture and tutorials we spoke about at risk behaviour within the society, the main six being;

1. Injuries
2. Tobacco
3. Alcohol
4. Sexual Behaviour
5. Dietary Patterns
6. Lack of Physical Activity

We spoke about the affect that these behaviour have on the society and on your lifestyle. We also looked at the four levels of influence and how they linked to these behaviours; individual/family, school/peers, community, policy/society. Our main points of focus were on ‘The Glasgow Effect’ and ‘To what extent are Scottish people healthy?’, this blog will discuss the two further.

‘The Glasgow Effect’

The Glasgow Effect focuses on investagating why equally deprived UK areas experience different health outcomes. It focuses on comparing factors such as income, health and mortality rates. Briefly The Glasgow Effect states that people living in Glasgow tend to die younger and have poorer health than other place such as Manchester and Liverpool who are equally as deprived.

One reason that the researched thought people in Glasgow were dying so young was due to income. The mortality rate for under 65 year olds in Glasgow was almost 30% higher than the two comparing cities. However after the research was completed they found that the cities being studied  were in fact equally deprived in terms of income, with just over 20% of the population in Glasgow, Manchester and Liverpool being classed as ‘income deprived’. Thus proving that low income is not the only reason for such a peak in mortality rates in Glasgow.

A second factor investigated in the Glasgow Effect is the lack of physical and healthy lifestyle. In Glasgow alcohol related death are 19.5% higher than Manchester and Liverpool and drug related deaths are 8% higher. This has an ongoing effect, not only for the adults but for the children that are growing up witnessing this and thinking that it is acceptable behaviour to binge drink and take drugs. This does at stated cause a large number of deaths each year and I feel like this has a snowball effect on the younger generations.

In conclusion it appears that there is no definite reason as to why people in Glasgow have this problem surrounding them, there are however many reasons and factors that are suggested – most of which could be rectified.

‘To what extent are Scottish people healthy?’

‘The Sick Man of Europe’, Scotland  have unfortunately managed to be tagged with this title. We are notoriously known for binge drinking, smoking and eating deep fried mars bars, and perhaps this is why. Personally I think it is unfair to categorise everyone living here at ‘unhealthy’, although there are many arguments to suggest otherwise.

Linking with this stereotype of what Scottish people eat and drink two thirds of us are overweight or obese. The number of men that are gaining significant weight has risen by 9% since 2003 and with women rising by 13% it would be fair to say that compared to other countries we do have more of a problem with obesity. The NHS Scotland are annually spending roughly £600 million to treat overweight of obese people. However for a number of years now schools around Scotland have started getting the children to run a ‘daily mile’. At any time in the school day children will be asked to put down their pencils and run a mile around the school grounds. I witnessed this on a recent placement I was on and the children reacted very well to it, I would even go as far to say that they enjoyed it. I think this is a great way of making sure that children are getting enough daily exercise, I also think this will encourage them to continue staying active outside school and into their adult life.

On the up side we have managed slowly but surely beat the smoking habits with the introduction of  ‘vaping’ and electronic cigarettes. Now 21% of adults smoke in comparison to 28% of adults in 2003. In turn this is decreasing the number of children that are exposed to second hand smoke. This may be due to a law being introduced in 2015 making it illegal for an adults to smoke in a car with a child under the age of 18. From 10% in 2014 to 6% in 2016, this is a step in the right direction for improving the health of children and adults across Scotland. This is one of the reasons as to why I think it is unfair to name everyone in Scotland as being unhealthy, as 79% of adults do not smoke.

Overall I think that compared to other countries Scotland’s health statistics are as a whole lower, although, after research, when asked ‘To what extent are Scottish people healthy?’ I would say that it depends on individual people and factors not just based on the country as a whole.