After todays input I have taken into consideration the factors that impact on our health and the methods that can be used to support a healthy lifestyle. Stress is an important aspect in todays society and can impact positive and negatively on a persons health. After having read ‘Stress Hardiness’ an article by Pengilly and Dowd (2000) it has highlighted the main components of stress and how these are caused by major life events either normative events such as moving house or non-normative events such as divorce.
One factor that can negatively impact on our health is job stress. Having troubles or being under pressure at work can lead to huge amounts of stress and constantly being buried under your work load. This can cause people to have problems with their adrenal and thyroid glands as well as increasing their heart rate. However, to be able to support this we must consider it as a challenge in order to succeed. Penally and Dowd(2000) believes that challenge is an opportunity for growth and that change is normal when it comes to being challenged. This will allow people to relieve their stress and feel it more as a goal rather than a stress.
Major life events such as getting divorced is an area of stress that can particularly cause a great amount of stress and loneliness. People may fail to particpate in certain social events or just feel constantly down with no one to talk to. A method that could increase a healthy lifestyle in this situation is social support. Talking to a friend or family member and being able to trust them will greatly help in a time of loneliness. People will be able to listen and gain advice from someone who has went through a similar problems in their life.
People who have common mental disorders for example, anxiety this may impact negatively on ones health. Anxiety can lead to people becoming very self conscious and unwilling to do certain things as they feel they are constantly being watched or worried about what other people may think. A method to combat this is to gain a sense of control. Try to cope with how things can change quickly and learn to deal with situations more positively rather than negatively.
Age related stress is another category than can cause people stress and particuarly decrease their level of health when it comes to worrying about certain stages of their live such as retirement. People may worry tat once they retire they won’t have things to do and will be bored without work. A stress buffer of this could be to maintain physical fitness and exercise to keep a healthy lifestyle as well as having something to do as a replacement of work.
