‘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’.
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.
