Month: February 2017

Stress is something which everyone experiences at some point in their lives and it is often experienced due to certain triggers. Stress and its many triggers can have negative impacts on people’s health. In the Pengilly and Dowd (2000) article on Stress Hardiness, the concept of different categories of triggers is discussed. There are events which most people will go through at some point in their life, such as moving house or changing their place of work, and there are events which less people will have to deal with in their life time, such as divorce.

The category which contains events such as moving house, can cause stress as they can cause us to worry about unknown aspects of the change and can provide us with a lot to do, adding to our already busy schedules. Worrying can have a negative impact on our health as it can lead to panic which can cause problems with our heart and our breathing rate. It can also lead to us becoming physically and mentally tired, making us run down and this can lead to skin problems which can cause pain and may require medical treatment. In order to reduce worries about new things, we should try to develop a good level of self-esteem, meaning that we can enter in to new experiences with more confidence, leading to us worrying less about avoidable things.

Also, having too much to do can have a negative impact on our health as if we are constantly faced with an unrealistic work-load, we will possibly struggle to manage a work/life balance, meaning we are possibly spending less time with our loved ones and less time feeling relaxed and happy and possibly a sense of isolation. All of these things can lead to people feeling lonely and this in turn can lead to depression. As an attempt to combat this trigger, we should make a conscious effort to build up a strong social support, which will allow us to relieve our problems and to be a part of a support system which cares for us and listens as well as provides us with advice. This can be done by making time to join clubs and going out to meet people with similar interests to us.

In addition, as people are required to do things which take them out of their comfort zone at work, university, school, and in everyday life, they may feel as though they are under pressure to do as best as they can. This can lead to extremely hard work and to people not giving themselves a break, meaning they are under constant stress. This can lead to a higher heart rate, a higher cholesterol, and can have an affect on your adrenal and thyroid glands. To combat this we must consider the hard work as a challenge rather than a hurdle. Although it is hard work, we must consider the outcome and consider that it will be helping us to reach our goals. However, we also must consider our happiness in the present time and this can be achieved by taking control and planning our time to fit in the things we have to do as well as the things we want to do, meaning that we can relieve our stress and give our brains a break.

Furthermore, the category which contains rarer triggers of stress can cause people to feel extreme emotional pain and this can lead to stress. People who go through divorce, for example, may have to go through legal processes and have to make decisions about where they are going to live and about their children’s future relationship with their other parent. All of these things which lead from divorce can cause people to feel anxious and can possibly lessen their self-esteem. This can cause problems with breathing rates and may cause people to eat more, or less, than their body requires, effecting their digestive system. Although taking control of our lives is very important, sometimes it is good to remember that we cannot in fact control everything, no matter how hard we try. There will always be negative experiences in our lives that we have to overcome and that we have no control over. In order to relieve our stress caused by these problems, we must devote some time to ourselves, focussing on the positive points of our lives, doing what makes us feel good, and allowing life to control certain things for us, remembering that everything happens for a reason.

Finally, diagnosis of a disease can in fact cause further problems for one’s health. If a person is diagnosed with a disease they will be likely to worry about the consequences of this disease and to worry about the effects it will have on them, their lives, and their loved ones. This anxiety and idea of the unknown can cause people to have faster heart rates and for the blood to travel around their body faster, as well as other possible health problems such as a rise in glucose levels in the blood, meaning that on top of the impact the disease is having on their health, they are further damaging their health by worrying about the unknown. A positive outlook can be extremely hard to develop in these kinds of situations, but it can definitely lead to more happiness and better health in the short and long term. This kind of outlook can stop people from spending all of their time worrying about what might happen in the future and to instead focus on living their lives to the full. It is also through a sense of hope and a belief that everything is going to be alright in the end for themselves and for the ones they love, that many people feel less worried about the unknown.

 

I scored 50 when taking this test and this suggests that my levels of stress are relatively low as I have had a relatively low level of life change over the past year. I was surpried by this result as I have felt quite high levels of stress throughout this year at different points and for different reasons which were not mentioned as part of this test. For example, the stress which is caused by exams and work load at university and the stress of trying to maintain a work/life balance. These things cause me to worry and to sometimes work too hard, getting caught up n the idea that I must feel in control of my work. Also, personal issues such as problems with family and friends can cause me to worry and can prevent me from relaxing as my mind is always spinning. These types of problems can also prevent me from going out and soicalising with my friends or from enjoyign myself when I do, meaning that I am essentially stressed about being stressed and struggle to relieve it.

However, there are many things that I can actively do in attempt to relieve stress and I am surrounded by supportive people so this also helps me to releive stress. By making a conscious effort to stop studying or doing university work at a certain time in the day to fit in some form of exercise, I can allow my mind to have a break from hard work and I can allow my body to release some of its energy. Exercise also helps to release some of the tension that I feel and makes me feel happier and more relaxed. Furthermore, my outlook on life can imact my stress levels. If I have a positive outlook and I am optimistic about things, I am more likely to be able to make an effort to do things that make me happy. I am alot more likely to take opportunities and to view potentially bad situations as experiences which have happened for a reason and will, in the long term, get better. This hope will allow me to cope with stress more easily as I believe that things are going to get better and that hard times do not last forever. In addition, by planning ahead I am able to reduce my stress levels as I feel more in control of my life. This also helps me to control my work/life balance as I have planned days and times to get my work done as well as fitting in exercise, family, and friends. Finally, I like to talk to people about my problems to the people I trust and who care about me. This helps me to relieve my stress as people can give me different ways to look at my problems and provide different opinions on how best to deal with them. I am very lucky as I have a large social support network and without this I would defineitly be much more susceptible to high levels of stress.

It would be impossible for me to determine Scotland as a ‘healthy’ or ‘unhealthy’ country without making some generalisations. For that matter, I am not talking about every Scottish person when I answer the main question of ‘Is Scotland healthy?’ with no.

We are provided with statistics, such as those from the Scottish Health survey, which claim that from a sample of 4,894 adults, 74% of them describe their health as being ‘good’ or ‘very good’, with only 8% describing their health as bad or very bad. From the sample of 1,839 children, 95% of them described their health as ‘good’ or ‘very good’, while 1% described their health as ‘bad’ or ‘very bad’. I personally believe that if this was the case, there is no way that Scotland’s mortality rate would be so high. There are many people in the samples taken who truly will live healthy lifestyles, but it could be argued that there will also be many who either do not understand the meaning of a healthy lifestyle, or who cannot admit to themselves or others that the way they are living their lives cannot be classed as healthy.

Looking firstly at diet, only 22% of adults in 2013 said that they ate the recommended 5 portions of fruit and veg a day, with children eating on average 2.7 portions per day. Also, around 34% of children admitted to eating cakes at least twice a week. An unhealthy diet can vastly impact a persons wellbeing as it can lead to heart disease, vitamin deficiencies, and obesity, which can itself lead to various further health problems. Over 25% of adults in Scotland were obese in 2013. Today we live in a time in which nobody has time! So ready meals, jars of sauce and fast food are always the easy option. However, many of these contain hidden ingredients such as sodium, which, when eaten excessively, can lead to kidney problems, high blood pressure, heart problem, and weak bones.

Another cause of obesity is lack of exercise. 64% of adults in the sample claimed to meet the recommended weekly exercise guidelines. We could say that with more than half of the country reaching these guidelines, Scotland is a generally active country. However, with this in mind, we also must consider the other 46% of adults who are not meeting these guidelines, maybe just by a little bit, or maybe by doing no exercise at all. From personal experience, I believe that with the evolution of social media through the years, people are beginning to promote more healthy and active lifestyles through this. As fitness gurus become role models for many and as people post photographs of the transformations they have undergone through healthy diet and exercise, the generations of internet users are being inspired. However, depending on the attitudes to exercise that we grow up around, we are often exposed to a lack of motivation to exercise, or to the attitude that it is not really necessary. Therefore, there is definitely room for improvement when it comes to Scotland’s physical activity.

As well as these causes of poor health, I feel it is vital to mention alcohol consumption and smoking. With new legislation people are less likely to be harmed by second hand smoke. Although, it is clear that despite the known dangers of lung cancer, smoking still exists in Scotland and until this is not the case, it will contribute to our high mortality rates and poor general health. In addition, our culture has widely accepted that the people of today drink to get drunk. Drinking excessive amounts of alcohol not only has the potential to damage the liver but can also effect people mentally.

Mental health plays a huge part in determining the general health of Scotland. With around one in ten adults having had two or more symptoms of depression, 5% saying that they had attempted to take their lives at least once, as well as 5% saying that they had harmed themselves on purpose without the intent of killing themselves, Scotland may not be the least, but it is not the most, mentally healthy country it could be. However, support for this is on the rise and I would claim that within my life-time I have noticed an increase in help available as well as a decrease in stigma against mental health issues such as depression and anxiety.

The report also covers other areas of health such as dental health, childhood obesity, Asthma, Cardiovascular Disease, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, and Hypertension. The results of these aspects were varied but all of which displayed Scottish people as being relatively susceptive to having these diseases and health problems.

Therefore, it is fair to conclude that despite the high claims of good health in Scotland, the mortality rate is far too high and the NHS is far too stretched for these claims to be valid. So many diets consist of too much sugar and salt and not enough vitamins and minerals. Although many people claim to meet the guidelines of weekly exercise, there are still a group which remains not doing enough exercise. Obesity, smoking and alcohol abuse remain as huge problems, putting increasing pressure on the NHS to provide adequate health care. While mental health problems may be being more widely supported, they are often triggered by the stress that our society places on people. Meaning that Scotland, clearly, has quite a long way to go to becoming ‘healthy’.

 

The Glasgow Effect is a term used to describe the apparent relationship between Glasgow and poor health, beyond the levels of poor health which are to be expected due to levels of socioeconomic deprivation. The document discussing an investigation by David Walsh, Neil Bendel, Richard Jones and Phil Hanlon into this effect looks at the relationship between Glasgow’s socio-economic state and mortality rates. However, by investigating this relationship, the need for a different investigation was highlighted and this is currently underway, looking to understand why Glasgow has a higher mortality rate than other cities with similar levels of deprivation. The cities used for comparison to Glasgow were Liverpool and Manchester. Alongside Glasgow, these are the most deprive cities in the UK and have the highest mortality rates.

Firstly, researchers looked to define the three cities in question by the different local authorities within them. They then worked out a way to equally measure the income deprivation of each of the three cities, which were all at similar levels. After splitting each of the cities into smaller areas to make the results more accurate, researchers studied the mortality data for each small area, within 5 year age groups, taking genders and different causes, such as all malignant neoplasts, diseases of the circulatory system, external causes, and suicide and self inflicted injury, into account. They finally looked at historical data and other English cities to give them scope for comparison.

The results showed that with almost a quarter of each of the populations of Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester being classed as income deprived, the deprivation is similarly distributed. However, mortality rates in Glasgow for people aged under 65 years old were almost 30% higher than those in Liverpool and Manchester, suggesting that there are causes of this high mortality rate beyond deprivation. The ‘Excess’ mortality of Glasgow refers to deaths which, if Glasgow was the exact same as Liverpool and Manchester in terms of age, gender and mortality rates, would not be expected. This ‘excess’ mortality is at around 45% in the age group of 15-44 and around 30% in the age group of 45-64 year olds. Although, it was found that the mortality rate of children aged 0-15 in Glasgow is lower than in Manchester and Liverpool.

In addition, mortality was displayed as being at its highest in Glasgow, compared to Liverpool and Manchester in the most and least deprived deciles of the city. This clearly poses the question of why are death rates so high for people who are wealthy? Displaying the possibility that higher income may be detrimental to health, just as lower income is, possibly due to poor health decisions made because of stress, lack of time to be active, or money which is at their disposal to be spent on unhealthy habits.

Furthermore, a break down of the death rates in Glasgow due to different causes of death was shown. With deaths in Glasgow due to suicide being around 70% higher than those in Manchester and Liverpool. Also, deaths in Glasgow due to lung cancer are around 27% more common than those in Liverpool and Manchester. With external causes being 32% higher in Glasgow and alcohol and drug related deaths being almost 50% higher in Glasgow than in the other two cities mentioned.

Many different factors were considered and clearly, further research is required when thinking about why Scotland’s mortality rate is higher than that of two cities which have almost identical socioeconomic backgrounds to it. The possibility that it could be linked to an ‘anomie’, as discussed by Emile Durkeheim as a lack of control of society over people’s behaviour, is mentioned in this report. As well as this, it is considered that cultural differences, genetic factors, and family life, to name a few, could possibly be impacting Glasgow’s mortality rates. Clearly, many if not all of these factors, as well a the others mentioned, could be impacting Glasgow’s death rates. Poor health choices and generally poor health can be passed on through generations by genetics or simply by influence.

Glasgow was also compared to 4 less deprived English cities, namely: Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds and Sheffield. These results indicate that deprivation is definitely related to higher mortality. When comparing Glasgow with the rest of Scotland, it is made clear that Glasgow City has the highest rates of mortality in Scotland.