In this week’s lecture and seminars we focused on the risks individuals within society take. we started the lecture by being active and moving around. I was surprised to find out that women on average lived longer then men; former living for 81.1 on average and latter living for 77.1 on average. Factors that can affect an individual’s life expectancy are things such as personal beliefs, hereditary and behaviours.

There are several causes for deaths in both adults and young people. Adult deaths are predominantly caused due to factors such as dietary habits, cigarette smoking, alcohol use and Inactivity whilst young people’s deaths are mostly caused by motor vehicle crashes, other unintentional injuries (falls, fires, drowning) and suicide.

Risk behaviours are actions people take that place their life in a danger; it can cause injury, illness, and premature death. During this week’s Society and lifestyle group seminar, we discussed about the risk behaviours that can be prevented but still cause deaths in many young people and adults. These include:

1. Behaviors contributing to unintentional/ intentional injuries
2.  Tobacco use
3. Alcohol and drug use
4. Sexual behaviors resulting in unintended pregnancy and STD’s
5. Dietary patterns leading into disease
6. Lack of physical activity

each group within the seminar were given a topic to research and present. Our group researched about the ‘lack of physical activity’.

From reading ‘The Glasgow Effect’ Document, it is clear that Scottish people are not very healthy (especially those living in Glasgow).

Whist reading the document “The Glasgow Effect”, I have come across many new information. The report aims to look at why Glasgow has one of the highest mortality rates compared to other equally deprived areas in other parts of the country (such as Liverpool and Manchester). Some aspects of the health in Glasgow are improving, however there is still a huge gap between the life expectancy between the most deprived and affluent areas. Despite Liverpool and Manchester having identical level of deprivation to Glasgow, premature death in Glasgow are 30% higher.

Poor diets of the individuals living in Glasgow contributes greatly to the rising mortality rate. The report used the SHeS data looked into how Glasgow’s dietary habits differ from the rest of Scotland. By using this data, it was identified that high levels of smoking in Glasgow is one of the reason why the city remains in a poor socioeconomic position.

This document highlights some factors which contributes in making Glasgow have one of the highest mortality rates in the UK. Some of the main reasons include suicide, drugs and alcohol misuse, poor diet, lack of exercise which links with the rising obesity rate and heart diseases.

The deprivation levels in all the cities (Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow) are the same. However, there were more women’s deaths linked to suicide in Glasgow then those in Manchester and Liverpool.