By Zachary Branco 9:53pm
Everything we do in life has an effect on something or someone else. That is why parents are so critical on their children to do what is right and not to do wrong. There are consequences that come with every action taken or not taken. In chapter 1, “Healthy Change”, there are plenty of examples of actions and choices that reflect positive and negative outcomes. We must first find out what is the conflict (negative) or goal (positive) that is currently at stake and from there you must have a plan on how to prevent (negative) or encourage (positive) these actions. To change one’s behaviors, you must use specific strategies such as visualization, countering, controlling the situation, changing your self-talk, rewarding yourself, and journaling.
Like I said earlier, visualizing the problem or goal is key and will help you piece out your plan to a positive change in behavior. This can be anything from becoming more of an aware driver by not texting and driving or even just eating healthier. The next step after visualizing is countering, which is substituting a desired behavior for an undesirable behavior. To stay on the topic of eating healthier, you could make salad as side of your meal instead of carbs that aren’t so good for you such as pasta, rice, or potatoes. Or even limiting yourself to just water and eliminate sugary drinks such as coffee, soda, and juices. My family and I have recently did this, on the start of 2019, and I am proud to say that I have lost almost 30 pounds by making a small change to my eating habits.
The next step is to “control the situation”, and this basically means being in the right spot at the right time in a way. For example, if you go out to eat with your friends and they decide to get McDonald’s, this is going to negatively impact your eating behavior. On the contrary, if you have a support group or someone who knows that you are trying to change they may tell you to come over for a healthy home-cooked meal. This is a prime example of controlling the situation. The next step, which to me is probably the most important is “self-talk”. By this I mean, how you talk to yourself and how you feel about yourself with the behavior. A person who is having negative thoughts they might say something similar to, “you’re always going to be fat so why does it matter”. Compared to a person who is having positive thoughts, they might say something like, “wow you look great today, let’s keep it going.”
A major way to keep production and results of your behavior change is by rewarding yourself once in a while. We are not robots, we are not perfect, we are bound to make mistakes and slip up every once in a while and that is perfectly ok. You can be rewarded from others or yourself. Your improvement will most likely come from others first and they will reward you but over time you will be able to see the change and will reward yourself. The very last step is tracking information in a journal. The journal is used to write down experiences, results, monitor your progress and you can eventually evaluate what you did down the road.
In chapter 2, “Psychological Health”, I learned many interesting facts that were related to anxiety and mood disorders but the most appealing was the topic of suicide. The reason why I’m choosing to talk about suicide is because it is very strong, and relates to my aspect of health which is social health. Did you know that 9% of students have legitimately considered suicide? Also, did you know that suicide is the 2nd most leading cause of death to people the ages of 15-19 and 20-24? This is a serious concern and I believe there needs to be more of an awareness for it. If you notice that someone has a history of depression, change in personality/behavior, change in sleep/eating habits, and using substance abuse to alcohol or drugs you need to help this person out. There are many ways to help whether it is just being there for them when they need it, giving words of encouragement, making sure they see a councilor, and even informing his or her family members.
I can tell you personally that I have lost a friend to suicide when I was in 7th grade. It was one of the toughest things I’ve ever had to encounter. The mood of the school was very dark and gleam, the hallways were gray and sad instead of the usual upbeat positivity that spread the hall. Nothing was done or said because friends and teachers said that, “he was just like every other kid and nobody suspected anything”. Well clearly they were wrong and something was said or done to make this innocent child commit suicide in middle school. So people should take more precaution and just become more observant and aware.
In chapter 3, “Stress”, I learned that stress can be a real serious problem most of the time. There are two types of stress. Eustress, which is stress related to positive events such as having a baby or planning for a wedding. Then there is distress, which is stress related to negative events such as getting fired from a job or losing a loved one. If one allows stress to remain an active factor of their everyday lifestyle, it can eventually take a toll on your physical health leading to cardiovascular disease, headaches, diabetes, weight loss/gain, hair loss, and other impacts to your body. One of the more serious impacts is sleep loss. Sleep is crucial for conserving body energy, retaining knowledge to the brain, and restoring mental and physical functions.
There are many things that can cause stress and most of it can be external, which can be relationships, new job, car payments, and anything similar to that degree. But there are internal stress, which tends to be more mental than anything. Examples can be anything such as lowered self-esteem, altered personality, and other negative things about yourself. To improve and prevent stress like this is to stay positive, better time management, practice relaxation techniques (even if its just playing piano music), and mindfulness strategies.
Time management is a huge factor in relieving stress, this will help you plan out your day and focus on what is most crucial to complete first. With time management, the word “balance” tends to come into play quite frequently. You want to balance every aspect of life such as work, school, relationships, social life, and “you time”. It is important for you to give yourself time too whether it is taking a nap or doing something you want to do.
Zach's Health Blog 