1. MODULE 36 Promoting Wellness

2. “The greatest wealth is health.” - Virgil

3. “It takes more than just a good looking body. You’ve got to have the heart and soul to go with it.” - Epictetus

4. “To keep the body in good health is a duty…otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.” - Buddha

5. “Joy and Temperance and Repose Slam the door on the doctor's nose.” - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

6. 1954: Dr. Jonas Salk creates polio vaccine 1984: Salk tells Martin Seligman (positive psychology) about his belief that psychological “immunization” is important for fighting off mental illness as well as physical illness Wellness: the common result of a healthy life- style and healthy attitudes Healthy Life-Styles 

7. Exercise Physical and psychological benefits to aerobic exercise – Physical: lung and heart fitness – Psychological: effective, nonmedical means of reducing anxiety & depression

8. Physical fitness also leads to greater self- confidence and self-discipline Exercise lowers blood pressure and increases our ability to deal with stress – Even moderate amounts of exercise can increase energy levels and lower tension

9. How does exercise make us feel better? – Increases output of mood-boosting chemicals produced by nervous system – Enhances cognitive abilities such as memory – Lowers blood pressure – Has positive side effects, such as better sleep

10. Exercise: – Cuts risk of heart attack in half – Increases longevity by as much as two years – Reduces risk of Alzheimer’s if done later in life

11. Family & Friends Family causes emotional strain – Juggling time, energy, resources; satisfying needs for food, transportation, belongingness Family also gives people pleasure – Social support provides cognitive rewards (happiness & contentment)

12. Link between social support and happiness, wellness – People with more social ties are less likely to die prematurely – Heart attack victims living alone are twice as likely to have another heart attack within six months – Children who grow up with parents who do not divorce live longer than those whose parents divorce

13. Married people live longer than unmarried people – Unhappy marriages are detrimental to health Happy marriage predicts fewer heart attacks, less obesity, lower cholesterol Close friends and relationships allow people to confide in others – Lowers blood pressure, slows heart rate, decreases level of stress hormones in body

14. The Faith Factor Correlation between being religiously active and having longevity 3 factors associated with religiously active and better health – Beliefs often promote healthier life-styles – Religious service is communal – Active people often experience less anxiety and stress

15. Positive Experience & Well-Being Positive psychology: movement in psychology that focuses on the study of optimal human functioning and the factors that allow individuals and communities to thrive – Study of emotions, feelings, and positive experiences – Positive experiences contribute to happiness and well-being

16. The more positive experiences you have, the more likely you are to: – Have better relationships with others – Contribute more to your community – Excel in academics and sports – Provide leadership – Propose new ideas – Help others – Be less of a drain on psychological and physical health systems

17. 3 kinds of experiences that have powerful effects on the individual: flow, happiness, optimism Flow: state of optimal experience that involves a challenge, requires skill, has clear goals, and provides feedback – Activities that we perform for the sake of doing them, and not for their extrinsic rewards put us in a state of flow

18. – People in flow situations report losing track of time and being hard to distract – People lose self-consciousness about appearance or other people’s opinions of them – Activities that are not challenging and require little or no skill lead to apathy – In what kind of job might you experience flow every day?

19. Happiness: – Happy people are more likely to help others, make decisions more easily, cooperate more, live longer, complain less, recover more quickly from injury – Happy people tend to be more outgoing, interact more with others, have a larger circle of friends, participate in more rewarding activities

20. – Having more friends provides more social support and more opportunities for affection – Happy people have a higher sense of personal control over their lives and exhibit higher levels of hope when facing challenges – Hope is a better predictor of how well a student will do in college than standardized tests

21. Optimism: – Optimism is the belief that bad events are temporary, are not your fault, and are not indicative of how things usually are – Pessimism is the tendency to expect the worst

22. Explanatory style: habits we have for thinking about the good or bad causes of events – Explanatory style helps determine if you are optimistic or pessimistic – Optimists spend less time in hospitals, heal faster, live longer, and are far less likely to become depressed Overcoming Illness-Related Behaviors 

23. Smoking Ten million people die annually in the U.S. from smoking 1 billion people likely to die from smoking this century If you start smoking in your teens and never quit, you have a 50% chance of dying a premature and agonizing death – Almost all smokers start as adolescents

24. More likely to smoke if your parents, siblings, and friends smoke Students who drop out, receive poor grades, or feel less control over their futures are at high risk for smoking If you haven’t starting smoking by the time you graduate high school, the odds are low that you will ever start – If your best friends and parents are nonsmokers, those odds drop to almost zero

25. Other health risks: – Smokers have high rates of depression and divorce – Smokers lose 12 minutes off their lives for every cigarette – Smokers are 3 times more likely to drink alcohol – Smokers are 17 times more likely to smoke marijuana – Smoking harms nearly every organ in your body

26. Why don’t people quit? – Nicotine is more addictive than cocaine or heroin – 1 in 3 people who try smoking become addicted – Withdrawal symptoms: insomnia, anxiety, craving, irritability – Addictive qualities: nicotine calms anxiety, boosts awareness, suppresses appetite, reduces sensitivity to pain Half of all smokers try to quit each year – Success rate: 14%

27. 10 guidelines for quitting (1)Set a quit date (2)Inform family & friends (3)Get rid of all cigarettes (4)Review previous attempts; anticipate challenges (5) Use nicotine patch or gum (6) Be abstinent (7) Avoid alcohol (leads to relapse) (8) Quit with others (9) Avoid places where others smoke (10) Exercise

28. Obesity More than 1/3 of all adults in the U.S. are obese; percentage has doubled over the last several decades Becoming global epidemic Rise in diabetes and other related illnesses

29. Body mass index (BMI): an individual’s weight in kilograms divided by squared height in meters – Recommended: BMI < 25 – Obesity: BMI > 30 Obese people: increased risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, arthritis, sleep disorders, certain types of cancer

30. Mental health risks from obesity: – Obesity affects the way we think about ourselves and how others think about us and treat us – Seriously overweight people often stereotyped as sloppy, slow, and lazy Discrimination against obese people rivals race and gender discrimination – Occurs at every employment step (hiring, compensation, promotion, dismissal)

31. Weight Control Thin has not always been in – Obesity valued in countries where food is not plentiful Evolutionary trait: our ability to store energy in fat cells reflects feast-or-famine life-style of our ancestors Health risks much greater for obese than for moderately overweight

32. Fat cells: – Average adult has 30 billion fat cells – As we consume more calories, fat cells enlarge – Once fat cells reach a certain size, they divide and create more cells – Losing weight reduces size of cells, but not the number of cells – Cells grow again with increased calorie intake

33. Set point: the point at which an individual’s “weight thermostat” is supposedly set; when the body falls below this weight, an increase in hunger and a lowered metabolic rate may act to restore the lost weight – When diet ends, body remains in energy- conservation mode; amount of food that formerly maintained your weight may increase your weight

34. Metabolism: – Varies from person to person; lower resting metabolic rate makes your prone to weight gain – Roots of metabolic rate are genetic – Genes may also determine how quickly your brain receives a “full” signal, and the efficiency with which you convert extra calories to fat