Toward Better Health

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CHAPTER 5

• Toward Better Health

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Chapter Overview

• Psychological Factors and Physical Illness
• The Immune System
• Personality
• Lifestyle Choices
• Environmental Issues

Toward Better Health

• Body Image
• How We Feel About Our Bodies
• Our Ideal Body

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Chapter Overview contd

• Promoting Wellness
• Taking Charge of Your Own Health
• Eating Sensibly
• Getting Enough Sleep
• Keeping Physically Fit
• Finding Social Support

Toward Better Health contd

• Coping with Illness
• Noticing and Interpreting Symptoms
• Seeking Help
• Adhering to Treatment

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CHAPTER SUMMARYBody Image

• How We Feel About Our Bodies
• Our Ideal Body

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CHAPTER SUMMARY CONTDPsychological Factors and
Physical Illness

• The Immune System
• Personality

• Lifestyle Choices
• Environmental Issues

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CHAPTER SUMMARY CONTDCoping with Illness

• Noticing and Interpreting Symptoms
• Seeking Help
• Adhering to Treatment

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CHAPTER SUMMARY CONTDPromoting Wellness

• Taking Charge of Your Own Health
• Eating Sensibly

• Getting Enough Sleep
• Keeping Physically Fit
• Finding Social Support

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Health Psychology

• A subfield in psychology that is concerned with
  how psychological and social factors affect
  health, wellness, and illness.

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Body Image

• Introduction
• Body Image refers to the mental image we form of
  our own bodies.
• Many people lack a clear body imagefail to take
  care of themselves.
• their internal body image may be less
  well-formed.
• Some suffer from depersonalization (or
  unembodiment), the sense of not being intimately
  attached to our bodies.

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How We Feel About Our Bodies

• Body image is part of self-concept (covered in
  Chapter 4).
• American society places emphasis on appearance
  many Americans are unhappy with their bodies.
• Women are less satisfied than are men.
• Overall dissatisfaction is increasing, perhaps
  due to many of us being overweight.
• The media, parental attitudes, and teasing by
  others are cited as causes for dissatisfaction.

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Our Ideal Body

• the body we would like to have.
• Every society has had different standards of
  beauty.
• In American society, standards are very narrowly
  defined, i.e., thinness, symmetrical face, youth.
• Standards for each sex differ men and women
  misperceive what the opposite sex desires.

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Psychological Factors and Physical Illness

• The Immune System
• A complex surveillance system that defends our
  bodies by identifying and destroying various
  foreign invaders.
• The brain and the circulatory system are vital
  parts.
• The exact relationship between mind and body is
  unknown however, psychological factors such as
  stress might weaken the immune system and make us
  more susceptible to illness.

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Personality

• Certain personality traits (Goodwin Engstron,
  2002) are associated with perceptions of good
  health
• openness to experience
• extroversion
• conscientiousness
• Emotional instability is associated with
  perceptions of poor health.

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Personality contd

• An important personality trait related to actual
  health is self-efficacy--
• the belief that we can organize and execute
  various actions required to produce given
  attainments or outcomes.

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Personality contd
People high in self-efficacy

• Feel they have control over their own health
• Are motivated to maintain a healthy lifestyle
• Participate in more preventive health measures
• Generally better follow health directives given
  by professionals

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Personality contd

• We can develop a sense of self-efficacy by
• Monitoring our own health behaviors
• Setting short-term, attainable goals
• Enlisting social support
• Imitating others who maintain a healthy lifestyle
• BUT, becoming ill is not a sign of personal
  weakness!

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Lifestyle Choices

• Health choices we make (i.e., lifestyle choices)
  affect our health.
• Obesity, smoking tobacco, and using alcohol or
  illicit drugs are a few lifestyle factors that
  influence health.
• Lifestyle choices kill more Americans than any
  other factor.
• Lifestyle choices are almost completely within
  our personal control!

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Obesity

• An excessive amount of body fat, usually defined
  as exceeding the desirable weight for ones
  height, build, and age by 20 percent or more.

• associated with an increased risk of illness and
  death from diabetes, high cholesterol, stroke,
  coronary heart disease, kidney and gallbladder
  disorders, as well as some cancers.
• It is currently surpassing tobacco use as the
  leading cause of death in America.

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Obesity contd

• Psychological and physiological factors
  contribute.
• Losing weight involves reducing calorie intake
  AND exercising more.
• Self-mastery plays a role. Individuals who feel
  they have control over what/where/when they eat
  more successfully manage their weight after
  participation in programs.

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Tobacco

• Tobacco abuse--the abuse of tobacco to such an
  extent that heart, respiratory, and other
  health-related problems develop.
• remains a leading preventable cause of death in
  the U.S.
• People today are more aware of the dangers...

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Tobacco Abuse contd

• Smoking is a difficult habit to break.
• Other activities (e.g., talking on the phone,
  drinking coffee) become conditioned to (paired
  with) smoking.
• Withdrawal from nicotine produces unpleasant
  symptoms.
• Relapse (return to the habit) among former
  smokers is common.

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  nce/tobacco.htm
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  nce/tobacco.htm

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Alcohol and Drug Abuse

• Dependence on a psychoactive substance.
• Alcohol is widely used by Americans.
• a major health hazard highway deaths,
  kidney/liver damage, poor nutrition, etc..

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Alcohol and Drug Abuse contd

• Drug abuse prescription drugs (e.g. pain
  killers) OR illicit drugs (e.g. cocaine).
• Abusers build a tolerance for the substance
  (require higher doses).
• Upon cessation, withdrawal is an unpleasant
  consequence may be a factor in relapse.
• To prevent relapse after treatment, health
  professionals suggest avoiding high risk
  situations (e.g. parties where the substance is
  available).

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Environmental Issues

• Both the physical environment and the
  psychological environment can be toxic.

Physical Environment Air, water, and land
pollution are potentially toxic factors in the
built environment that surrounds us where we live
and work.
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Environmental Issues contd

• Psychological Environment
• Psychological (and social) environments may lead
  to health problems and include situations that
  are
• ambiguous a cause is not readily evident
• uncontrollable the person has little control
• unpredictable an individual cannot predict the
  outcome
• unresolvable no solution is apparent or
  forthcoming

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Coping with Illness

• Noticing and Interpreting Symptoms
• People vary on how attentive they are to signs of
  illness.
• Hypochondriacs--people who habitually complain of
  unfounded ailments or exhibit undue fear of
  illness.
• but health can be endangered by completely
  ignoring symptoms.

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Noticing and Interpreting Symptoms contd

• Many cope with potential illness by employing one
  of the following
• Avoidance minimizing or denying symptoms
• Confrontation dealing directly with the
  symptoms
• Downward comparison comparing our health to
  others who are worse off than we are
• People from different cultures may notice and
  manage symptoms differently!

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Seeking Help

• Many people wait too long to seek help.
• women more likely to seek professional health
  care.
• The health care provider plays a role in our
  willingness to seek help (e.g., women physicians
  spend more time with patients, encourage two-way
  communication, and explain better).

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Adhering to Treatment

• Adherence to treatment regimens--
• the degree to which a persons behavior coincides
  with medical advice.
• As many as one-half of all people do not follow
  or complete prescribed treatments.
• Reasons?
• dissatisfaction with the health professional
• misunderstanding of illness or instructions
• anxiety about drug dependence
• How the instructions are framed plays a role

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Adhering to Treatment contd

• A positively framed message (about potential
  gains) promotes preventive practices.
• EXAMPLE If you exercise, you will live longer.
• A negatively framed message (potential costs)
  facilitates detection of symptoms.
• EXAMPLE If you dont quit eating candy and
  donuts, youll become obese.

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Promoting Wellness

• Taking Charge of Your Own Health
• Key factors in staying well
• Understanding how your body works
• Managing stress effectively
• Knowing how the mind and body interact
• Developing healthy eating and exercise habits

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Key factors in staying well contd

• Monitoring your own health periodically
• Getting periodic medical checkups
• Keeping your own medical records
• Knowing the health risks of lifestyle, heredity,
  and environment
• Participating actively with your doctor in your
  own health care

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Eating Sensibly

• the kinds of foods, how much we eat.
• A well-balanced diet includes adequate amounts of
  various food groups.
• Drink water!

Go to www.mypyramid.gov for an individualized
plan!
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Food groups, typical serving sizes
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Getting Enough Sleep

• Without adequate sleep, people
• make more errors
• tend to fall asleep involuntarily
• interrupt their normal sleep patterns
• The average adult obtains about 7 hours of sleep,
  but everyone differs in how much sleep they need.

Babies require lots more sleep than do adults!
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Getting Enough Sleep contd

• We also need to dream, as Freud suggested.
• REM sleep is dream sleep
• NREM sleep is deeper, more restful sleep
• Scientists are still unsure about why we dream or
  what dreams signify.

REM and NREM sleep vary over the course of night.
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Keeping Physically Fit

• Physical fitness--
• our ability to function efficiently and
  effectively, including both health-related and
  skill-related fitness components.
• Despite knowing that exercise is beneficial
• 60 of Americans do not exercise regularly
• 25 do not exercise at all
• Benefits of physical exercise
• Reduced risk of early death
• Reduced risk of a number of diseases
• Improved or elevated mood
• Enhanced performance in daily life

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Keeping Physically Fit contd

• To improve your fitness
• Identify your own personal needs
• Select personalized exercises to increase
  enjoyment
• Vary your routines to prevent boredom
• Exercise regularly on a daily basis if possible
• Evaluate your routines and modify them
  accordingly
• Find someone to exercise with you

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Finding Social Support

• affiliate with others such as friends and family
  to find comfort and advice.
• People with strong social support networks are
  healthier.
• Those who are isolated are at risk!
• But support may not be for everyone