Sci 162 Week 1 Assignment

Six Dimensions of Health Worksheet

Part 1

For each of the following six dimensions of health, list at least one characteristic, activity, belief, or attitude that reflects that dimension in your life. Provide a brief explanation with each example. Refer to Ch. 1 in the text for explanations of these dimensions.

Physical health:

I am probably not the healthiest person but I am not overweight or lazy. I try to stay active and my job helps to make sure of that. I hope I do not jinx myself but I have been sick free for over 4 years and still going strong. This might not be the most conventional way to exercise but I like to play video games in my free time. I recently got a Microsoft Kinect for my Xbox 360 along with an exercise game. I do not have time to go to the gym and I did not want to buy any exercise videos so buying an exercise game seemed to catch my interest more. I play the game about 3-4 times a week and I am surprised to say I have noticed results. I woke up sore after my first time with the game, which I did not expect.

Social health:

I love being surrounded by my family and friends and I feel that I have a healthy social life. I like being close with my family and friends because I can go to them with my problems and they keep me in a good mood. I enjoy meeting new people and making new relationships. I find that the more people I know the more opportunities arise. A few weeks ago I went out with some of my friends from high school that I had not seen in a few years. To my surprise, one of my friends just got a new job as a supervisor at a local telephone company. I told him how I was getting a degree for computer networking. He told me to get in touch with him when I finished school and he would try and get me a job.

Intellectual health:

I am one that constantly examines everything in my life. Whenever I have to make a decision, it can take forever to make up my mind. I weigh out the pro and cons of situations in my life because I like to be prepare for whatever the outcome may be. My friends like to pick on me and say I am just paranoid but I just like to analyze the situations and control the outcome.

Environmental health:

I guess you could say that I am not the most environmentally conscious but I do like to try to take care of our environment. I do recycle a little, mainly just cans and plastic bottles. I feel that every little bit counts and I try to do my part to save the environment. When it comes to my personal environment I like to have it neat and organized. I just cannot seem to get any work done while my room remains cluttered and messy. It will just continue to bug me and stress me out until I do something about it. This is important because it affects my intellectual health and my ability to think clearly.

Emotional health:

I think my emotional health is pretty good but there are aspects of it that could use some improvement. I do not always express my emotions in the right ways. There have been times that I let my feelings bottle up inside and I have found this to be unhealthy. It ends up blowing up in my face and the people close to me suffer. I have been working on this by finding ways to relieve stress and anger in my life by finding a soothing hobby. This is another reason I play video games because they are a good way to get my stress and anger out. My relationships with my family and friends have improved my emotional health because they want to see me happy too. I lost a close friend of mine due to drunk driving and it hit me hard. Thanks to some of my close friends I was able to cope with his death and properly express the grief and sadness I felt.

Spiritual health:

I am not a very spiritual person when it comes to religion. I prefer hard facts when it comes to explaining things that goes on in our day to day lives. Although I do follow the morals that come from religion because they are basic morals that everyone should follow. You should not have to have a religion tell you the difference between right and wrong, you should already know. There are benefits to having good spiritual health and I see it in people around me. Most of them seem really happy and joyful with their acceptance of a supreme being. They worry less because they put their faith into this supreme being and believe that he or she is guiding their lives.

Part 2

In approximately 125 to 200 words, describe health and wellness in your own words using the ideas and concepts for each of the six dimensions of health.

Health and wellness is important for us as it affect us and our daily lives. There are six dimensions of health that gives us and overall health and wellness. Our physical health is keeping our bodies in shape and being able to fight off disease and infections. Good physical health is required for us to perform daily activities also. Our social health is vital to us since we interact and build relationship with people on a daily basis. We need to have good intellectual health because we are constantly using our brains to solve problems in our lives and learn from our experiences. We need good environments to be able to live healthy and successful lives. When we have a healthy environment its puts you in a better good and creates less stress. Our emotional health is really important because of emotions can affect our decisions and take a toll on our lives. Many people find spiritual health to be beneficial in their lives it gives them directions and faith that someone is looking over them. It also makes people question and value the lives we have been given. With all these dimensions combine you obtain a good overall health and wellness. If even just one is out of balance it can affect all the other elements and cause future problems.