HEALTHY CHOICES: Making Healthy Choices

Lawndale High School

Ms. Mai

Making Healthy Choices

As we just learned, wellness is a state of physical, intellectual, emotional, and social well-being that involves making decisions

Understanding that some decisions may be out of our own control (heredity or physical environment), there are still factors that affect your health that you can control

Taking responsibility for those choice involves weighing the risks connected to each decision you make

Understanding Risks

Risk – the degree of danger that goes along with a situation

All risks can have both positive and negative outcomes (example: Skateboarding)

Health risks are based on what has happened to a number or people in the recent past

Epidemiology

Epidemiology – study of factors that cause illnesses in an effort to determine their chances of occurring

Knowing this information can help identify how illnesses can be prevented so that you can make healthy decisions about your behaviorFor example, research says that 80% of cancer is caused by behaviors we have control over (eg. diet, smoking, exercise)

Responsibility to Self

In order to reduce your risk of illness, disease, or accident, you need to assess your living habits and behaviors

With decisions you make, it is important to evaluate the risks involved before acting

Evaluate – to consider all of the information that is available to you

Another way to reduce risk is to avoid high-risk situations (eg. drunk driving)

Responsibility to Others

You can also act to reduce the health risks of others because often times, your behavior can also affect other people

Can you think of any examples?

SmokingSpreading IllnessesDriving Drunk

The Wellness Continuum

Just as there are different degrees of risks, there are also different degrees of health

Making Decisions

Avoiding risky behavior requires you to make decisions

This is not a new concept because we make hundreds of decision everyday (name some)

Some of the decisions we make require more thought and consideration than others

What are some decisions that require little thought? A lot of thought?

Making Wise Health Decisions

There are a few helpful guidelines in helping you make wise health decisions

1. Identify the Problem

2. Consider Your Options

3. Evaluate the Outcome

4. Decide and Act

5. Review the Results

1. Identify the Problem

What is the cause for your conflict?

What is the decision you have to make?

Identifying the specific problem is important

2. Consider Your Options

What are your choices in this situation?

In considering your options, you must also consider your own personal values

Values – beliefs and standards that are important to you based on your upbringing, what society tells you, and also what you believe is right and wrong

3. Evaluate the Outcomes

What are some possible positive and negative results?

Pretend that you made one decision and consider how you feel. Now imagine the other.

You might also decide that you need more information before you make a good decision. You can research or talk to people.

4. Decide and Act

What do you choose to do?

Decide which outcome outweighs the other and act

5. Review the Results

What can I learn from this experience?

Once you have acted, decide whether or not the decision you made was a good or bad one

Many times, we look back and realize that the decision we made may not have been the best one. The good thing is that only a few decisions we make are permanent.

Using the Model

It is important to use this model to look closely at the health decisions we make

By evaluating decisions before we act, we can learn to make better decisions that will lead us into the path we want

In Your Wellness Journal…

WISE HEALTH DECISION

Choose one risky behavior in your life and use the model to help you make a wise health decision the next time your are in that situation