Y178 Understanding Health - Tma 01, Task 1, Part B, Question 1

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Essay The list of personal choices we make about our health every day is endless. Many factors are influences on these decisions. In the following I will analyse some of these factors. Personal beliefs The beliefs of an individual are the most important things when it comes to make a decision about his life. What is he going to eat? What is he going to drink? Is he going to sunbathe? The first example in Chapter 3 about the three girls demonstrates how complex this issue is. The three girls share several common factors. They are about the same age and they all have the common knowledge about the dangerous effect of the sun. But based on their beliefs they make very different choices. Molly loves sunbathing and uses a sunbed regularly to achieve her deep tan. Shalini covers her body and face, so her already brown skin does not get any darker. The two girls’ beliefs are mainly influenced by their cultures. In this case Kirsten does not let herself to be influenced by social factors and she makes a more health conscious decision; she protects her skin from the sun with factor 40 sun cream. Was she always so cautious? Did something happen in her life what made her to take extra precautions when it comes to sunbathing? Our beliefs are ever changing as we grow older and wiser. We have new experiences which can result the transformation of our beliefs. Habits When we repeat something many times and the action becomes automatic a new habit has been born. Habits are part of our life and they can be helpful as they free up our brain so it can concentrate on other things¹. The problem is when we create bad habits as they are very hard to break. Juliet got into the habit of eating a lot and often and in order to lose weight she needed adequate knowledge about healthy cooking, lots of encouragement and support from her family and the slimming group.

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