National Health Goals

Introduction

Health and Wellness

• Good health is of primary importance to adults in our society.
• Increasing the span of healthy life is a principal health goal.
• Eliminating health disparities is a major national health goal.
• Health is more than freedom from illness and disease.
• Wellness is the positive component of optimal health.
• Health and wellness are personal
• Health and wellness are multidimensional.
• Wellness reflects how one feels about life as well as one's ability to function effectively.
• Health and wellness are integrated states of being.
• It is possible to possess wellness while being ill or possessing a debilitating condition.
• Wellness is a useful term that may be used by quacks as well as experts.

Physical Fitness

• Physical fitness is a multidimensional state of being.
• The health-related components of physical fitness are directly associated with good health.
• The skill-related components of physical fitness are more associated with performance than good health.
• Metabolic fitness is a nonperformance component of total fitness.
• Bone integrity is often considered to be a non-performance measure of fitness.
• The many components of physical fitness are specific, but are also interrelated.
• Good physical fitness is important, but it is not the same as physical health and wellness.

A Model for Achieving and Maintaining Lifelong Health, Wellness, and Fitness

• Many factors are important in developing lifetime health, wellness, and fitness, and some are more in your control than others.

Factors Influencing Health, Wellness, and Fitness

• Heredity (human biology) is a factor over which we have little control.
• Health, wellness, and fitness are influenced by the aging of our population.
• Disabilities can affect, but do not necessarily limit, health, wellness, and fitness.
• The health care system affects our ability to overcome illness and improve our quality of life.
• The environment is a major factor affecting our health, wellness, and fitness.
• Personal actions, interactions, cognitions, and emotions all have an effect on health, wellness, and fitness.

Healthy Lifestyles

• Lifestyle change, more than any other factor, is considered to be the best way of preventing illness and early death in our society.
• The major causes of early death have shifted from infectious diseases to chronic lifestyle related conditions.
• Healthy lifestyles are critical to wellness.
• Regular physical activity, sound nutrition, and stress management are considered to be priority healthy lifestyles.
• The 'actual causes' of most deaths are due to unhealthy lifestyles.

The HELP Philosophy

• The HELP philosophy can provide a basis for making healthy lifestyle change possible.
• A personal philosophy that emphasizes health can lead to behaviors that promote it.
• Everyone can benefit from healthy lifestyles.
• Healthy behaviors are most effective when practiced for a lifetime.
• Healthy lifestyles must be adopted based on personal needs.

Strategies for Action

• Self-assessments of lifestyles will help you determine areas in which you may need changes to promote optimal health, wellness, and fitness.
• Initial self-assessments of wellness and fitness will provide information for self-comparison.

Web Resources

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