Reflection On What I learned In Module 3:

From the class lecture I learned that there are twelve steps to life which include: avoiding the use drugs, alcohol and smoking, maintaining a healthy body weight through a healthy diet and exercise regime, getting 6 to 8 of sleep each night, supplementing your diet with nutritional supplements, getting regular medical checkups/ performing self exams and getting good prenatal care if pregnant, keeping up with immunizations, avoiding excessive sun exposure/ using sun block, and always fastening your seat belt.

From chapter 3 of my readings I found that stress occurs from environmental situations and life events. Stress can also cause or aggravate many physical and emotional problems. When many people are faced with a stressful situation they tend to develop unhealthy behaviors such as smoking, drug use, eating disorders, and over working. Stress can be drastically reduced through a number of techniques including: image visualization, meditation, exercise, yoga, and relaxing. The book also included a section devoted to the stressors that college students face including overload, time pressures, and test anxiety.

From chapter 4 of my readings I found that good mental health includes a feeling of vitality, optimism, and well being. It is also present when you experience positive and productive activities such as being in healthy relationships with others and the ability to adapt and cope to change and adversity. Our emotions tell us whether we are satisfied and the level of the satisfaction. Emotional distress can happen when our when these needs are not met. People cope with emotional distress by changing how they interact with the environment, changing the importance of their unmet needs, or by changing their distressing feelings. Positive thoughts and emotions encourage people to engage in healthy behaviors as well as coping with unhealthy ones. Mental illness occurs when there are alterations in thinking, emotions and/or intentional behaviors that produce distress and/or impaired functioning.

From participating in online discussions and replies with my fellow classmates, I posted a discussion question in regards to the meaning of test anxiety, the symptoms, and ways to overcome it; as well as offering my own remedies.

One classmate responded to my post and offered an additional website regarding ways to reduce test anxiety. I particularly liked the section in her website regarding how study environment affects your test performance in which I found I was guilty of a few things mentioned in her website.

I then replied to a classmate in regards to sleeping disorders in which I noted that I do not have any sleep orders just bad habits regarding sleep. In which I found an additional website offering extra tips to help you get a better night’s sleep.
I also replied to a fellow classmate in regards to relieving stress, in which I offered an additional website on the topic and offered my own personal ways of relieving stress.

Additional Information/Links to Resources:

http://kidshealth.org/teen/school_jobs/school/test_anxiety.html
http://www.suite101.com/content/how-to-deal-with-test-anxiety-a91341
http://www.stress-helptoday.com/info/Test-Anxiety.html
http://www.stateuniversity.com/blog/permalink/Sleep-Deprivation-A-Common-Occurrence-for-College-Students.html
http://kidshealth.org/teen/centers/stress_center.html

Comment on your Participation:

I felt that I put in the needed time and effort into this module.

Vocabulary:

Stressor: Any physical or psychological situation that produces stress.
Optimism: The thought process of imagining a high probability of attaining a goal.
Pessimism: The thought process of a low probability of attaining a goal.

What I learned from these definitions;
Everyone has some type of stress in their lives, being optimistic versus pessimistic is one of the ways to help you deal with the stressors in your life.


Active Link:

I posted an active link that allows the instructor to access my blog account for the module.

Journal Entry Module #2

Reflection on what I learned in this class:

From my readings and the class lectures, I learned the definition of health and that the leading cause of illnesses and death is due to preventative lifestyle disease and it is up to us to try to achieve a healthy lifestyle in order to increase our lifespan. I also learned that health that depends on the decisions that we make every day and that it is a way of life. There are three models of health medical, environmental, and holistic. Autonomic nervous system helps with the involuntary actions of the internal organs. Such as the heart beat, glands, and the workings of the lungs. Popular methods to help you to reduce stress are meditation, muscle relaxation, mental imagery, hypnosis, religion and/or faith. And the power of humor also has an effect on you, it creates positive feelings, decreases stress and anxiety, and when the mind is relaxed it is open to suggestion.

From participating in online discussions and replies with my fellow classmates, I learned that there are actually ten dimensions of health and wellness versus the six mentioned in our textbook in which I thought financial wellness was an interesting topic.I also learned about the power of the mind and the benefits that positive thinking and humor. I also touched on the leading causes of lifestyle diseases and preventable death.We also discussed stress and the benefits of yoga help relieve it.

Additional Information/Links to Resources:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/positive-thinking/SR00009
http://www.cyc-net.org/cyc-online/cycol-0803-humour.html
www.definitionofwellness.com/index.html
1.Social Wellness
2.Occupational Wellness
3.Spiritual Wellness
4.Physical Wellness
5.Intellectual Wellness
6.Emotional Wellness
7.Environmental Wellness
8.Financial Wellness
9.Mental Wellness
10.Medical Wellness
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_preventable_causes_of_death
http://naturalhealthperspective.com/home/civilization.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preventable_death
http://www.yogawiz.com/askquestion/995/whether-yoga-is-necessary-for-college-students.html

Comment on your Participation:

I felt that I put in the needed time and effort into this module, but in the future I will post my two required responses on two separate dates in order to show that I am in attendance.

Vocabulary:

Sympathetic: helps your body to prepare for an abnormal situation. For example having to speak in front of people or having to face a job interview.

Parasympathetic: Is what helps to bring your body back to the normal state after the action sympathetic system. It helps you regain composure and adjust to the situation slowly.

Biofeedback: Helps in reducing involuntary activity and to reduce stress. For example blood pressure and muscle tension.

What I learned from these definitions;
I did not realize that my body has the ability to involuntarily help me adjust to different stressful situations.

Active Link:

I posted an active link that allows the instructor to access my blog account for the module.