UNIT 2: Week 3 Reflections and Opinions
1)The article by Faith Hill, “Towards a new model for health promotion? An analysis of complementary and alternative medicine and models of health promotion” had my head spinning at some points throughout the read. As I re-read the article I got a clearer picture of the analytics between CAM and the five models discussed: medical and behavioral change, education and empowerment and social change.
The article focuses on data collected from UK and the USA, which I dislike. I am a fan of articles/studies done in our home country of Canada. The reason I feel this way is that ideals change from country to country, health care in the USA is a lot different than healthcare in Canada. My feelings with regards to the collaboration of CAM and Health Promotion is that in the 21st century society is more educated, studies and research has been done and I believe that health practitioners are starting to lean towards CAM for alternative measure from common medicines. I truly feel that in my own personal experience with my family doctor that she collaborates with CAM to assist her patience. Most recently my father was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, our family doctor as well as his neurologist suggested that Yoga would help with his symptoms. Myself, I have had chronic pain in my neck, after a visit with my family doctor she suggested I go to get massages as well as acupuncture. I have now been getting both treatments monthly and it has helped my injury immensely over the past 5 years. I feel that these collaborations are more common over the past 20 years. 20 years ago my doctor would have prescribed common medicines and would not have thought of advising me to see a massage therapist or get acupuncture. “Here is 5mg’s of tylenol 3, take 2-3 a day..”.
I am in support of all 5 health models and believe that they all carry major validity. The two I found most important are the education and empowerment models. Allowing people to make their decisions, allowing an educated but unbiased opinion is key. I am a firm believer in freedom of choice but also believe doctors are highly educated, professionals and their opinion should be taking very seriously. In my own life I have exercised both sides of the coin and with advice of my doctor I made my own health decisions.
As a whole I think that CAM is becoming more prominent in our everyday lives. I work with a few individuals who swear by their Naturopath. Herbal remedies originated centuries ago but are now coming to the surface in an aid to to give people an alternative from your common drugs. In my hometown alone there have been naturopathy clinics opening, acupuncture and massage clinics are becoming very popular. I am only speaking from my own personal experiences but years ago I would not have been given an acquisition from my family practitioner to go see a massage therapist or drink more green tea to assist in my weight loss attempt, these signs are telling.
Below is an article I read a few years ago that really began to turn me onto massages as an alternative.
2)
Hey Gang,
I really enjoyed this particular reading. The study was very interesting and I could relate to it as I’m only 10 years out of my undergrad and fell into some of the bad habits discussed in the article regarding college students. I also see a decline in my students physical health over the duration of my short teaching career, not a good sign!
The initial data discussed regarding the obesity rate in the USA isn’t shocking. The study states “Approximately two-thirds (65%) of U.S. adults over the age of 20 are overweight or obese. The prevalence of obesity has increased steadily in the U.S. over the last 30 years.” As a teacher in the public school system over the past 9 years I feel the rate of obesity is increasing in Canada as well. In an age of video games, IPads and cellphones the idea of exercise has taken a back seat. When I think about my own students, this study sheds light on the on going problem of obesity. I’m in the midst of my fitness unit as we speak. The fitness unit runs approximately one month of the year and consists of circuit training and we finish the unit with a beep test also known as the multi stage fitness test. It is amazing how many kids make excuses not to do the test or when they do participate how vastly out of shape they are for their age range, not meeting the benchmarks. I teach at a school in north end Dartmouth NS, so the demographic is very unique. We have kids from upper class neighbourhoods, middle class and low income housing, this is one of my favourite aspects of our school. Its funny to see the difference in snacks and lunches from the upper class to the lower income students The low income families usually have non-healthy choices for snacks and lunches. I witnessed a little girl last week come to school late, eating a freezie for breakfast. When I asked her why she was eating such a snack so early, she said it was all they had at home. The upper class, higher income families tend to have healthier snacks and more nutritious lunches. This all ties into the article with regards to the cycle of being educated on what is and isn’t a healthy choice to what financial restraints are put on certain kids to eat healthy and the direct correlation with healthy eating and academic success.
“College students exhibit distinct decline in nutritional priorities, and poor eating habits often worsen during this time. A hallmark of most student diets is fast-food that is high in fat and sodium content .” This is very true! I went through this as a student. I didn’t have money or time to make healthy choices and I believe that is connected to me not having any knowledge regarding healthy choices. I played varsity basketball and my coaches didn’t educate us on eating healthy. They handed us meal money and pulled into a strip mall and told us we had 20 minutes to eat. As I read through the study, it made me reflect on my years as a student. I can only imagine how the fried food from the cafeteria that I ate on a daily basis, three meals a day negatively affected my energy levels, academic and athletic performance. No comes the cliche line, “I wish I knew what I know now, back then.”
The results proved eye opening to me, I found the findings very interesting and I could relate it not only to my personal life but to my teaching practice. “the current study provide empirical evidence of college students’ health behaviors showing that nutrition knowledge leads to an increase in nutrition confidence; that nutrition confidence also influences Health Beliefs; and that positive Health Beliefs lead to an increase in Behavioral Intention to Eat Healthy Food and do Physical Activity.”
Below is a my atifact I found on youtube. It’s a short video on university students eating habits, it supports my theory of students not being able to afford to eat healthy. Enjoy!
I have attached an interesting chart from Stats Canada regarding obesity rates in our own country. We aren’t as bad a the USA but it could only be a matter of time…
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-625-x/2015001/article/14185-eng.htm
