Archivo mensual: May 2013

Your Total Health

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What sports and other activities do you participate in? What kind of foods do you eat? What kind of people do you spend time with? Your answers to these and similar questions reflect your total health. HEALTH is a combination of physical, mental/emotional, and social well – being. These parts of your health work together to build good overall health.

Often, good health is pictured as a triangle with equal sides, and they’re connected. If you ignore any one side, your total health suffers. By the token, if you make improvements to one side, the others benefits.

Physical health is measured by what you do as well as what you don’t do. Teens who want to be healthy avoid harmful substances such as tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs. They balance the amount of time they spend watching TV or playing computer games with physical activity. Physical activity includes things such as playing sports, hiking, aerobics, swimming, dancing, and taking a walk. By avoiding harmful substances, you can stay healthy. In other words, being physically healthy means taking care of your body.

You can develop good mental/emotional health by learning to think positively and to express your feelings in healthy ways. Positive thinking is a good strategy to use when you are feeling sad or down. Try focusing your attention on all of the good things in your life, such as your friends, family, and activities you enjoy. Then the cause of your sadness might not seem so bad. Likewise, recognizing and building your strengths will help you feel good about yourself.

Good social health means communicating well with and having respect for family, friends and acquaintances. It also means building relationships with people you can trust and who can trust in return.