The Social Environment and Health - Assignment Example

The Social Environment and Health Affiliation The Social Environment and Health Factors that Contribute to Good or Ill Health Health can be defined as the social, physical, and mental wellbeing of an individual. If the wellbeing of an individual is compromised, then he or she is likely to get ill with conditions such as hypertension. In the case of hypertension, factors contributing to its occurrence include aging, smoking, and obesity. Factors that contribute to good health and prevent its occurrence include physical exercise and eating healthy diets (Chen, Lo, Chang, and Kuo, 2014).

Which Factors are Biological and which are Social? One social factor is smoking. Christakis and Fowler (2008) indicate that smoking is a habit that is passed on across a social cluster. On the other hand aging and obesity are biological factors. As Hillier and Barrow (2014) state, hypertension exists in about 31% of individuals above the age of 65 and only in 22% of those between 45 and 64 years. Chen, Lo, Chang, and Kuo (2014) note that obesity indices are substantially associated with the risk of hypertension across age and gender.

Approaches to improving health, how might they differ? Approaches geared towards enhancing health when biological and social factors are considered differ. If considering the physical fitness, it is easier to undertake physical exercises that will lead to improved health. In the case of dieting, it requires the intervention of a nutritionist who advises on what foods to and not to take. Also, the results of dieting may not be physically observable as those of physical exercise. For example, reducing dietary sodium salt intake to the recommended standard of around a 1,500 mg a day (Cavanaugh & Blanchard-Fields, 2014), it is not physically expressed.

ReferencesCavanaugh, J., & Blanchard-Fields, F. (2014). Adult Development and Aging. Stamford: Cengage Learning.Chen, S. C., Lo, T. C., Chang, J. H., & Kuo, H. W. (2014). Variations in Aging, Gender, Menopause, and Obesity and Their Effects on Hypertension in Taiwan. International Journal of Hypertension, 2014, 1-7.Christakis, N. A., & Fowler, J. H. (2008). The Collective Dynamics of Smoking in a Large Social Network. The NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL of MEDICINE, 2249-2258.Hillier, S., & Barrow, G. M. (2014).

Aging, the Individual, and Society (10 ed.). Stamford: Cengage Learning.