StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Cultures Impact on Health - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
"Cultures Impact on Health" paper argues that due to environmental and social factors, there have been many studies in the field of health psychology in order to understand the sociological and psychological concepts surrounding the constructs around weight and health…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER91.5% of users find it useful
Cultures Impact on Health
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Cultures Impact on Health"

Not only does being unhealthy and obese have its set of physiological concerns, but it also plays a role in some psychological functioning as well. The first topic to address is eating habits in the United States. There has been a high rise in the number of fast-food companies. They used many processed foods, which are high in calories and high in fat content (Mela, 2005). In addition, the accessibility and cheap prices of being able to buy these kinds of foods especially target the middle and lower socioeconomic classes. This in turn can be related to the psychological component of stress and coping. Stress is when a person’s perceived demands outweigh their perceived coping resources.

The way in which a person deals with stress is referred to as coping, which can be split into maladaptive and adaptive coping strategies. Overeating and eating unhealthily are maladaptive ways of coping with stress. This can be induced by a wide variety of social and environmental factors. This overeating can lead to a variety of self-esteem issues and clinical disorders (Brannon, & Feist, 2010). Self-esteem is the appraisal of one’s self-worth. This is extremely important in the way in which an individual functions in society.

In a society where perfection is a must, those that fall outside the norm, such as in weight, are often looked down upon in society. Increased advertising in weight loss programs and exercise programs adds to the stress of being overweight. This can lead to circular reasoning in which the ideal self of the person, being skinny, and the real self, overweight, begin to clash with one another causing stress in the person. Poor self-esteem can lead to a lack of efficiency and can lead to depression, as well as social problems.

There are also a number of clinical disorders, which can develop as a result of not having the “perfect” body. There are three main disorders for which the DSM-IV-TR provides a description. The first is anorexia nervosa, which involves a person taking in a very low-calorie diet, which often includes rituals such as fasting. The second is bulimia nervosa, which is where a person engages in binge eating and then purges in order to get rid of the excess calories. Lastly, body dysmorphic disorder is a somatoform disorder that is usually comorbid with either anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa.

This is where the person has a distorted body image caused by an abnormality in sensory input and reception in the brain, which causes certain features to be exaggerated (Ogden, 2010). Being overweight has its consequences not only psychologically, but also physiologically. Those that are overweight often have problems with muscle toning and bone density. It also increases the likelihood of cardiovascular disease and certain types of cancer. The change in body chemistry also makes the person susceptible to developing certain types of diabetes (Sherwood, 2006).

Once the weight has been put on, it is often hard to get off which sometimes necessitates surgery in order to help a person lose weight to get healthier. There are many effects that weight has placed on our society. Some of these reasons are psychological and some are physiological. 

Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/other/1411282-psychology
(Psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words - 2)
https://studentshare.org/other/1411282-psychology.
“Psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words - 2”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/other/1411282-psychology.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Cultures Impact on Health

Organizational Culture and the Impact on the Health Care Workforce

Diversity in culture is eminent and is closely evaluated in terms of its impact and effect on health care.... As the roles and responsibilities of nursing evolve continuously, a conceptual framework to better understand the effects of cultures on health care was developed by Dr.... The paper "Organizational Culture and the impact on the Health Care Workforce" states that by synthesizing the elements in the nursing process, nurses are assured that their plan of care would have incorporated all the necessary inputs needed by their patients to arrive at the expected outcome....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

The Impact of Culture on the Mental Health of Ethnic Minority from Nigeria living in the United Kingdom

This dissertation presents a study that attempts to examine the impact of culture on mental health.... The mental health of ethnic minorities is important in a multicultural society because it is necessary to try to understand different perspectives in order to formulate inclusive policies.... These Nigerian British have done well in the UK, but little is known about the problems that confront them and studies related to the mental health of this community are very rare....
56 Pages (14000 words) Dissertation

Correctional Nursing: The Impact of Prison Culture on Health and Wellness

The author of the "Correctional Nursing: The Impact of Prison Culture on health and Wellness" paper states that culture may have an impact in distribution on health care measures, but the reaction on cultural differences firms the bond against the dynamic delivery of health care.... 'health is wealth.... According to the World health Organization, health is a 'state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity' (World health Organization, 1946)....
9 Pages (2250 words) Article

The Impact of Sexual Cultural Practices on General Health and the Lives of Its Members

This paper "The Impact of Sexual Cultural Practices on General health and the Lives of Its Members" focuses on the fact that culture in itself has meanings but focusing on behavioural scientists, culture can be defined as the complete array of learned behaviour patterns of the human species.... tudies have shown that when individuals move from one culture to another, the impact of culture on the sexuality of females is much greater than that on males....
13 Pages (3250 words) Case Study

Culture Change and its Impact on Employee Performance the Health Care Sector

This report "Culture Change and its impact on Employee Performance in the Health Care Sector" discusses recommendations of culture change in a health care organization that there exists a relationship between organizational culture and the performance of employees.... Proper internalization of these aspects in a health care organization will determine the efficiency and effectiveness of the employees in terms of the execution of their responsibilities (Smith, 60)....
6 Pages (1500 words) Report

History of Cultural Disadvantage Impact on Mental Health of Indigenous Australians

The paper "History of Cultural Disadvantage impact on Mental Health of Indigenous Australians" focuses on the critical analysis and investigation of how cultural disadvantage history impacts the mental health of this group of people.... These people have had a lot of problems, one of them being health problems.... Colonization effects are one of the factors that have contributed to their current state of health problems.... The paper investigates its aim by focusing on the literature on the history of cultural disadvantage, what it led to, and how it affects the mental health of indigenous Australians....
6 Pages (1500 words) Coursework

Culture as a Social Determinant of Health

The paper 'Culture as a Social Determinant of Health, Importance of Culture in Health Access and Provision' is a pathetic example of the essay on health sciences & medicine.... The paper 'Culture as a Social Determinant of Health, Importance of Culture in Health Access and Provision' is a pathetic example of the essay on health sciences & medicine.... Social health determinants are the conditions that individuals find themselves in and directly affect their health....
13 Pages (3250 words) Essay

Impact of Social and Cultural Diversity in Delivery of Health Care

Social and cultural diversity within the members of the society have a direct impact on health care providers.... Social and cultural diversity within the members of the society have a direct impact on health care providers and different cultures and classes call for a unique cultural competency in order to offer quality services to the populations The paper "Impact of Social and Cultural Diversity in Delivery of Health Care" is a wonderful example of a literature review on nursing....
7 Pages (1750 words) Literature review
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us