Health Questionnaire/Survey/Final (10% of you final grade) 

60 points total (10 points each question, so be thorough, detailed, and specific) 

A. One of the most important aspects covered in Health was around your Values. What are 

some of your values and how do they align with every aspect of your 

mental/emotional/social/physical health? (10 pts) 

I have many values and try to live according to these values as much as I can. Some values of mine include 

Family, Education, Music, Humanitarianism, open-mindedness, and self-care.   

My family has always been very important to me, and when meeting new people or becoming closer with others, 

I find having a mutual value for family helps grow the relationships I have; thus, benefiting my social and 

emotional health in helping me create meaningful friendships.  

I also value Education and Music. These two values have helped me develop meaningful skills and plan for the 

future, aligning with my mental health in creating environments that help me focus on my future and improve on  

skills, like music, that tend to decrease my stress.  

Humanitarianism is also a big value of mine. Being able to help others and do so regularly has helped me a lot 

with my social and emotional health because I get to learn a lot about other people and their cultures (which 

helps me with my social health) and grow more empathetic towards others and situations that impact different 

people outside my community (which helps me with my emotional health).  

Lastly, I value self-care a lot, which benefits my physical, mental, and emotional health. In working out, eating 

healthy, and taking time to myself to do things that I enjoy, I have grown more active and strong (benefiting my  

physical health), have made significant improvements in my outlook on life/ myself (which benefits my emotional  

health), and have time to reflect on myself and what I want out of my future (which benefits my mental health).  

B. When it comes to stress, why is it so important to identify and address your stressors (be very 

specific)? What are some strategies you learned or currently use to address your current 

stressors? 

How does this connect to your values specifically? 

Some stressors of mine include academics, my fear of judgement, thinking of my future, and the thought of failing. It is  

important that I identify these stressors because without identifying them, I cannot go on to accept them as stressors,  

change or adjust my ways of thinking, and hopefully eliminate them. Some strategies I use to help eliminate these 

stressors are breathing and meditation. I use these strategies mostly before I pursue any situation that would  

usually stress me out. These two strategies connect to my value of having an open mind because they help me grow less 

stressed before I put myself in situations where I might fail, may be judged, and have to think about my future. These  

strategies also connect to my value in self-care because without being able to take the time for myself before pursuing 

these situations, it would be a lot harder to eliminate these stressors.  

   

C. What are at least 5 takeaways you learned from the nutrition unit? Be detailed and specific. 

Include why and how.... and most importantly how YOU plan to use this information NOW and 

in the future. 

How does this connect to your values specifically? 

Throughout the Nutrition Unit, I have learned a lot about how food is marketed, how chickens are raised, what 

kinds of properties are good for you metabolically, how inflammation affects my long term health, and how 

important gut health is.   

Food is marketed in many different ways. Whether these foods are advertised on TV or simply on its packaging, 

there are a number of misleading phrases used by food companies to grab the attention of the consumer. Words 

like “All Natural”, “Antibiotic free”, or “Hormone Free” are examples of these phrases that grab the attention of the 

consumer, hoping to create the illusion that their food is healthier than the average product; however, these 

names are practically meaningless in that these names either don't make a difference in the how healthy the food 

is or aren't even allowed to be in any food anyway (an example of this is the phrase “hormone free” because it is 

illegal to give any animal hormones). With this information, I have gained more knowledge about how food is 

marketed, having this connect to my value in open-mindedness. Before learning this, I had a narrow view on what 

foods were healthy and what their packaging looked like. Now, knowing that is not always as telling as it seems, I 

have grown more open-minded of the possibility of other foods being more healthy than the ones I usually eat. 

Furthermore, this knowledge could possibly benefit my physical health in that I will be looking for more healthy 

foods with or without these phrases.  

While discovering all of the phrases which market food, we also learned about the conditions in which the animals 

being sold live under. Among chickens specifically, they are kept in over-crowded poultry houses where they are 

overfed and handled poorly. Breed Chicken grow at such abnormal rates, that a number of them die of heart 

attacks. Furthermore, chickens that are bred are also handled pretty poorly, being stepped on and killed when 

being placed in these over-crowded spaces.  

On the other hand, I have also learned about what properties in foods are actually good for me metabolically. 

Protein, Fiber, and Unsaturated Fat (when in a product that is in its natural form) are good for you, while saturated 

fat, and sugar are unhealthy. With this information, it will be easier to eat healthier and think of how the foods I eat 

impact me and my health, benefiting both my mental and physical health because I will be growing more healthy on 

a physical standpoint, which directly correlates to my mental health getting better also.  

Throughout this unit, I also learned about inflammation, how it impacts my health, and what I can do to keep it 

regulated. Inflammation is the process triggered by the admission of foreign contents into the body. Inflammation 

tends to protect our health, but when it happens daily without any foreign contents going into your body, it begins 

to harm you more than protect. When one has chronic inflammation, it can very well lead to diseases, such as 

cancer, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, depression, and Alzheimer's. Since the increase (or decrease) in 

inflammation in one's body is caused by the foods they eat, it is important to eat the right foods in order to benefit 

from your inflammation. To increase inflammation, one should think of eating ​refined carbs (white bread, pastries), 

french fries/fried foods, soda/sugary beverages, Red and processed meat, margarine, shortening, and lard. These 

foods are not inherently good for you, and an over abundance of them can easily lead to chronic inflammation. 

Furthermore, one should eat foods related to decreasing their inflammation most often. Foods that decrease ones 

inflammation include tomatoes, olive oil, green/leafy vegetables (spinach, kale, collard), nuts (almonds, walnuts), 

fatty fish (salmon, sardines, tuna, and mackerel), and fruits (strawberries, blueberries, oranges, cherries). With 

this information, I plan on focussing on my inflammation and eating foods that often decrease my inflammation 

more. In doing this, I will benefit my physical health in eating more healthily, which connects to my value in 

self-care. 

Lastly, but certainly not least, I took a lot away from our discussion on gut health and the importance of having a 

healthy diet that provides both prebiotics and probiotics in the colon (allowing for good bacteria to thrive). Not 

only does gut health directly impact the central nervous system and therefore also impact mental health, but gut 

health is tied to many metabolic syndromes and can be used as a means to prevent such syndromes from 
manifesting within the body. This information is useful to me now and will be for the rest of my life as I can use this 

knowledge to inform what diet choices I make and stay aware of how my gut health may be impacting both my 

physical and mental health.   

D. Talk to me about what you learned in regards to drugs, alcohol, and most importantly how 

YOU plan to use this information NOW and in the future. 

How does this connect to your values specifically? 

Throughout the drugs unit, we learned a lot about the different kinds of drugs, the opioid crisis/epidemic, and 

who is most likely to succumb to this epidemic.  

In 2018, 284,000 exposure cases pertaining to illegal opioids were reported to poison control. Opioids usually fall 

under three categories, being ​naturally sourced opioids ( which come from poppies), synthetic opioids 

(meth, fentanyl), and semi-synthetic opioids (heroin, oxy); furthermore, fentanyl has been proven to be 

the most potent of them all, being 50-100 times more potent than heroin.   

Outside of opioids, we focussed most diligently on marijuana and alcohol. Marijuana consumption can 
often result in ​dependency/addiction, high-risk behaviors, psychopathology onset, or other poor mental health 
outcomes. Even so, marijuana has begun to become legalized in some states within the US. Of these places where 

marijuana is legalized, ​Suicides where toxicology tests indicated marijuana had been used increased from 7.6% in 

2006 to 23% in 2017, and​ ER ​visits increased by 54%, while hospitalizations increased by 101% in 2018. 

On the other hand, we also talked of alcohol, which is a depressant and toxin. Drinking tends to be 

glamorized in the media, is seen to be something that constitutes coming of age, and takes many lives 
every year. Furthermore, drinking has been proven to be the number one cause of death in the US, 

having teens ages 16-19 three times more likely of dying in a crash than those in their twenties. But this 

doesn't happen on its own. Some people start drinking at an early age, begin to binge drink, and believe 

they are fine to get behind the wheel of a vehicle. Many people succumb to binge drinking (4-5 drinks in 

one sitting), some of them at incredibly early ages. Furthermore, those who start drinking at an early age 

experience incredible changes to their brain/ brain activity. This can be seen in adolescents exhibiting 
less grey and white matter volumes in their prefrontal cortex, smaller hippocampal volumes, ​smaller 

cerebellar volumes, more vulnerable frontal lobes, and a change in cortical thickness.  

Seeing how the highest rate of drug abuse is found in people 18-25 years old, it worries me seeing how 

many could have started in high school. Moreover, in terms of alcoholism specifically, those who 

experience all of the changes in brain activity began in their pre-teens/ teen years. Knowing this, I wish to 
drink when I am of age. I understand the importance of drinking thoughtfully and when under special 

circumstances (i.e a holiday). My desire to abstain from drinking until I am 21 connects to my value in self 

care in choosing to live a healthy lifestyle rather than one that will cause me or others pain in the future.  
 

E. In our HGD unit we covered many topics such as LGBTQ, reproductive systems, STI’s, 

pregnancy, consent, law, etc. 

Takeaways, using this information now/ in the future, values (Family, Education, Music, Humanitarianism,  

open-mindedness, and self-care.) 

 
LGBTQ+: ​ Although I came into class with a firm understanding of the LGBTQ+ community, engaging in 
discussion and relearning information has further taught me the importance of educating people on 
LGBTQ+ issues and the foundational aspects make up one’s identity within the LGBTQ+ community (such 
as the differences between biological sex, gender identity, and gender expression). This knowledge and 
understanding will assist me in continuing to treat those within the LGBTQ+ community with the most 
appropriate and respectful conduct. Coinciding with my value of open-mindedness, this knowledge will 
help me educate myself and others to gain a better more complete understanding of LGBTQ+ people and 
create safe spaces for people to express themselves in whatever way they feel most comfortable with.   
 
Reproductive Systems:​ Through studying the reproductive systems, I found learning about the female 
reproductive system especially gratifying as it directly informs my self-knowledge and will inform my 
future when it comes to my own reproductive health and decisions I make surrounding it. The shame, 
superstition, and stigma that surrounds reproductive health is despicable and has left many people 
(including myself) in the dark about their own bodies. With this being said, I find that this falls under my 
value of education because in the absence of reproductive health education, room is left for 
misinformation to spread and impact people’s decisions about their own bodies, which can provide 
extremely dangerous consequences.  
 
Conception Control:​ Learning about the various methods of conception prevention was a huge takeaway 
for me. Not only will this knowledge help me inform my future decisions surrounding my sexual health, but 
it also gives me the power of choice and has properly informed me of the risks and benefits of adopting 
each method when engaging in intercourse. This ties greatly to my value of self-care as I am providing 
myself the means to take care of my sexual health and it also helps me claim what control I can over my 
overall well-being.  
  
Pregnancy & Conception:​ A takeaway for me while learning more about pregnancy and conception was 
the time sperm can live within the vagina (up to 3 days). This was something I was unaware of and is 
extremely vital information to have when taking plan b/morning pill and birth control. Again, I would put 
this information under self-care as it directly affects my sexual health and well-being and has the power to 
help me make a more healthful decision for myself in the future if I am ever in this situation.   
 
STDs:​ Something I was never taught about STIs was the long-lasting implications and issues they can have 
on a person (such as infertility, cancer, etc). I find this information will further decentivize me from 
engaging in risky sexual behaviour that I now know could result in me contracting an STI. This closely 
relates to my value of family as I may want to have kids in the future and infertility caused by an STI would 
prevent me from choosing whether or not to start a family of my own some day.   
 
Sexual Consent/Laws:​ Before taking this class, I was unaware of the laws revolving around consent laws. 
While I knew I could not legally consent until I am 18, I did not understand the gravity of having sex before 
18. If having sex at 15 years old or younger, one will be charged with a felony, while if having sex at the age 
of 16 or 17, one would be confronted with a misdomeanor. Furthermore, it is legal to consent to having sex 
at the age of 18; however, an 18 year old having sex with someone 17 years old or younger is illegal and 
said individual will be charged with a felony. With this new information, I find this knowledge connects to 
my value in education because now, I understand the laws revolving around consent laws and the gravity 
of these laws.  
 
 

How does this relate to your values? ​Family, Education, Music, Humanitarianism, open-mindedness, and  

self-care. 

F. Overall, were the knowledge and skills taught ​in Health Class beneficial to you? 
How or Why? 
Throughout this class, I have gained a lot of useful information. I learned a lot more about how to
manage my stress and how to better my mental, social, emotional, and physical health.
In being reminded of the importance of breathing, journaling, and interacting with my hobbies has on
lowering my stress, I have begun to lower my anxieties about school and fear of judgement.
Throughout this class, I have also learned how to better my mental, emotional, social, and physical
health by exercising regularly, eating healthier, and putting more time and effort into self care. In doing
this, I have become more positive and energized.