Lesson 14: Taking Charge of One’s Health

Intended Learning Outcomes:

At the end of the lesson students be able to:
1. Explain how taking responsibility for personal health promotes well-being
2. Identify ways to eliminate different types of stressors
3. To establish a plan for self-care

Personal Health Responsibility

Personal health responsibility involves active participation in one’s health ad healing plan through
education and lifestyle changes. Although the concept of personal health responsibility seems simple, it is
often overlooked when people are diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder and seeking quick fix.

One needs to be sensitive about the importance of good health. Exercising everyday, avoiding
alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drugs, maintaining proper hygiene, having enough rest and sleep, eating on
time, and ensuring a balanced diet are a few things that one can do for the body.

People should think more about the prevention of diseases than cure of these. Disease may be
avoided if everyone is conscious about one does since most disease are acquired as product of unhealthy
lifestyle.

Part of personal health responsibility is knowing one’s family history; this is one way to determine
hereditary illness which can be avoided in the future. Examples are diabetes and high blood pressure which
may be inherited from parents. Another health responsibility is conducting research on effective herbal
medicines and food supplements. Prescription drugs manufactured in the laboratory are made up of
chemicals which can be detrimental to people’s health.

In the Philippines, several measures have been enacted to instill health awareness and encourage
personal health responsibility like the anti-smoking campaign, discouragement to take medicines without
prescription, encouragement to seek medical assistance and services from licensed physicians, heavier
penalty for people caught selling drugs for abortion and many others.

Stress

Stress refers to the reaction of our physiological and psychological self to any kind of demand or
threat. Right off the bat, one could already claim that not all stress is negative or unwanted. Sometimes,
there are positive stresses that are aptly called eustress. Eustress is beneficial stress that can be in the form
of physical, psychological, and biological stimuli. Literally, the Greek prefix eu means good, hence the
word “eustress” means “good stress”.
Bad stress or distress is the exact opposite of eustress. Distress occurs when there is a tension buildup which
becomes unbearable and difficult to cope with.

A stressor is any event that compels a person to adjust or change. Below are the common stressors that are
described as unpleasant and life threatening:

1. Catastrophic events and life-threatening experience- are abrupt unforeseen experiences or

traumas, such as natural calamities, military combats, terrorist attacks, accidents, and physical
and sexual abuses.
2. Life changes and strains- include separation of parents, illness in the family, change of
workplace, transfer of domicile, and other circumstances that demand people to adjust.
3. Chronic problems- exist for a long period which include circumstances such as suffering from
a serious illness, having irresponsible neighbors, and failure to acquire a lucrative or high-
income job.
4. Everyday hassles- are irritations, pressures, and annoyances that may not be significant
stressors by themselves but whose cumulative effect can be significant. Examples are traffic
congestion waiting in a long line to get a taxi, or just a bad day when everything goes wrong.

Stress tolerance refers to the ability of an individual to endure stress. An individual’s stress
tolerance is dependent on his or her psychological and physiological constitution; thus everyone reacts
differently to stress. One’s perception of stress is subjective. A eustress from someone could be a distress
to another. The reality is that one cannot really eliminate stress, but one can manage it.

Signs and Symptoms of Poorly Managed Stress

Several symptoms may be observed from people under stress. Symptoms can be physical,
behavioral, or emotional. Physical symptoms are characterized by one’s inability to sleep, fatigue,
headache, cramps, unpleasant aura, and gastrointestinal problems. Stress also causes aging and malignant
disease like cancer. Emotional and behavioral symptoms include lack of concentration, irritation,
nervousness, panic, lack of appetite in food or too much intake of food, low level of enthusiasm and desire
and mood swing.

Some people who are unable to properly manage stress are vulnerable to unhealthy habits like drug
addiction, alcoholism, cigarette smoking or poor diet. When these unhealthy habits persist, those people are
led to undesirable behaviors.

Coping with Stress

People who have adequate coping resources and methods will suffer fewer effects of stressors
compared to those who lack them. In dealing with stressful experiences, people may use coping resources
which include money and time. In relation to this, those who have limited or no time due to work schedule
have lesser chance of eliminating the conditions that stress them.

The effect of stressors can also be eliminated through the use of effective coping methods. Most of
these methods can be classified as problem-focused or emotion-focused. Problem focused coping method
involves an attempt to change or eliminate sources of stress. Emotion focused coping method is aimed at
controlling the negative emotional consequences of stressors.
The Need for Self-Care and Compassion

Self-care refers to all activities that a person does to maintain and improve his or her physical,
psychological, emotional, social, and spiritual well-being. It has five dimensions namely physical,
psychological, emotional, social and spiritual self-care.

Physical self-care includes all the activities that one does to maintain and improve his or her
physical well-being like consistently sleeping for at least eight hours, drinking eight glass of water, eating
healthy and nutritious foods, taking vitamins and exercising.

Psychological self-care includes all the activities one does to deal or resolve mental health issues,
address both positive and negative emotions, and learn to deal with negative self-talk.

Emotional self-care includes all the activities one does to cope with stress and deal with grief.

Social self-care includes all the activities one does to connect with people valuable to him or her.
It means spending time and having a great time with loved ones and other valuable people including family,
friends, neighbors, schoolmates, professional organizations and many more.

Spiritual self-care includes all the activities one does to strengthen one’s relationship with his or
her beliefs. It also includes meditation and contemplation about one’s purpose of existence according to his
or her faith.

Benefits of Self-care

1. Enhanced productivity- When a person distances himself or herself from vices like drinking
liquor, smoking, gambling, he or she will have more time to focus on his or her goals in addition
to improving his or her physical well-being.
2. Improved vitality- Physical care activities like exercising, eating the right food, drinking enough
water, and getting enough sleep increase resistance to diseases. Unhealthy habits make a person
vulnerable to disease.
3. Enhance self-esteem- Avoiding self-berating is very important. Negative self-talk is damaging to
how ones perceives himself or herself and may lead to anxiety and stress. It is important for a
person to discover and accept who he or she really is and be proud about himself or herself.
4. Increased self-knowledge- After a person discovers and accepts who he or she is, it is important
for him or her to know what he or she wants and what he or she loves to do. With this, one will be
able to live life to the fullest according to the purpose he or she has.
5. Mindfulness and compassion- Knowing and being good to oneself stems from goodness and
compassion one directs towards other people.
Self-Compassion

Self-compassion is defined as showing compassion to oneself. It involves being open to and moved
by one’s own suffering, expressing care and kindness towards oneself, taking an understanding and
nonjudgmental attitude toward one’s inadequacies and failures, and recognizing that one’s experience is
part of the common human experience.

Three Components of Self-compassion

Self-kindness means not being physically and verbally harsh to oneself. It involves and act where
one blames himself or herself for his or her actions or decisions. Self-beration is a kind of verbal abuse
directed to oneself. Usually this is done by stating unkind words to oneself. Self-harm, on the other hand is
the act of harming oneself through physical means which is both physically or psychologically damaging
to an individual.

Common humanity means acceptance that one is an imperfect being, one makes mistakes along
with everyone else, and one does not always get what he or she wants.

Mindfulness is the practice of being fully present in the moment. One has to turn toward his or her
painful thoughts and emotions in order to embrace himself or herself with compassion.