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Reflective Journal

Howard Simone

BSC 1103: Health and Nutrition through the Life Span

Tampa Medical College

Instructor Cheryl Bensi

September 22, 2022

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Reflective Journal

Growth and development are vital aspects of human life. It should continue unaltered

for the full realization of the potential that lies behind human beings. In this week’s study,

many aspects of growth were learned, including factors affecting growth and development

and family role in the development and growth of a child (Nearpod, 2022). The difference

between growth and development is that growth entails increasing the size of the whole body

and its parts. On the other hand, development is an increase in the functional complexity of

systems within the human body. These two aspects are genetically determined; nutrition,

hereditary, and environment significantly affect them.

A family is a basic unit of any society, influencing a person’s development and

growth. Poverty will affect nutrition, which will, in turn, influence development and growth.

Poor nutrition is detrimental to a child’s growth (Nearpod, 2022). Therefore, during the

development of a family, there should be adequate understanding and agreement on how

important factors such as nutrition will be met. This is because every stage of development of

a human being demands different nutritional requirements, which, when not realized, will

have a long-term effect. Notably, there are specific changes that are associated with each

stage of human growth and development that should be noted. These changes mark

significant developmental milestones and allow the person to adapt to the surroundings.

When one does not show these stages, especially during the early stages of growth and

development, it raises a lot of concern and requires early intervention to avoid further

complications.

Discursively, while reviewing the late adulthood stage, these years are supposed to be

those of pleasure and satisfaction. However, when one of the developmental stages is
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tampered with, late adulthood can be miserable. Many will suffer from chronic diseases, and

adjusting to retirement will be hard. Arguably, the nutrition of these people should be of

quality and factors such as loneliness should be addressed (Nix, 2017).

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References

Nearpod. (2022). Nearpod. App.nearpod.com. https://app.nearpod.com/presentation?

pin=RFV97

Nix, S. (2017). Williams’ Basic Nutrition And Diet Therapy. (15th ed.). Elsevier - Health

Science.