Taking Responsibility For Your Health

Warm-Up Activity

• Divide a sheet of paper into three (3) columns with the following headings: Six-Year-Old; Teenager; Adult. In each column list the kinds of responsibilities that person should have.

Essential Questions

• What does the term prevention mean, and what is its importance in improving health?

• What are the steps involved in the process of behavior change?

Debate the following…

• How do responsibilities change from childhood to the teens?

• What responsibilities do teens not yet have?

• Who is responsible for a teen’s health-related decisions?

Prevention

• Definition– The practice of healthy behaviors that keep

a person free of disease and other health problems

• Each table come up with at least ten (10) prevention behaviors (ex: washing hands to prevent the spread of disease; wearing a bicycle helmet to prevent head injuries)

Making Changes for Health

• There are four (4) important steps to behavior change:

1. Awareness

2. Knowledge

3. Decision-making

4. Applying skills

Awareness

• The process of behavior change always begins with awareness

• A person must first recognize a potential health problem before anything can be done to change it

Knowledge

• Once a person becomes aware of a health problem, the next step involves learning some of the facts about it

Decision-Making

• Most actions have risks and benefits, and you must decide which one outweighs the other

• When making a decision you must consider your values (standards and beliefs that are most important to you)

Applying Skills

• To have good health, you must be able to apply the healthy decisions you have made

Achieving Health Literacy

• Definition of health literacy– Describes a person’s ability to gather and

understand health information and then use the information to improve his or her health

• Knowing both what you should do and how to do it will empower you to reduce health risks and move toward wellness

Looking Beyond Yourself

• Family members, friends, acquaintances, strangers, and even future generations can be affected by the decision you make…spread the good news and encourage others to lead a healthy and active lifestyle!

Lesson 3 Review

• Answer all five (5) questions on the bottom of page 17 and be ready to discuss.