Barriers to a Healthy Lifestyle-.com

Question: Discuss about the Various barriers to a healthy lifestyle are mostly attributed to healthful eating and physical activity. Answer: Introduction The World Health Organisation defines Health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Although the definition is has experienced criticism and debate due to the broad spectrum it intends to cover, it is evident that a wide range of factors can influence the health of a person starting from any genetic predisposition to small lifestyle choices one makes. In this context a healthy lifestyle is a way of living that reduces the incidence of serious illnesses and extends one life span and eventually help a person and his/her family to enjoy various aspect of life. The essay aims to elaborate the long-term significance of leading a healthy lifestyle, the barriers one might face in doing so and methods that can potentially overcome such barriers. Various barriers to a healthy lifestyle are mostly attributed to healthful eating and physical activity. Lack of Nutritional Knowledge At an intrapersonal level lack of knowledge regarding the nutritional values of ones diet and its consequences on health can be a major barrier to healthful eating. People seldom pay attention and importance to the nutritional knowledge of the products they are consuming. Nutritional knowledge must be augmented to overcome such eating barriers. Supportive educational programs can provide such knowledge to the general population (Kris-Etherton, 2014). Further people must be encouraged to use the labelled information provided (Miller Cassady, 2015). Healthcare professionals, nutritionist and doctors can play an important role in making the population aware of food attributes and their health consequences while communicating with the patients. Cultural patterns of food habit Social factors such as cultural patterns can limit intake of healthy food for particular ethnic groups which may turn out to be a potent factor in unhealthy food habits. Although cultural influences are often considered regarding eating disorders, few researches have explicitly linked or elucidated the cultural processes that cause such disorders. However, such cultural contributions towards unhealthy eating habits must be dealt with utmost care to avoid hurting the sentiment of the target population (Anderson, 2014). The most important role here is played by healthcare professionals in spreading awareness regarding the adverse consequences of unhealthy food habits on a frequent basis. Further, healthcare professionals should advocate policies on a local as well as national level that can promote access to healthy food choices. Social media and television advertisements often play crucial role in promoting certain food choices in the population (Caprio, 2008). Strict norms must be se t to avoid promotion of food with low nutritional value by food companies. Lack of self-motivation In terms of physical activity, perceptions of already being fit and lack of self-motivation often prove to be a determining factor for lack of physical activity. Lack of physical activity mostly in industrialized countries has reached to an alarming stage. Cumulated with unhealthy food habits physical inactivity has been proved to be a determining factor for the incidence of certain chronic and acute disorders like diabetes, hypertension and so on. To alleviate such trends nothing less than population-wide intervention will be sufficient. Physical activity behaviour can be influenced at several levels; multicomponent strategies can be implemented over individual strategies. Motivational interviewing strategies can be provided to individuals those who are resistant to physical activity behaviour changes. Community-based awareness programs should be conducted to change the attitude and perception of the larger group of people regarding the implications of physical activity in daily lif e (Cox, Smith Williams, 2008). Community based intervention are often more effective than at an individual level as it can change the overall lifestyle of the whole community where people can be influenced by each another. On an interpersonal level interventions can be provided by physicians or healthcare professionals to advice and urge their patients to engage themselves at a minimum level of physical activity. Healthcare professionals and physicians can be trained to deliver individualized physical activity advice according to the requirements of the patients. Environmental constraints may prevent a community to abstain from physical activity. Low cost environments such as sidewalks, parks, community recreation centres, swimming pools and so on must be available to the target population to facilitate and promote physical activities. Conclusion From the above discussion the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle is conspicuous. However, several barriers are widely prevalent that contribute to such trends in the population. They can range from a personal to a community level. Three major barriers identified, Lack of nutritional knowledge, Cultural food habit patterns and lack of self-motivation to engage in physical activities are some of the potent factors in this context. To change the public health scenario worldwide interventions are necessary along with intrapersonal contribution. References Anderson, E. N. (2014).Everyone eats: Understanding food and culture. NYU Press. Caprio, S., Daniels, S. R., Drewnowski, A., Kaufman, F. R., Palinkas, L. A., Rosenbloom, A. L., ... Kirkman, M. S. (2008). Influence of race, ethnicity, and culture on childhood obesity: implications for prevention and treatment.Obesity,16(12), 2566-2577. Cox, A. E., Smith, A. L., Williams, L. (2008). Change in physical education motivation and physical activity behavior during middle school.Journal of adolescent health,43(5), 506-513. Kris-Etherton, P. M., Akabas, S. R., Bales, C. W., Bistrian, B., Braun, L., Edwards, M. S., ... Pratt, C. A. (2014). The need to advance nutrition education in the training of health care professionals and recommended research to evaluate implementation and effectiveness.The American journal of clinical nutrition,99(5), 1153S-1166S. Miller, L. M. S., Cassady, D. L. (2015). The effects of nutrition knowledge on food label use. A review of the literature.Appetite,92, 207-216.