Mainting Good Health

MAINTAINING GOOD HEALTH

By Susan Miller

As a nation, citizens of the United States eat too much, sleep too little, take on too much stress, and avoid exercise when possible. Maintaining good health, or wellness, could be defined as efforts to combine physical, emotional, social, and educational components of life in a balance that results in feeling well.

Adolescents need to learn about behavior, attitudes, and activities that will improve the quality of life. The stresses of modern life influence our health and often contribute to the leading causes of death in this country. Even though the three leading causes of death for adolescents, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Statistical Abstract of the United States (1989), are accidents, homicides, and suicides, it is important to note that the major causes of death among all age groups are heart disease, cancer, and stroke.

These diseases have their origin in the lifestyle choices established during the early years of life and result from poor habits practiced over many years. The lack of accurate nutrition knowledge among adolescents and the poor dietary practices of many adolescents have been topics of concern for several decades.

Adolescents are identified as a group in critical need of accurate nutrition information, but they have been resistant to many nutrition education efforts. The need continues to grow for assessing the impact of nutrition among adolescents and its relationship to major health threats.

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