How does behavior affect health

Micronutrients include dietary vitamins and minerals which are necessary to sustain health. Supplements can be used to make up for not getting enough micronutrients from diet alone. Vitamin deficiencies may result in physical dysfunction, including impaired immune function, premature aging, and even poor psychological health.

The benefits of trace minerals range from bone and tooth formation to acid-base balance. Malnutrition refers to insufficient, excessive, or imbalanced consumption of nutrients. In developed countries, this often occurs in the form of overconsumption of sugary, nutrient-deficient food, which is linked to obesity and numerous related health conditions like diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease.

In the developing world, where access to food is often compromised, malnutrition often manifests as hunger, starvation, and malnourishment. Chronic malnourishment prevents healthy growth and impairs vital body functions; this leads to physical health problems and, eventually, death. Consequently, one of the best things a person can do to promote overall health and wellness is to maintain adequate nutrition.

There is a reciprocal relationship between the physical and psychological effects of poor nutrition. While malnutrition refers to physical impairments resulting from a poor diet, the underlying nutritional deficiencies can have significant impact on mental well-being including perception and judgment , and often exacerbate existing psychological disorders.

Existing or incipient psychological conditions e. Exercise is bodily activity that can have positive effects on both physical and mental well-being. Exercise is any activity that requires physical effort and is carried out with the goal of sustaining or improving physical fitness.

Exercise has many benefits for the body and mind: protecting against injury, improving cardiovascular function, honing athletic skills, managing weight, boosting the immune system, counteracting depression, and elevating mood.

Physical exercise can be classified into three primary types based on the overall effect the exercise has on the body: flexibility, aerobic, and anaerobic. Aerobic exercise increases cardiovascular capacity through activities like running, biking, or swimming. Anaerobic exercise improves muscle strength through weight training.

Exercises can also be classified as dynamic when they involve active or flowing movement like running or yoga , or static when they involve isolated poses or movements such as weight-lifting or holding stretches. Certain exercises may have aerobic, anaerobic, and flexibility benefits. Calesthenics, for example, which includes rhythmic gross motor movements and strengthening exercise that use only body weight as resistance e.

Running : Running is an aerobic exercise that increases cardiovascular function and overall health and wellness. All of these types of physical exercise contribute to physical fitness. Body weight and composition is maintained by a combination of the food we consume and the energy we expend throughout the day. Physical activity increases the amount of energy the body needs to function.

The more exercise a person does, the more energy the body uses. As a result, fewer calories are stored in the form of fat, and this translates into either weight maintenance or weight loss. Along with healthy body weight, exercise has other physical health benefits. It increases cardiovascular functioning, which reduces the risk for certain diseases like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.

Exercise can also positively affect bone density, muscle strength, and joint mobility. Strong bodies have reduced surgical risks, better immune function, and lower susceptibility to illness and infection. Exercise also serves as stress relief, which has both physiological and psychological benefits. Research shows that exercise reduces cortisol levels, a hormone that is released when the body is stressed and has been shown to have negative health consequences including heart disease and depression when chronically elevated.

The brain also benefits from physical exercise through increases in blood flow and oxygen that promote cell generation and proliferation. In general, a steady practice of exercise keeps the body strong and functioning properly. Research shows that physical exercise also plays an important role in promoting mental health. Exercise increases levels of endorphins in the body. They work in conjunction with neurotransmitters to induce relief, happiness, or even euphoria when the body is in pain or overexerted.

Research shows that exercise elevates levels of serotonin and endorphins and that these elevations remain for several days after exercise, contributing to a lasting improvement in mood. Exercise has been proven to have positive effects on people suffering from depression, and promotes positive levels of self-esteem. This phenomenon is due not only to the chemicals involved, but also results from the positive body-image and feeling of competence that come with accomplishing a fitness goal.

Substance abuse, or the habitual, harmful use of drugs, can have detrimental effects on the mind and body. Substance abuse is the habitual and recreational use of an addictive agent drug that is consumed in dangerous amounts or dangerous situations. The psychoactive effects of drug abuse occur when the drugs impact the levels of neurotransmitters in the brain that control normal mental and physical functioning. For instance, chronic drug abuse can negatively impact memory functioning, impulse control, and reaction time; it can also increase the risk for heart disease, cancer, liver failure, etc.

Individuals who use substances to the point of dependence are at even greater risk for physical health problems, or even overdose, due to development of tolerance, or needing to use more and more of the substance to obtain the desired effect.

Withdrawal symptoms are equally dangerous: these are the uncomfortable and sometimes fatal physical symptoms that occur when the drug is absent from the body. Substance abuse chart : This chart compares the relative danger of particular substances based on the dependence level developed and the potential physical harm to the user and others.

This type of goal is easier to think about and plan for. Once your new healthy behavior becomes a habit, you can move on to another goal. If you set a goal to be more physically active, you can improve your chances of success by exercising with other people. For example, set up a walking group at work or in your neighborhood, or ask a friend to be your exercise buddy.

This will provide you with support and make physical activity more enjoyable. By admin On July 17, No Comments. What are the most common causes of death? How much control do I really have? What can I do to reduce my risk?

Eat fewer high-fat foods and more fruits and vegetables. Andreyeva [ 43 ] points out that unemployment increases the risk of obesity. In our estimations, no unemployment effects can be found compared to those who do not work because of being a housewife or other reasons; nevertheless, due to strong negative effects of working hours on excessive body weight, getting women in the labour force may be another way to reduce the prevalence of obesity.

Third, both education and labour force participation are main determinants of labour income, which is a principal component of family household net income. Estimation shows that relative poverty is an important impact factor for tobacco consumption, while drinking alcohol is positively influenced by a high socioeconomic status. In addition, higher income lowers the probability of being obese for women.

For men, the income position is without any effect on heavy body weight. The dependence of smoking on socioeconomic status raises the question of financial incentives to induce healthy behaviours. Rising taxes on tobacco may lower consumption, given a negative price elasticity of smoking [ 42 ]. In Germany, taxation of alcoholic mixed drinks in in combination with a prohibition of sale for underage individuals led to a significantly decrease in consumption.

According to our estimation results, especially high-income individuals tend to drink even more than those in middle-income positions. Therefore, higher taxes are unlikely to reduce drinking significantly for the group in relative prosperity. Regarding policy implications from the results on health behaviour one has to take different effects for males and females into account. Alcohol and obesity both reduce the reported health status for males.

For women, only a positive effect of drinking on health can be found. The difference in the effects of alcohol consumption may be due to an unobserved level effect and the J-shape argument of drinking. First, it seems probable that there exist differences in the real amount of alcohol intake depending on the interpretation of drinking frequencies. Second, the J-shape argument indicates that regular but moderate drinking of wine and beer goes along with positive health consequences or psychic well-being as part of the health status, compared to those who are abstainers or heavy drinkers [ 44 ].

For both sexes, smoking is without any significant health effect. First, there seems to be no difference in the valuation of health between smokers and nonsmokers. Second, individuals face the consequences of their behaviour later in life and not in direct relation to their actions. Moreover, the probability of being a smoker lowers with age.

Therefore, health problems may arise after quitting smoking. At present, politics aims at reducing smoking through information campaigns as well as a ban from working places or restaurants. Due to a higher probability for low-income individuals, higher taxes may also be an appropriate means.

Concerning obesity, it seems that high-calorie intake is not primarily a question of income but a question of education. Further information about the ingredients and the nutritional value of convenience food may be one key to reduce the prevalence of obesity given that individuals have the capabilities to deal with this information.

The authors would like to thank Andrew Jones, Nigel Rice, Volker Ulrich, and two anonymous referees for helpful comments on this paper—of course, any remaining mistakes are entirely the authors errors.

Schneider and Udo Schneider. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Article of the Year Award: Outstanding research contributions of , as selected by our Chief Editors. Read the winning articles. Special Issues. Academic Editor: Almas Heshmati.

Received 31 Aug Revised 03 Nov Accepted 04 Nov Published 03 Jan Introduction Unhealthy behaviours like smoking, alcohol abuse, malnutrition, or lack of exercise are known causes of chronic health conditions [ 1 ]. On the Relationship between Health-Related Behaviour and Health From a theoretical perspective, health behaviour can be treated as investment in health, leading to a high health capital stock.

Data Regarding these findings, the relation between individual behaviour and health is of simultaneous nature. Table 1. Male Female Variable Mean Std. Mean Std. Endogenous variables Smoker 0. Table 2. Descriptive statistics. Male Nonsmoker Smoker Not obese Obese Not obese Obese Drinks alcohol not regularly 42,06 9,56 19,89 3,10 Regular alcohol consumption 13,38 3,07 7,48 1,45 Female Nonsmoker Smoker Not obese Obese Not obese Obese Drinks alcohol not regularly 56,69 12,57 19,84 3,49 Regular alcohol consumption 4,78 0,44 1,96 0, Table 3.

Shares of respondents drinking, smoking or being obese in percent. Male Female Additional variables Mean Std. Min Max SAH 2. Table 4. Male Female Age 30—44 0. Table 5. Table 6. Comparison of additional exclusion restrictions for the health equation.

Poverty 0. Table 7. Estimation results males,. Table 8. Estimation results females,. Table 9. References J. Cawley and C. Rehm, G. Gmel, C. Sempos, and M. View at: Google Scholar R. NIH Publication No. Finkelstein, J. Trogdon, J. Cohen, and W. Neubauer, R. Welte, A. Beiche, H. View at: Google Scholar A. Konnopka and H.

Konnopka, M. Schneider, C. Pfarr, B. Schneider, and V. In press. View at: Google Scholar P. Krueger and V. Moore and J. View at: Google Scholar W. View at: Google Scholar E. Conduit, A. Having hypertension raises the risk by about fifty percent, as does being obese, though the latter effect is smaller and not statistically significant in models that control for blood pressure and cholesterol.

The next step is to use the results of this analysis to estimate mortality risk for each person in the and surveys. The authors find that mortality risk fell significantly between the two surveys - the average probability of death within ten years for the adult population aged 25 to 74 fell from 9. The authors find that the decline in smoking and high blood pressure were the two most important causes of this drop, accounting for 0.

The increase in obesity caused a 0. When the authors convert their results into life expectancies, they find that on net the changes in health behavior over the past thirty years have added 1. Finally, the authors use their estimates to predict what mortality rates might be in the early s if current trends in heath behaviors continue. They note that this is not necessarily a "best guess" of what the future will hold, since trends in health behaviors may change, but nonetheless provides some insight as to where we may be headed.

In their simulations, the share of the population that are current smokers falls from 25 to 15 percent and the share that are overweight and obese rises from 68 percent to 79 percent. Projecting the effect of changes in risk factors on mortality, they find that the drop in smoking would lead to a 0. The latter result is due to a jump in the share of the population pro-jected to be obese as opposed to simply overweight , where health risks are particularly severe.