Ms B, a 32-year-old single female just got a job in a big city and had to relocate from home to this new location so that she can sustain close proximity to her workplace. She wasn’t the type that kept friends and the ones she related to were more of acquaintances. Ms B is of the belief that she doesn’t really need friends as long as she is progressing in her career. Six months into her job she starts feeling depressed, losing motivation, and loneliness even though things appear to be going well for her, she finds herself starting to rely on alcohol whenever she is home alone and can’t seem to lay a hand on what could be wrong. Her productivity at work is also affected and her last appraisal was poor which means she could lose her job soon.
Personal Health and well-being are affected by many factors, and those that are associated with ill health, disability, disease or death are known as risk factors. Risk factors are presented here individually, however, in practice, they do not operate in isolation. They often coexist and interact with one another.
Behavioural Risk Factors
Risk factors that can be eliminated or reduced through lifestyle or behavioural changes include:
Tobacco smoking
Excessive alcohol consumption
Poor diet and nutrition
Physical inactivity
Excessive sun exposure
Insufficient vaccination
Unprotected sexual activity.
Biomedical Risk Factors
Biomedical risk factors may be influenced by a combination of genetic, lifestyle and other broad factors. Biomedical risk factors include:
Overweight and obesity
High blood pressure
High blood cholesterol
Impaired glucose tolerance
Environmental Risk Factors
Environmental determinants of health cover a wide array of topics and can be split into two broad categories. Social, economic, cultural and political. Physical, chemical and biological.
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Genetic Risk Factors
Some diseases, such as cystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophy, result entirely from an individual’s genetic make-up whereas many others reflect the interaction between that make-up and environmental factors.
There are three broad groups of genetic diseases/disorders: single gene (monogenic) disorders, for example hemophilia; chromosomal abnormalities, for example Down syndrome; and multifactorial diseases, such as asthma.
Demographic Risk Factors
Demographic factors include age, sex, and population subgroups. Examples of risk associated with demographic factors include:
Stroke death rates increase dramatically with age, with 81% of all deaths from stroke occurring among those aged 75 and over.
A woman’s risk of developing breast cancer before age 75 is 1 in 11, whereas for men the chance is only 1 in 1,426.
Emotional Wellness
Emotional wellness, which is also known as emotional health or emotional wellbeing, is a person’s ability to handle their emotions and the varied experiences they encounter in life.
The National Center for Emotional Wellness defines emotional wellness as an awareness, understanding and acceptance of our feelings, and our ability to manage effectively through challenges and change.
How does it affect your life?
You might not realize how many different areas of life your emotional wellness, or lack thereof, is involved in. Let’s look at how your ability to handle, understand, and manage your emotions impacts your life.
• Relationships
When we interact with others, it’s important that we understand our own perspectives about different issues. Sometimes we disagree with other people, and to keep relationships happy and healthy, we need to be able to have disagreements in a calm and appropriate manner.
If you can’t deal with your emotions well, it’s difficult to deal with those of others. The state of emotional wellness impacts our relationships whether they are personal or professional.
To best connect with and relate to others, the more emotionally healthy we are, the more support and care we can offer those we love and respect.
• Work and School
Whether your decades into your chosen career or still deciding what you want to do in your life, your ability to handle situations as they arise is vital to your success. Knowing how you feel, dealing with your emotions, and being able to move forward from challenges with a positive mindset all lead to better outcomes in your scholastic and professional life.
• Mental Health
This may seem obvious, but your emotional health is a big part of your overall mental health and wellness. While that fact is true for everyone, for those who face mental health challenges and conditions it can be even more impactful. As you learn about how to deal with your own mental health challenges, you’ll be most successful in navigating them if you are in touch with, and able to deal with, your feelings and emotions.
