Topic > My Health Beliefs and Behaviors

IndexIntroductionConclusionWorks Cited:IntroductionConsider one health behavior that you (as well as your family and friends) find yourself engaging in (smoking, eating unhealthy, managing stress, going to doctor). Based on your readings, describe and analyze how your health beliefs are related to this behavior? Analyze and discuss the psychological factors and deterrents you observe in your behavior and that of your family and/or friends. (Adapted from Ogden, J., 2017.) Health behavior is defined as “any behavior related to an individual's health status.” This can be a negative or positive behavior and plays a very important role in determining health outcomes and disease. For this assignment, I evaluated things that are happening in my life and how my health behaviors have contributed to my current condition. The two health behaviors I decided to focus on are lack of sleep and excessive caffeine consumption. I've always been someone who didn't need much sleep to get through the day. I could sleep maybe 1-3 hours each night and still be fine the next day. Sleeping too much more always gave me a sick feeling in my stomach, otherwise I would have been extremely groggy. It was almost as if my body had rejected sleep over the years. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay During this time, my health behavior was due to attitude and risk perception. I always had people tell me that not getting much sleep was unhealthy and would eventually cause my body to "shut down," but I always ignored it. I felt that I was still young, that I had been doing this all my life, and that nothing bad had happened to me. I also felt like people were being dramatic when making closing statements because I had never heard of anything like this happening to anyone. I didn't think anything would happen to me, because nothing had happened yet. These beliefs about health and not taking risk seriously contributed to me continuing to sleep very few hours a day and, sometimes, even staying awake for two days at a time if I was having enough fun or had too much going on. I was promoting an unhealthy habit because I didn't really believe the risk was serious or even realistic. Another terrible health behavior was my addiction to caffeine. I became addicted to caffeine at a young age. As soon as my parents let me start drinking soda, I was hooked. I would sneak in and drink 5, 6, sometimes even 7 and 8 drinks a day. This terrible habit continued into my adulthood. Even though I don't drink that many sodas today, I still have to drink my Coke every day. When I'm not drinking Coke, I need a coffee or energy drink to avoid terrible caffeine withdrawal headaches. Caffeine went from being something I enjoyed to something I depended on over time. When I started feeling the effects of never getting enough rest and having to do so much in my days that I didn't have time to rest even when I desperately needed it, I relied on caffeine to get me through the slump. the day. This even led me to start using 5 hour energy shots just to get me through graveyard shifts because I couldn't sleep during the day like I should. All of these healthy behaviors were triggered by my attitude and perception of.