MHD508 CASE MOD 2

MHD508 CASE MOD 2: Health behavior and change Name Institution Date   Introduction Biological, environmental and lifestyle factors influence the health of a person, while it is possible to change lifestyle and reduce the risk of preventable health diseases. Lifestyle factors including dieting, substance abuse, tobacco use and activity levels. Eating unhealthy foods, being inactive and cigarette smoking are health risk factors, and the health outcomes deteriorate when there are behavioral risk factors. The risk factors may interact to affect the well-being of an individual. Epidemiology data on unhealthy eating habits, physical activities intensity, alcohol use, and tobacco use highlights the health patterns and burden or risk factors on health. Prevalent risk behaviors According to Ogden et al (2014), more than 17% of the youth and a third of the adults in the US are obese, and the health information on weight levels differs from state to state. Obesity levels indicate the risk of chronic health conditions including high blood pressure, stroke and heart diseases. Lack of exercise and poor dieting are health behaviors that increase the risk of obesity, and lifestyle changes have a positive health outcome. There are also differences in obesity levels in the U.S with the low income neighborhoods at a higher risk of high overweight and obesity levels. This is particularly in areas with food deserts, where people have few opportunities to eat healthy foods and engage in physical activities. Since insufficient exercise is a risk factor to chronic conditions, focusing on the recommended guidelines provide a framework to be adhered for males and females. The recommendations for improving the level of physical activities should focus more the socioeconomic status. Insufficient servings of fruits and vegetables has been identified as a concern, while over consumption of foods low in nutrients and high in energy are unhealthy foods that have increased obesity levels in the country. Nutritional risk factors and eating patterns are also linked to weight levels and obesity. There is a need for more information to establish how this affects different communities. Another risk behavior is alcohol consumption as this affects the health, while reducing alcohol intake improve health outcomes. Additionally, there was a risk of alcohol-related deaths, since the lives of victims are shortened especially those suffering from excessive drinking. Among the working age population in America (20-64) years of age, 10% of this demographic group died early because of excessive alcohol (CDC, 2016 a). For males, having five or more drinks and four or more drinks for females is heavy drinking, and in 2014, it was estimated that more than 31.4% men were heavy drinkers while 18.9% of women also drank heavily on a daily basis (CDC, 2016 a). Additionally, more than two-thirds of urban Americans are likely to have used alcohol in 2015 compared to 58% of the rural population (Dixon, & Chartier 2016). There is also concer...