Promoting Health And Wellbeing In East Sussex Through Essay.

For this assignment you are asked to evaluate ways of promoting health and wellbeing relevant to your own local community. The assignment is in two parts:

Using the sources identified in Learning Guide , find out more about your local area and give a brief report (providing data to substantiate this) on the population in your local area.

Evaluate how one aspect of your nation’s health promotion strategy is relevant to and could promote health and wellbeing in your local community.

Part 1: About East Sussex

The idea that happiness should or can be measured is rather controversial. When it was announced that the government Office for National Statistics (ONS) was planning to measure national well-being, the announcement faced a lot of criticism from all directions. However, the ONS released the 2014/2015 measures on personal well-being and, the report suggested that more people feel positive about their lives. People's health, their families and their relationship with other people, the nature and quality of work that people do, the education and the environment; all contribute to a sense of satisfaction in the lives of people not only in England but also across the globe. If what really mattered to people were to be measured, then these factors need be measured as well because, they are what encompasses an individual’s wellbeing.

We can think of myriad definitions of wellbeing. But, generally, the meaning relates to a person’s experience of his or her quality of life. Well-being is a subjective state of feeling happy, healthy, comfortable, gratified and satisfied with the quality of one’s life. It is a contented state of being happy and healthy and prosperous. An individual's well-being includes among other things emotional, social, material, physical activity and developmental aspects of life. On the other hand, health is a ‘healthy’ state of wellbeing free from disease; wellness.

The interaction between social, physical, psychosocial and environmental factors including age, gender and past experiences all drive the recognition of the kick-off and maintenance of prevalent ill-health conditions. In addition, economic stability, working environment and a person’s social aspect of life play a role in the same. Giving their suggestion on what has profound influence on one’s wellbeing, they identify factors such as income, social status and an individual’s quality of life; even though all these are usually connected to other external elements including a person’s viewpoint about his or her ambitions and past experiences that shape our future perception about our wellbeing.

Furthermore, social networks give a certain impression of being beneficial to our wellbeing. This assumption is specifically consistent with the fact that the public has trust in the network. It is essential to take this frame of reference into consideration when trying to comprehend and manage the peril of common health problems. Concentrating on the present work environment in East Sussex might mean that crucial psychosocial dangers are disregarded. In the assessment and management of the common health risks, it is important to factor in the balance between an individual’s work life and the nature of their work. Common illnesses associated with this include musculoskeletal conditions and even stress itself. This fully supports the argument of encouraging the people of East Sussex to participate in regular exercise in addition to healthy eating. The people should take part in health checks, especially those managing health conditions as this would make them remain in control of their symptoms.

Thesis: Formulated health promotion strategies are already being implemented in England and across the United Kingdom to address health and safety perils of her people. Wellbeing proffers a chance for a distinct way to experiencing health and safety. This paper seeks to evaluate how one aspect of the nation's health promotion strategy is relevant to and could promote health and well-being in East Sussex.

Part 2: Evaluation of National Health Promotion Strategy

The county of East Sussex is to the south-east region of England. To the north and east, the county is bordered by Kent county while to the north, it is bordered by Surrey. To the west, East Sussex is bordered by West Sussex while the English Channel borders it to the south. The United Kingdom is East Sussex’s sovereign state. It was established in 1974 following the Local Government Act of 1972. It covers an area of approximately 1792 km2 with a density of 467/km2. ethnicity is largely white (97.7%) and S. Asians (1.0%). It has a population of 547,800. The county is made up of 6 districts including Lewes, Rother, Hastings, Wealden, City of Brighton and Hove and Eastbourne.

Generally, the working population in East Sussex spends a fairly larger proportion of their waking hours on their jobs and with many of them in sedentary positions. Even one’s line of work still takes up a significant proportion of people’s time in East Sussex even though most jobs in the county are often less physically demanding. This means that there is zero or less physical activity involved in the process, often resulting in a double disadvantage of prolonged working hours that require slight physical activity leaving the people with little energy and free time to exercise. Therefore, it makes much sense to offer the people with a chance to work out because a total of approximately a half an hour a day of fairly intense exercise is recommended on most days of the week as it is essential in reducing the risk of disease conditions that are associated with inactivity. In East Sussex, at least everyone needs 45 minutes dedicated to physical activity each day to prevent obesity. This would consequently result in promoting one’s general health and wellbeing. 

One aspect of the nation’s health promotion strategy programme, Health, work and wellbeing- Caring for our future is relevant to and could promote health and well-being in East Sussex because it is vividly directed towards the prevention of health problems and clearly focussed on helping the people with health problems; and also, helping reduce the cost of sickness in the society, absence and incapacity for work.

A healthy community is a wonderful place to develop and age in. It is a place that promotes healthy behavioural attributes, encouraging step-downs in health inequalities. A healthy community should potentiate the physical and mental health of the local community, befittingly promote active healthy ways of living that are made easy by the patterns of development, better urban designs and excellent access to local facilities and services; green open spaces available for all and areas that are safe for people to play and interact with others actively and eat healthily and that is reachable by public transport, cycling and by walking. A healthy community means creating living environments that are healthy for individuals of all ages; environments that support societal interactions. Moreover, a healthy community meets the demands of the younger generation, especially children who need to grow and thrive, as well being modifiable to the demands of an increasing aged population, those with mental deterioration of organic or functional origin and other mobility or sensory impairments.

Relevance of Health Promotion Strategy

The role of health and wellbeing

The achievement of individual wellbeing involves many positive and genuine decisions concerning the lifestyle of people. This is rather different from avoiding stress, with a negative intention of unable to come to terms with and falling sick before any action to avoid this is taken. Initiatives of wellbeing, in their ideal fashion, are proactive and, they work to facilitate people attain their maximum potential; physically, socially, mentally, spiritually and intellectually.

The aforementioned nation’s health promotion strategy offers a comprehensive approach path to managing the wholesome health and wellbeing of the people of East Sussex, touching on the areas of healthy living, musculoskeletal health and mental health. This is made possible by a team of healthcare workers and lively project managers from other fields. They have the responsibility of developing and implementing programmes related to healthcare.

 The wellbeing strategy can act upon very many physical health issues, with its associated projects including regulating health risks that are related to work and surveying relevant health issues including legal requisites. This strategy will advance campaigns to promote the people of East Sussex to take care of themselves. These health issues comprise of respiratory conditions, smoking cessation, skin safety and noise. This strategy creates awareness and regulates these risks including infection control utilising vaccination policies and hand hygiene.

It is indicated in a recent study review that in the UK, over the past period of approximately 25 years, obesity has increased threefold. Being overweight and obese is linked to increased probability of suffering several chronic diseases such as cardiovascular events, type 2 diabetes, joint disorders and different types of malignancies. According to a report, obesity itself costs the nation approximately 30,000 demises and about 18 million sick days annually. Obesity in England is on the rise in largely due to decreased physical activity. The caloric intake in the UK has also significantly increased since the 1980s and, her people are travelling less on foot and people watch television twice as much as it were in the memorable past. The nation's health-promoting strategy being adopted in East Sussex gives an assurance that the purpose of eating healthily is not just to maintain a healthy weight, it addresses that taking a balanced diet helps in preventing disorders of the digestive system such as constipation, iron deficiency, bone conditions like osteoporosis, cancers of the gastrointestinal tract and other malignancies that are hormone related including breast cancer. Individuals with good eating habits and balanced diets often have less job absence, they have better performance levels and good concentration energy . Adoption of this health-promoting strategy programme could promote health and well-being in East Sussex as obesity has a major effect on the safety and health of the people at their working stations. For example, it affects people’s fitness for tasks that involve physical activity. It also affects the ability of people to perform their jobs safely like manual handling and, ergonomic effects could be felt even for the sedentary jobs as well. For instance, obese persons are not suitable for the position of standard office.

Role of Health and Wellbeing

Furthermore, activities that promote health and well-being in East Sussex should centre physical fitness and maintenance of healthy dieting. The people should be constantly encouraged to cut down on their weight slowly by slowly and maintain the weight loss rather than partake on intense dieting. The people who want to cut weight should be encouraged to seek medical advice on how to best do it. There are many ways by which the East Sussex people can cut weight and eat healthily. For instance, they can be shopping for foodstuffs from a range of the available healthy options in the market and, by joining healthy exercise programmes that aim at weight loss. The people should also take into consideration how the pressures of their work can have a negative effect on their usual dieting. Many people, for instance, report that due to the pressures of their jobs, they hardly have time to prepare for themselves healthy meals, some skip either breakfast or lunch during their working hours while some continue working at their desks over meal hours .

Physical activity: Body fitness is a necessity for one to keep their health in check, not forgetting their general wellbeing. Working out makes one less prone to lifestyle diseases including stroke, coronary heart diseases and diabetes mellitus. It brings down the risk by half and the risk of early death by averagely 20- 30%. Physical activity aids to maintain normal BMI as obesity itself is associated with increased chances of premature death, stroke, diabetes (type 2), heart diseases(coronary), and increases the chances of developing of some cancers in addition to musculoskeletal problems. People who combine a low-calorie diet and working out, cut greater masses of fat while conserving lean tissue to a large extent. This is essential for long-term sustained weight loss. It is an effective treatment for severe, moderate and mild clinical depression, and may also aid mentally ill. Constant moderate exercise assists individuals to feel better by uplifting their mood, their self-perception and lowering anxiety . On the other hand, it can aid in minimizing stress and enabling one sleep better and, general bone mineral density is increased in adolescents, conserved in young adult, and lessened in decline at old age. Additionally, other types of exercises such as aerobics can also assist forestall reoccurrence of pain in the lower back while the physical activity of low to moderate magnitude can provide many health gains for older individuals. Thus, if the people of East Sussex inculcate physical activity into their daily lives, there are a lot more benefits to achieve in relation to health and wellbeing.

Conclusions

An individual who takes part in a moderately intense physical activity regularly should at all cost be in a position to continue with the exercise a lot longer without reaching an exhaustion point. This person will often endure an increase in the heartbeat which comes with physical activity, increased respiration and an increase in body temperature. The good news for the people of East Sussex is that if they all create for themselves opportunities to regularly have short bouts of fairly intense exercises, these opportunities will help the unfit individuals and those people with busy lifestyles to keep their health and general welfare in check. The physical activities to take advantage of include among other things commuting using bicycles or by foot, working in fields that include regular physical activity, gardening and carrying out household chores regularly and also if possible, participating in social sports or recreation at moderate intensity. 

References

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[1] Atkinson S, Wellbeing and place. Routledge, 2016, p. 9.

[2]Bradshaw J, The Well-being of Children in the UK. Policy Press, 2016, p. 4.

[3] Patton et al., Our future: A Lancet commission on adolescent health and wellbeing. The Lancet, 2016, p. 32.

[4] Jackson et al., Obesity, perceived weight discrimination, and psychological well-being in older adults in England. Obesity, vol. 23, no. 5, 2015, p. 91.

[5] Atkinson S, Wellbeing and place. Routledge, 2016, p. 19.

[6] Network C, A countryside for health and wellbeing: the physical and mental health benefits of green exercise. Cancer. Publisher not identified. 2017, p. 41.

[7] Ingham A, Can your public library improve your health and well?being? An investigation of East Sussex Library and Information Service. Health Information & Libraries Journal, vol. 31, no. 2, 2014, p. 157.

[8] Schulte et al., Considerations for incorporating “well-being” in public policy for workers and workplaces. American journal of public health, vol. 105 no. 8, 2015, p.43.

[9] El Ansari et al., Health promoting behaviours and lifestyle characteristics of students at seven universities in the UK. Central European journal of public health, vol. 19, no. 4, 2011, p. 197.

[10]White et al., A systematic review of economic evaluations of local authority commissioned preventative public health interventions in overweight and obesity, physical inactivity, alcohol and illicit drugs use and smoking cessation in the United Kingdom. Journal of Public Health., 2018, p. 13.

[11] Turner E, Lira A, and Brum C, New Insights into the Benefits of Physical Activity and Exercise for Aging and Chronic Disease. Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity. Publisher not identified, 2017, p. 77.

[12] Brownell D and Walsh T, (Eds.), Eating disorders and obesity: A comprehensive handbook. Guilford Publications, 2017, p. 52.

[13] Steele D and Cylus J, United Kingdom (Scotland): health system review. Health systems in transition, vol. 14, no. 9, 2012, p. 23.

[14] Tillin et al., Ethnicity?specific obesity cut?points in the development of Type 2 diabetes–a prospective study including three ethnic groups in the United Kingdom. Diabetic Medicine, vol. 32, no. 2, 2015, p. 226.

[15] Zilanawala et al., Race/ethnic disparities in early childhood BMI, obesity and overweight in the United Kingdom and United States. International journal of obesity, vol. 39, no. 3, 2015, p. 520.

[16] Tillin et al., Ethnicity?specific obesity cut?points in the development of Type 2 diabetes–a prospective study including three ethnic groups in the United Kingdom. Diabetic Medicine, vol. 32, no. 2, 2015, p. 227.

[17] Schulte et al., Considerations for incorporating “well-being” in public policy for workers and workplaces. American journal of public health, vol. 105, no. 8, 2015, p. 34.

[18] Shapiro S, Workout your burnout: an exploratory look at the role of perceived barriers and benefits to physical activity in social workers. Publisher not identified, 2017, p. 51.

[19] Schulte et al., Considerations for incorporating “well-being” in public policy for workers and workplaces. American journal of public health, vol. 105, no. 8, 2015, p. 31.

[20] Shapiro S, Workout your burnout: an exploratory look at the role of perceived barriers and benefits to physical activity in social workers. Publisher not identified, 2017, p. 51.

[21] Turner E, Lira A, and Brum C, New Insights into the Benefits of Physical Activity and Exercise for Aging and Chronic Disease. Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity. Publisher not identified, 2017, p. 111.

[22] Atkinson S, Fuller S, and Painter J, Wellbeing and place. Routledge, 2016, p. 89.

[23]Shapiro S, Workout your burnout: an exploratory look at the role of perceived barriers and benefits to physical activity in social workers. Publisher not identified, 2017, p. 67.