Spiritual_Wellness_Holistic_Health_and_the_Practic

Health Education as a Basic 19
urgency of health problems of youth, the amazing gullibility of the consumer, and
“ value illness ” as a primary concern in contemporary health education.
Health education risk reduction programs are becoming effective because of
improved coordination among health departments, schools of public health, medical
colleges, local hospitals, and various private sector professional and voluntary
health organizations. In a recent study by the Center for Health Promotion and
Education, Centers for Disease Control, it was shown that health professionals
were interested in a wide number of health topics but were primarily interested in
risk reduction, stress management, nutrition, and exercise — topics they believed
to be most susceptible to a comprehensive educational approach. Clearly, a cooperative
education for health works. It can be measured by a variety of successful
outcomes:
Stroke Mortality: Over a twelve - year period there has been a 42 percent
decrease.
Heart Disease Mortality: Over a twelve - year period there has been a 24 percent
decrease. Heart attacks are still the nation ’ s number one killer.
Alcohol: There is a fundamental change in attitudes about alcohol consumption.
Both discussion and action continue relative to raising the drinking age to 21,
banning happy hours, stiffening drunk - driving penalties, making people who
serve alcohol liable for the actions of guests, and prohibiting drinking while driving.
There is evidence that people are starting to use alcohol in a more responsible
fashion, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse reported a decline in
regular drinking among high school seniors in the previous year.
Youth Death Rates: Unheralded in the popular press is the drop in the death rate
for adolescents and young adults, 15 - to 24 - year - olds — due chiefly to the decline
in automobile accidents and suicides.
Drugs: Teenagers are increasingly aware of drug - related health risks, more
opposed to legalizing drug use, and less likely to cave in to peer pressure than in
the past according to the findings from the alcohol and drug abuse program of the
Department of Health and Human Services. Marijuana usage among the young
has gone down, but drug use by American youth is highest in the Western
world.
Smoking: Fewer people are smoking than ever. The teenage decline began in
1977 with a major effort by the National Interagency Council on Smoking and
Health. Smoking is still responsible for about one - third of all coronary disease
and all cancer deaths — and it is almost universally acquired during childhood
and early adolescence.
Child Restraints: Almost half the states have adopted child restraint laws,
resulting in a remarkable reduction of child injuries from automobile accidents.