CHAPTER SUMMARIES ON CHAPTERS 1 - 6

CHAPTER ONE - SUMMARY Taking Charge of Your Health/Wellness

  • Wellness is the ability to live life fully, with vitality and meaning. Wellness incorporates physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, interpersonal and social, and environmental dimensions.
  • Chronic diseases have become the leading cause of death in the United States.
  • Although heredity, environment, and health care all play roles in wellness and disease, behavior can mitigate
  • their effects.
  • To make lifestyle changes, you need information about yourself, your health habits, and resources available to help you change.
  • You can increase your motivation for behavior change by examining the benefits and costs of change, boosting self-efficacy, and identifying and overcoming key barriers to change.
  • The "stages of change" model describes six stages that people move through as they try tochange their be-
    havior: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance, and termination.
  • A specific plan for change can be developed by (1) monitoring behavior by keeping a Journal; (2) analyzing the recorded data; (3) selling specific goals; (4) devising strategies for modifying the environment, rewarding yourself, and involving others; and (5) making a personal contract
  • Although we cannot control every aspect of our health, we can make a difference in helping create an environment that supports wellness for everyone.

SUMMARY of CHAPTER 2 STRESS

  • When confronted with a stressor, the body undergoes a set of physical changes known as the fight-or-flight reaction. The sympathetic nervous system and endocrine system act on many targets in the body to prepare it for action--even if the situation does not require physical action.
  • Prolonged or repeated exposure to stress hormones can increase a person's risk of health problems.
  • Health problems linked to stress include cardiovascular disease, colds and other infections, asthma flare-ups, and allergies, cancer, flare-ups of chronic diseases, and psychological problems (anxiety, depression).
  • Sources of stress associated with college may be time-related pressures. New and changing relationships, prejudice, and discrimination are examples of interpersonal and social stressors.
  • Social support, exercise, nutrition, sleep, and time management reduce stress.
  • The relaxation response is the opposite of the fight-or-flight reaction. Techniques that trigger it, including
    progressive relaxation, meditation, deep breathing, yoga, and listening to music.
  • A successful individualized plan for coping with stress begins with the use of a stress journal or log to identify stressors. and recruiting a buddy can help your stress-management plan succeed.

SUMMARY of CHAPTER 3 PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH

  • Psychological health encompasses more than a single particular state of normality Psychological diversity is valuable among groups of people.
  • Defining psychological health as the presence of wellness means that to be healthy you must strive to fulfill your potential.
  • Self-actualized people have high self-esteem and are realistic, inner-directed, authentic, capable of emotional intimacy, and creative.
  • Honest communication requires recognizing what needs to be said and saying it clearly
  • People may be lonely if they haven't developed ways to be happy on their own or if they interpret being alone as a sign of rejection. Lonely people can take action to
    expand their social contacts.
  • Dealing successfully with anger involves distinguishing between a reasonable level of assertiveness and gratuitous expressions of anger, heading off rage, and responding to the anger of others.
  • People with psychological disorders have symptoms severe enough to interfere with daily living.
  • Anxiety is a fear that is not directed toward a true threat. Anxiety disorders include simple phobias, social phobias, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
  • Depression is a common mood disorder; loss of interest or pleasure in things seems to be its most universal symptom. Severe depression carries a high risk of suicide, and suicidally depressed people need professional help.
  • Symptoms of mania include exalted moods with unrealistically high self-esteem, little need for sleep, and rapid speech. Mood swings between mania and depression characterize bipolar disorder.
  • Schizophrenia is characterized by disorganized thoughts, delusions, auditory hallucinations, and deteriorating social and work performance.
  • Help is available in a variety of forms, including support groups, and therapy with a mental health professional.

SUMMARY of CHAPTER 4 INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS AND COMMUNICATION

  • Successful relationships begin with a positive sense of self and reasonably high self-esteem. Personal identity, gender roles, and styles of attachment are all rooted in childhood experiences.
  • The characteristics of friendship include companionship, respect, acceptance, help, trust, loyalty, and reciprocity.
  • Common challenges in relationships relate to issues of self- disclosure, commitment, expectations, competitiveness, balancing time spent together and apart, and jealousy.
  • Conflict is inevitable in intimate relationships; partners need to have constructive ways to negotiate their differences.
  • Partners in successful relationships have strong communication skills and support each other in difficult times. The keys to good communication in relationships are self-disclosure, listening, and feedback. Conflict is inevitable in intimate relationships; partners need to have constructive ways to negotiate their differences.
  • To ensure a successful long-term intimate relationship, partners have to be realistic, feel good about each other, have communication and conflict-resolution skills, share values, and have a balance of individual and joint interests.
  • Factors couples should consider when deciding whether to raise children include physical health; financial circumstances; relationship between partners; educational, career, and child care plans; and emotional and social readiness for parenthood.
  • Important qualities of successful families include commitment to the family, appreciation of family members, communication, time spent together, and effective methods of dealing with stress.

SUMMARY of CHAPTER 5: SEXUALITY, PREGNANCY, and CHILDBIRTH

  • In the female, the clitoris plays an important role in sexual arousal and orgasm.
  • In the male, the glans of the penis is an important site of sexual arousal. .
  • The sexual response cycle has four stages: excitement, plateau, orgasm, and resolution.
  • Physical and psychological problems can both interfere with sexual functioning..
  • Normal human sexual behaviors include celibacy, erotic fantasy, masturbation, touching, cunnilingus, fellatio, anal intercourse, and coitus.
  • Responsible sexuality includes open, honest communication; agreed-on sexual activities; using contraception when involved in heterosexual sex; safer sex practices.
  • Important elements of prenatal care include regular check-ups; good nutrition; avoiding drugs, infections, and other harmful environmental agents; regular physical activity; and childbirth classes.
  • Pregnancy usually proceeds without major complications. Problems that can occur include ectopic pregnancy, gestational diabetes, spontaneous abortion, preeclampsia, and low birth weight.
  • The first stage of labor begins with contractions that exert pressure on the cervix, causing effacement and dilation. The second stage begins with complete cervical dilation and ends when the baby emerges. The third stage of labor is expulsion of the placenta.
  • The ovaries gradually cease to function as women approach age 50 and enter menopause. The pattern of male sexual responses changes with age, and testosterone production gradually decreases.

SUMMARY of CHAPTER 6 CONTRACEPTION AND ABORTION

  • The choice of contraceptive method depends on effectiveness, convenience, cost, reversibility, side effects and risk factors, and protection against STDs.
  • Hormonal methods of contraception may include a combination of estrogen and progestins or progesterone alone. Hormones may be delivered via pills, patch, vaginal ring, implants, or injections
  • The most commonly used emergency contraceptives areregimens of oral contraceptives which areavailable over the counter(without a prescription).
  • Intrauterine devices (IUDs) are contraceptives that cause biochemical changes in the uterus, affect movement of sperm and eggs, and interfere with the implantation of the egg in the uterus.
  • Male and female condoms are the onlycontraceptives to provide protection against Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs).
  • The condom, diaphragm, cervical cap, and contraceptive sponge are contraceptives that are known as barrier methods. They block sperm from entering the uterus.
  • Vasectomy-male sterilization-involves severing the vasa deferentia. Female sterilization involves severing or blocking the oviducts. These are surgical contraceptive methods that are generally irreversible.
  • The 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case devised new standards to govern abortion decisions, based on the trimesters of pregnancy. Complications from abortions are minimal if done in the first trimester, if performed by a well-trained clinician, and if the patient is provided with good follow-up care.