Lesson 13: Young Adulthood (Physical & Cognitive Devt)

• Adulthood


  Accepting responsibility for oneself<|>Making independent decisions<|>Becoming financially independent
• Young adults of the past century

  • Graduate highschool
  • Look for a stable job
  • Marry
  • Start a family
• Young adults of today

  • Enter college
  • Work
  • Move away from home
  • Get married
  • Have children
• Emerging Adulthood


  Proposed transitional period between adolescence and adulthood commonly found in industrialized countries; from late teens through mid- to late twenties; presents a period of figuring out who they are and what they want to be
• Factors influencing health and fitness

  • Genes
  • Behavioral factors: what young adults eat, how physically active they are, and whether they smoke, drink, or use drugs
• Environmental factors can result in epigenetic changes in the expression of particular genes that can have lifelong consequences
• Emerging and young adults had the highest poverty rate and the lowest level of health insurance of any age group, and they often had no regular access to health care
• Genetic influences on health


  The expression of any disorder (obesity, certain cancers, asthma) is the product of an interaction between genes and environment
• When raised in a supportive family environment

  A child with a genetic variant is at no additional risk when compared to a child without the variant
• In the absence of a supportive family

  Depression risk is elevated
• Behavioral influences on health


  Have both direct and indirect influence on health
• Direct influences on health

  • Diet and Nutrition
  • Obesity and Overweight
  • Eating Disorders
  • Physical Activity
  • Stress
  • Sleep
  • Smoking
  • Alcohol Use
• Diet and Nutrition


  What people eat and how much they move their bodies affect how they look, how they feel, and how likely they are to get sick and even die
• Those who ate plenty of fruits, vegetables, and other plant foods

  Were less likely to develop high blood pressure than those who ate a diet heavy in meat
• Obesity


  Increase in obesity rates can be attributed to unintended consequences of globalization, including increases in the availability of nutrient-poor, high-calorie processed foods and urbanization of the environment
• Obesity epidemic happened due to an increase in snacking, availability of inexpensive fast foods, supersized portions, labor-saving technologies, high-fat diets including highly processed foods, and sedentary recreational pursuits, such as television and computers
• Risks of obesity

  • High blood pressure
  • Heart disease
  • Stroke
  • Diabetes
  • Gallstones
  • Arthritis and other muscular and skeletal disorders
  • Some cancers
• Obesity diminishes quality and length of life
• People who are overweight or obese are more likely to experience stigma, low self-esteem, body dissatisfaction, and depression
• Weight loss

  1. Lifestyle changes (dietary change plus exercise)

  2. Drug treatments

  3. Bariatric surgery
• Eating Disorders


  Disorders that focus on attempts to keep weight low
• Most common eating disorders

  • Anorexia nervosa
  • Bulimia nervosa
• Physical Activity

  • Maintains a healthy body weight
  • Builds muscles
  • Strengthens heart and lungs
  • Lowers blood pressure
  • Protects against heart disease, stroke, diabetes, several cancers, and osteoporosis
  • Relieves anxiety and depression
  • Lengthens life
• Exercise, including both structured and unstructured as well as varying levels of intensity, appears to be an effective tool to help manage depression, anxiety, and stress
• Generally, adults ages 18 to 64 should engage in 75 to 150 minutes of aerobic exercise (depending on intensity levels) and muscle-strengthening activities, preferably spread across a week for substantial health benefits
• Stress


  Our psychological health affects our physical health, and that high levels of chronic stress are related to a host of physical and immunological impairments
• Coping with stress

  • Emotion-focused coping: attempts to manage the emotions associated with experiencing a particular event by such tactics as refusing to think about an issue or reframing the event in a positive light
  • Problem-focused coping: addressing an issue head-on and developing action-oriented ways of managing and changing a bad situation
• Sleep


  Sleep deprivation affects not only physical health but cognitive, emotional, and social functioning as well
• Chronic sleep deprivation (less than 6 hours of sleep each night for three or more nights) can seriously worsen cognitive performance and is linked to depression
• Even a short nap can prevent burnout—oversaturation of the brain's perceptual processing systems
• Smoking


  Linked to lung cancer and increased risks of heart disease, stroke, and chronic lung disease
• Exposure to passive, or secondhand, smoke is also dangerous, and approximately 890,000 of the deaths are the results of nonsmokers' exposure to secondhand smoke
• Quitting smoking


  Difficult, and many smoking cessation programs have low success rates
• Alcohol Use


  College is a prime time and place for drinking, and college students tend to drink more frequently and more heavily than their non-collegiate peers
• Heavy drinking over the years may lead to cirrhosis of the liver, other gastrointestinal disorders (including ulcers), pancreatic disease, certain cancers, heart failure, stroke, damage to the nervous system, psychoses, and other medical problems
• Risky Drinking


  Consuming more than 14 drinks a week or 4 drinks on any single day for men and more than 7 drinks a week or 3 drinks on any single day for women
• Indirect influences on health


  • Socioeconomic Status and Race/Ethnicity
  • Relationships and Health
• Socioeconomic Status and Race/Ethnicity


  Higher-income people have the means to access health care and education<|>The less schooling people have had, the greater the chance that they will develop and die from communicable diseases, injuries, or chronic ailments, or that they will become victims of homicide or suicide<|>Better-educated and more affluent people tend to have healthier diets and better preventive health care and medical treatment. They exercise more, are less likely to be overweight, smoke less, are less likely to use illicit drugs, and are more likely to use alcohol in moderation<|>The less affluent are more likely to live close to a polluting facility and show elevated levels of lead and other toxins in their blood
• Relationships and Health

  Social integration: active engagement in a broad range of social relationships, activities, and roles<|>Social support: material, informational, and psychological resources derived from the social network on which a person can rely for help in coping with stress
• Alcoholism


  A long-term physical condition characterized by compulsive drinking that a person is unable to control<|>Alcohol dependence causes interference with normal functioning and fulfillment of obligations<|>Result from long-lasting changes in patterns of neural signal transmission in the brain<|>Exposure to the addictive substance creates a euphoric mental state accompanied by neurological changes that produce feelings of discomfort and craving when it is no longer present