Health & Education

Elise WoodContemporary Health 1Monday 7:25-9:55pm

What is the Relationship?

• Mostly everyone knows that a good education can lead to better jobs and higher incomes, but it can also lead to better health.

• Research shows that better educated individuals live longer, healthier lives than those with less education.

Living Longer Lives College graduates can expect to live at least 5 years longer as opposed to those who did not finish high school

Expected lifespan for College Graduates:- Men: 79.7 years- Women: 83.5 years

Expected lifespan for < High School Graduates: - Men: 72.9 years- Women: 78.4 years

How does education make you live

longer?• People with more education

frequently make more money. This makes them better able to access health care, and purchase other resources and services that can keep them healthier.

• Also, people who are more educated are more likely to not engage in risky health behaviors that could hurt their health

• To the right is a chart showing the base line risk of a health behavior and then risk of when you have 4 more years of education (college)

Reduced Risks

• Again, this is another chart just showing the percentages of reduced risks when you have 4 additional years of education past high school.

Income and its role on health..

• When you have more money, you can afford better means of food, living conditions and health care. When you have a better education, the chances of you having access to this is greater which in return improves your daily health.

Generational Health Effects

• Maternal education is strongly and significantly associated with child health.

• The more education a mother has, the better chance her infant has of living and thriving. Women who never graduated high school have a higher infant mortality rate than those with college degrees.

• Children with less educated parents are less likely to succeed in school.

Infant mortality rates

Parent/Child Connection

• Parents who received a higher education had children who obtained a bachelors degree or higher after high school.

• < HS = 5.9%

• HS = 13.3%

• Bachelors = 49.4%

• Masters = 65.4%

• Doctoral = 73.3%

Why is this an issue?

• The relationship between education and health should be of concern to everyone for two different reasons.

• As we looked at in the beginning, a better education helps reduce the risks of several diseases that could affect your health. This in return, helps you live a longer, healthier life. In the United States we already have an issue with increasing poor health. If we implemented a plan to give everyone a better education, perhaps we could lower some risks of disease in our society.

• This is also an issue of concern due to how it has an impact on upcoming generations of children. Children are the generation of tomorrow and if they aren’t being set up to succeed then our future society is only going to be set back.

What is stopping this issue from being

resolved?• Changing demographic trends and

rising college costs are negatively impacting the chance to get a better education. Young people in the United States today are less likely than members of their parents’ generation to graduate from high school, posing challenges to efforts to improve health status.

Importance

• Education is fundamental to sustainable development. It enables people to be more productive, to earn a better living and enjoy a better quality of life, while also contributing to a country’s overall economic growth. Education is critical for breaking the poverty cycle.

What can be done?

• Health promotion can have a great impact on this issue. This can happen directly through teaching health and nutrition knowledge and practices.

• Also, giving people a chance to have a better education could also help improve this issue. Although the topic of college costs and public school vs. private school education is a touchy subject, I feel as though affordable means of education could greatly impact the society as a whole with this issue.

• The links between health and education are reciprocal; not only is good health important for people to make the most of their educational opportunities, but a good education could help in promoting good health.

References

• http://www.npc.umich.edu/publications/policy_briefs/brief9/

• http://www.schoolsandhealth.org/pages/education.aspx

• http://www.humanimpact.org/evidencebase/category/a_higher_level_of_education_not_only_benefits_ones_health_but_also_that_of_family_members

• http://www.rwjf.org/en/research-publications/find-rwjf-research/2012/12/why-does-education-matter-so-much-to-health-.html

• http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/print.php?id=3437