Skills for Building Health

S. Jett, NBCTMontevallo Middle School

2013

Health Skills

Just as you learn sports, math, reading and other skills, you can learn skills for taking care of your health.

Just like other skills, you must practice these health skills to improve your overall wellness.

Ten Building Blocks for Total Health

1. Accessing Information

2. Practicing Healthful Behaviors

3. Stress Management

4. Analyzing Influences

5. Communication Skills

6. Conflict-Resolution Skills

7. Refusal Skills8. Decision Making9. Goal Setting10. Advocacy

1. Accessing Information

A world of information on any topic ready at your fingertips. Where are some places you can find information? How do you know if the information is reliable?

1. Parents2. Trusted adults3. Library resources4. TV/Radio5. Newsprint6. Internet sites

Valid and Reliable Sources

.gov and .edu are usually the most reliable internet sources.

Research the author to find out if he/she is an expert in the field.

Check out the owner/operator of the website – Are they receiving any compensation?

Is the information from a hospital, government agency and/or university?

2. Practicing Healthful Behaviors

When you were younger, your parents made most or all of your decisions for you, now as you get older, you are taking on more responsibility for your decisions. If you choose to exercise, your heart and other muscles grow stronger.

What are other healthful behaviors?When you practice healthful behaviors, you

learn new skills, meet challenges, and enjoy life, while preventing many problems.

3. Stress Management

What is stress?

You will always have positive and negative stress in your life. Give examples of both.

Learning strategies to deal with stress is vital to a healthy life.

Activity 1 – Stress T Chart

Let’s list some positive and negative ways people deal with stress.

4. Analyzing Influences

Your decisions have to do with more than knowing the facts. The have to do with your values and beliefs. The opinions of your friends and family, your culture, and messages from the media also affect your decisions.

5. Communication Skills

Communication skills involve more than just listening or speaking. You send messages with the words you choose, but also how you say them. Examples.

Two of the most important communication skills are saying no when others want you to do something unhealthy and settling conflicts peacefully.

6. Refusal Skills

Refusal skills deal with ways to say no effectively. Sometimes when you make a decision, you have to be prepared to defend your decision / beliefs.

To say NO effectively, make sure to use the correct tone and body language to communicate your message. (Direct eye-contact, serious facial expression and firm, but not angry voice)

S.T.O.P. Strategy

Say NOTell why not.Offer other ideas.Promptly leave.

7. Conflict Resolution Skills

Conflict is a normal part of life because people are different and will always see things differently depending on their values and beliefs.

What are some things people have conflict about?

What are some ways to solve conflict?

Conflict Resolution Tips

Take time-out to let everyone calm down. (24 hour rule)

Allow each person to tell his/her side of the story without interruption.

Let each person ask questions without feeling attacked or defensive.

Keep thinking of creative ways to solve the conflict in a positive and peaceful way.

Look for win/win situations or you may just have to compromise (meet in the middle).

8. Decision Making Process

The path to good health begins with good choices.

1. State the situation2. List the options3. Weigh the outcomes4. Consider your values5. Make the decision and act6. Evaluate the decision

9. Goal Setting

Learning how to set realistic goals is another step toward becoming healthy and well. You will learn to set S.M.A.R.T. goals.

S.M.A.R.T.

Specific – Make specific statements with both short and long term goals. Ex. I want to be healthy is a general statement. Instead say that you want to lose 10 pounds or better achieve less than 20% body fat.

Measureable – How will you know that you’ve reached your goal? Ex. I will know if I’ve lost fat by measuring my fat%.

Action-oriented – What are the steps that you will take to achieve the goal. Ex. I’m going to start exercising 30 minutes when I get home everyday.

Realistic – Is the goal realistic? Why or why not? Timeframe – When will you accomplish your goal? I will

measure my progress weakly and give myself a reward if I make progress toward my goal.

Activity 2 – Setting SMART Goals

You will need to set a SMART goal for each of the 3 areas of health.

10. Advocacy

Working to bring about change is called advocacy. If you know that a dangerous condition exist, you should bring attention to it and work toward changing it for the better.

Give examples of areas for advocacy.

What are some ways that you could advocate ?