current lifestyle practices and health promotion needs and practices.

Question description

Post a thoughtful response to at least two (2) other colleagues’ initial postings. Responses to colleagues should be supportive and helpful (examples of an acceptable comment are: “This is interesting – in my practice, we treated or resolved (diagnosis or issue) with (x, y, z meds, theory, management principle) and according to the literature…” and add supportive reference. Avoid comments such as “I agree” or “good comment.”

References:

  • Response posts: Minimum of one (1) total reference: one (1) from peer-reviewed or course materials reference per response.

Words Limits

  • Response posts: Minimum 100 words excluding references.

Discussion 1

Living a healthy lifestyle is a choice that everyone has to make in other to be alive and productive. It is a way of improving upon a person’s well-being and moving up on the wellness ladder as the case may be. The purpose of this discussion is to share my current lifestyle practices and health promotion needs and practices.

As a nurse on a skilled unit with approximately 20 patients, I have the opportunity of getting many hours of walking done each day I show up at work. I probably walk 5 to 8 miles a day at work; from being called for pain meds, to addressing patient’s concerns, and sometimes helping the nursing assistants in their work. Reiner et al., reviewed that, physical activities have a long-term positive impact on diseases such as diabetes, high cholesterol, dementia, hypertension and hypertension (2013). Apart from getting my walk exercise done at work, I run for an hour on the treadmill every Saturday. Nutrition wise, I try to eat healthy; that is small portion meals, fruits and vegetables, less canned and frozen meals. I do my best to stay away from junk foods. I am 5’5 and weigh 130 lbs. even at this weight I make no room for candies, ice cream, cupcakes and the likes. For my emotional health, I try not to stay stressed. Once in a while, I take up yoga classes with my friends and it truly gets me relaxed; both mentally and physically. I love to sing and meditate as well. Am a fun-loving person and love positive-self talk. I try to rationalize the positivity out of any negative situations and this really helps in my social health growth.

For my health promotion assessment from Nola Pender’s Assessment sheet, I realize I fall short in the aspect of nutrition and can practice a better lifestyle to promote my health. Instead of eating twice a day; breakfast and supper, where breakfast is usually a glass of milk and a slice of toast and rice and veggies for supper, I will now eat a more balanced breakfast like a glass of milk with an egg sandwich and an apple for desert. For lunch, I will eat a plate of mixed vegetables and a cup of yogurt. I plan on eating a healthy supper each day in addition to giving myself a treat to a little sweet that I crave for. This is so because, I have tried healthy eating lifestyle in the past and it did not work because I left out most of the sweets or what we can refer to as junk foods that I like. So, this time, I have decided to include them and drop them one at a time. For me, it is very important I make a nutritional lifestyle chnage at this point in life as a young adult so as to prevent or delay the onset of chronic diseases like atherosclerosis, hypertension, obesity and diabetes mellitus (Jarvis, 2015).

In conclusion, we can not over emphasize on the need to maintain a healthy life style because it is basically the force that propels us to function and it helps to keep and improve our over all health and wellbeing.

References

Jarvis, C. (2015). Physical examination & health assessment (7th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier

Reiner, M., Niermann, C., Jekauc, D., & Woll, A. (2013). Long-term health benefits of physical activity–a systematic review of longitudinal studies. BMC public health13(1), 8

Discussion 2

The Health Promotion Model by Nola Pender is a helpful way for nurses to determine which behaviors help to influence and promote healthy lifestyle choices (2011). Healthy lifestyle choices prevent illness and can sometimes be the cure to certain illnesses. This post will talk about healthy lifestyle choices and how to promote better choices to sustain a healthy body.

I didn’t think I had a lot of healthy lifestyle choices but looking at it now there are a few I can list. I like to do yoga, and go hiking. I try to get adequate sleep, take frequent showers, brush my teeth, brush my hair, and wash my clothes, things that improve my hygiene. For nutrition I try to cut down on sugary drinks, eat home cooked meals, eat vegetables. To help my spiritual/emotional health meditation, journaling, and venting help me to release added stress.

I know I need to drink more water, I could incorporate this into my life by preparing travel cups to grab and go when I am out so I can drink those instead of stopping for a soda or coffee. I could get one of those apps on my phone that keeps track of the water I have drank. I need to eat less fast food, I could incorporate this by packing healthy snacks to eat on the road, prepare meals ahead of time and use my crockpot more. I know that I need to do more cardiovascular exercises. To encourage that behavior I need to join some classes that have high intensity workouts, get a friend to go jogging or biking with me, and keep track of my physical activity on my pebble.

As a student, especially in nursing there are many challenges I face in making healthy choices. Time management, stress, and finances all impact the lifestyle nursing students are able to maintain (McSharry & Timmons, 2017). I think the habits I had formed in nursing school have carried over into my nursing career. While I strive to promote health in my patients, I often overlook the unhealthy choices I make on a daily basis. I hope to develop a plan to better my health and lifestyle options.

References

McSharry, P., & Timmins, F. (2017). Promoting healthy lifestyle behaviours and well-being among nursing students. Nursing Standard31(24), 51-63.

Nola, P.J., (2011). Health promotion model manual. University of Michigan Deep Blue. retrieved from https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/20…

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