Harmful Habits & Infectious Disease Prevention

Harmful Habits & Infectious Disease Prevention

Managing health and wellness is largely dependent upon our knowledge of controllable and uncontrollable risk factors that exist amongst people and within our environment. Our overall ability to maximize our level of wellness revolves around the choices made on a daily basis including our actions and our diets. In order to take our health seriously, we must learn to come to terms with the harmful effects of our decisions as well as the occasion of factors that we cannot control. In an attempt to analyze the different ways in which these factors can negatively impact our wellness, we will examine a series of poor habits and resolutions, along with the risks associated with controllable and uncontrollable diseases and potential prevention methods for each.

Top Ten List for Harmful Habits

There are a wide variety of bad habits and choices that can be made in a team environment that could hinder the overall success of the team as well as group and individual wellness. In no particular order, our team has put together a list of decisions and potential situations that would have a negative effect on health and wellness.

It is no secret that a lack of sleep will affect any individual's ability to think clearly and react in certain situations. This feeling of excessive drowsiness can cause tardiness to team meetings, inability to make a conscious effort in assignments, lack of focus, and a low rate of motivation. In order to ensure that members are getting enough sleep, we have decided to schedule team meetings at a time that is agreeable for everyone, ensuring that our personal sleep schedules will not be interrupted. Along with a lack of sleep, an ill balanced diet can have harmful results on individual wellness. Inability to maintain a balanced diet could result in a lack of energy, and so team members will not be able to perform putting forth a maximum effort. On a more severe note, alcohol and/or drugs can have more obvious effects on individual and group wellness. Unfortunately, if one team member suffers with such a harmful addiction, the rest of the team suffers as well. Such a habit can be the result of unnecessary stress, which is also considered to be a negative factor that can affect the wellness of the team. In order to reduce stress levels, we have decided that it is important to be supportive of all team members. Reinforcing positive constructive criticism will help to assist the team member in need and allow them to understand the importance of their contribution.

Other harmful habits and/or choices that can effect wellness pertain more so to our ability to work together as a team. These circumstances and habits include procrastination, poor time management skills, lack for cooperation and communication, unclear goal objectives, and team priorities. In these cases, the dimensions of wellness that are impacted are psychological, social, and environmental. In order to avoid procrastination and poor time management skills, scheduled due dates are to be posted once the assignment is announced. This provides time for questioning, re-scheduling, and task delegation. If there is an uncooperative team member and argument is an unfortunate result, the best resolution is to maintain communication within teams. If a problem or disagreement arises, it is vital that we talk it through as a team and work towards reaching a common solution. Overcoming disagreements is largely a part of maintaining effective communication. Lack of discussion can pose for a communication withdrawal, which could damage our learning environment, psychological/social wellness, and team productivity. Rather than waiting until the last minute to complete assignments, we have decided to check in with one another on a daily basis to be made aware of updates and/or changes regarding team assignments or meetings.

Inability to list goal objectives and maintain priorities within a team will also have a negative effect on everyone's wellness. Members of a team need something to work towards and look forward to, and a list of goals and primary objectives will allow for an organization of priorities. If there are no ideal goals to be achieved, a team is more so setting itself up for failure. To ensure that there are clear and feasible goal objectives and priorities, team members must address these objectives at the commencement of a task in order to provide that the entire team understands and is on board with the assignment.

Top Ten List for Controllable Risk Factor for Infectious Diseases

When looking at the different infectious diseases an individual could have, there are some controllable factors that one can control to keep from contracting the infectious disease. There are some factors that one can do to keep immunity built up in his or her body. Within these factors include managing one's physical health, watching what one eats, and taking vitamin supplements and/or including them in one's diet. With maintaining one's physical health through exercise, one will be able to stay in shape allowing for a more controllable and preventative environment for infectious disease. Watching what one eats could keep one from getting an infectious disease by eating a food that was not cooked properly. This could keep one from getting food poisoning. Taking vitamin supplements and/or including vitamins in one's diet could increase one's immunity from contracting infectious disease.

When a person has habits of washing his or her hands, sterilizing areas when an individual is sick with an infectious disease that can be contracted by another, and having good hygiene, could keep people from getting infectious diseases such as the common cold, streptococcus bacteria, and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). The common cold is the most common illness that has been announced according to research. Symptoms of this virus can vary in each individual who contracts it. There is no cure for this virus; but frequently washing hands and keeping the immunity up in the body can prevent it. The streptococcus bacteria are spread person to person. Some of the preventative measures to take are to "wash your hands frequently and do not share toothbrushes or eating and drinking utensils" (WebMD, 2004). Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is also spread from person to person. Educating the public to wash their hands and to cover their mouths and noses with a tissue when coughing or sneezing are positive methods of prevention (WebMD, 2003).

When one is sexually active or is into injected drugs, ensuring protection from diseases such as sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/AIDS, and Hepatitis C equals vitality. When being sexually active one should take

...