Health Promotion through the Lifespan

This essay discusses the influence of life course on health and well-being, focusing on the stage of adolescence. It also explores health promotion interventions for health issues experienced during this stage, such as puberty and related problems like depression and PCOD. The interventions include raising awareness, seeking professional help, and regular check-ups.

Health Promotion
through the Lifespan

Table of Contents
PART 1 - ESSAY DESCRIBING AND ANALYSING THE INFLUENCE OF LIFE COURSE
ON HEALTH AND WELL-BEING. .............................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
BACKGROUND.............................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
PART 2 - ESSAY FOCUSSED ON HEALTH PROMOTION INTERVENTIONS FOR ONE
HEALTH ISSUE TYPICALLY EXPERIENCED DURING A CHOSEN STAGE OF THE LIFE
SPAN...............................................................................................................................................7
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................7
BACKGROUND.............................................................................................................................7
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

PART 1 - ESSAY DESCRIBING AND ANALYSING THE INFLUENCE OF
LIFE COURSE ON HEALTH AND WELL-BEING.
INTRODUCTION
Health promotion and well-being is a phenomena that is refereed also as social
mobilizing by which all societal and personal influence are brought together in order to raise and
procure health care, assist the delivery of resources and effectively attaining individual and
community involvement (Hubley and Copeman, 2018). Thus, the present essay holds the agenda
of introducing the concept of development across the lifespan of a human being and its impact on
their lives and well-being. Thus, in the present essay the focus is made over a stage in a lifespan
of an individual who belongs to the stage of Adolescence ageing between 10 to 19.
BACKGROUND
The lifespan of Adolescence and an Adolescent is a period of dramatic and rapid physical
change that is marked by increasing physical growth spurt and sexual maturation. These changes
in the individuals is addressed and referred as Puberty. At this stage of life human being also gets
introduced to cognitive change as he or she that is an adolescent begins to think of new
possibilities and stars feeling abstract concepts like such as love, fear, and freedom. In the
relevance to the life stage of growth and developing an ironic situation occurs where the
adolescents have a sense of invincibility and strength which sometimes misguide them and puts
them in a huge risk of death due to accidents or by any sexually transmitted infections result if
the some wrong decisions made in situation where they feel empowered and strengthen. Thus,
bringing critical consequences for a really long period and even may be for the life time
(Edelman, Mandle and Kudzma, 2017).
MAIN BODY
Teenagers are allocated to the adolescent stage belonging to the age group of 10 to 19 and
this stage of their life is know and considered as their growing age in which N number of
changes takes place in their bodies in both manner physically and mentally. The common issue
and life change which is introduced to teenagers in adolescences is Puberty. In girls the average
age on which puberty begins is 11 and in boys it is 12 and it varied form the age of 8 to 14.
Puberty is a time in lifespan of a human being when he or she enters their age of growth and

change. The development and change brought by puberty in life of a girl and a boy is changing
them and making them sexually mature by development of Hormones and affect them
differently.
The irony is Puberty is it does not just bring change and growth but some serious lifelong
health problems are brought too with it. The beginning stage of puberty is when the body of the
child either girl or a boy starts producing extra amount of hormones which is the root cause of
change in them. The changes in girls are like Brest development, beginning of menstrual periods
and more. The problem occurs or puberty becomes a health issue when the change and processes
related to it do not occur as they normally should or showcases abnormal changes that can be
very difficult for the child to balance and understand actually (Polan and Taylor, 2019).
The common issues and problems which are introduced to women ageing between 12 to
45 that is beginning form their age of puberty is of PCOD and PCOS bother are the diseases
which are similar to one another and affects the health as well as fertility of the being. The
women with PCOD or PCOS faces significant problems in getting pregnant and giving birth to a
child. This is a long term cause and harm of it along with the age of puberty is also the age when
children both girls and boys suffers through depression. Adolescence is considered as the peak
onset period for depression. The images below showcases the percentage of children of age
group of 13 to 17 suffers from depression in their early years of puberty.

(Source: Depression and bipolar disorder, 2021)
Illustration 1: Gender Difference in anxiety and depression, 2021
(Source: Gender Difference in anxiety and depression, 2021)
The image showcases the ration of difference between girls and boys who are facing or
likely to have depression and anxiety and in their early age. Its is clearly determined that anxiety
and panic disorders change from equal female and male prevalence to a 2:1. Adolescent girls are
more than twice as likely to experience depression than boys.
The nature, nurture and culture are the three factors which can influence the health and
well-being of individuals in which they are surrounded. The nature is the medicine for several
diseases while puberty there are several natural measures taken by number of communities in
order to treat and provide comfort to children who are facing adverse issues of puberty (Hallam,
Creech and Varvarigou, 2017). Like most commonly in girls while they go through their puberty
many girls with passing years goes through the problem of PCOD. This is health issue in which
while Hormonal changes takes place the girls starts developing more of male hormones which
causes dis-balance in their menstruation cycle causes sever pain. The exact treatment of this
problem for girls is yet to be discovered. But till then the culture, nature and nurture of the being
helps them like taking proper diet can create balance and enable them to bear the unmeasurable
pain they go through. The nature and environments helps the individual in adjusting with the

condition and taking the cultural steps to heal or at least make sure to be better (McGough, Kirk-
Sanchez and Liu-Ambrose, 2017).
CONCLUSION
From the essay developed above and the discussion conducted it is concluded that a
human being goes through varied life stages where they holds opportunity to look over their well
and health. The life stage focused is of Adolescence in which the key issue related to health of an
adolescent which most commonly faced by is Puberty. According to evaluation it is found out
that nature, nurture and culture of humans do have greater value and influence over the life span
and health of an individual and most specifically on an adolescent in favour of the essay.

PART 2 - ESSAY FOCUSSED ON HEALTH PROMOTION
INTERVENTIONS FOR ONE HEALTH ISSUE TYPICALLY
EXPERIENCED DURING A CHOSEN STAGE OF THE LIFE SPAN.
INTRODUCTION
Health promotion and relevant opportunities is a concept of spreading awareness in
public and the population regarding the different safety and well-being measure to humans
suffering form sever health diseases in order to offer them a chance to lead a safe and healthy
life. A human life is divides into different stages of lifespan in which they have a whole lot of
opportunities and chances to turn it around and lead a healthy and safe live by keeping up with
their well-being (Kubzansky and et. al., 2018). Thus there are three opportunities that are
considered in favour of rendering the most suited health promotion in several stages of lifespan
Good Governance, Health Literacy and Healthy Cities. The life stage which is considered in this
essay is adolescence and the age group of 10 to 19 is studied. The health issues identified with
the age group is of puberty and the related health problems which are suffered by the children in
their young age and even faced challenges due to it in the longer run that is in their future.
BACKGROUND
The clear focus of the intervention and the essay will be on the problems and heath
challenges which are faced by teenagers that is girls and boys at time of their adolescence stage
in their lifespan. The interventions will be clearly concentrated over the health and life of
teenagers who are going through Puberty and are suffering from a rough patch at a very early age
and dealing with problems like depression which is ruining their today as in present and some
problems like PCOD which are going to affect the life and future of girls who are showing
symptoms of it. The reason behind taking the opportunity and discuss the interventions related to
the challenges of puberty for teenagers is it not only affects their today but also puts a strong
influence on the future that is tomorrow and the longer period then that on the life of a being
(Robertson and Baker, 2017).
MAIN BODY
The first intervention discussion is made over depression which is often stay subtle and
mild in the initial stages of it where the individual most specifically the teenager in puberty in

their adolescent stage of life is not aware of. Then it take up a very critical change where before
any medical help the person seeks to receive a definitive aid that showcasing symptoms like may
masquerade as other issues, ranging from a poor attitude or alcohol abuse to a sleep disorder or
an eating disorder. Behaviours that may seem strange can actually be a sign of a more serious
problem and here the need for intervening generates.
Thus, in order to intervene and manage the situation in such serious time steps which
needs to be taken by other family members and to which people should be made aware of are
they should not criticize, nag and most importantly ignore the child suffering (Kaholokula and
et. al., 2018). The people have to be aware and have to take measure appropriate to the situation
rather than getting angry over them. In case of PCOD these intervening steps have to be more
and more critical and the first thing which needs to be done is taking the child to a professional
and seeking professional help. The child that is the girl suffering from abnormal health issues
needs to be gone through number of tests and a full body check up for understanding the rooting
symptoms of them due to which they are going through PCOD. Another step which can be taken
by the parents of the adolescent and then in longer years by themselves for fighting with PCOD
is going to regular check ups with professional and making sure of having thorough idea of their
condition. This will help them in not just having a proper record of their health but also make
them aware about the future and necessary steps they need to take up for keeping their
conditions balanced and reduce the chances of any sever consequences in the longer term (Agide
and et. al., 2018).
These intervening activities are the most basic steps which are needed to be taken up in
order to make sure that the teenager or the child suffering from the respective health issue is led
to the right path and do not go over the broad. That is the they receive the right care and
treatment in the right time before the consequences of the problem becomes more crucial or
critical. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the interventions not only the adolescents are
needed to be made aware but the awareness needs to be raised in concern of their families and
most specifically by making their parents aware about the situation and how they can handle
them in the best manner possible by doing all such activities which are in their hands (Derkatch
and Spoel, 2017).

CONCLUSION
The essay developed in above summarises the need and effectiveness of separate
interventions which enable in using the opportunity to spread awareness and raise knowledge of
individuals offering them more power to deal with their health issues and lead a safe and sound
life. The interventions discussed are those related to depression and PCOD which are faced by
teenagers in their early age and are suffering severely form it.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Agide, F. D. and et. al., 2018. A systematic review of health promotion interventions to increase
breast cancer screening uptake: from the last 12 years. European journal of public
health. 28(6). pp.1149-1155.
Derkatch, C. and Spoel, P., 2017. Public health promotion of “local food”: Constituting the self-
governing citizen-consumer. Health:. 21(2). pp.154-170.
Edelman, C. L., Mandle, C. L. and Kudzma, E. C., 2017. Health promotion throughout the life
span-e-book. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Hallam, S., Creech, A. and Varvarigou, M., 2017. Well-being and music leisure activities
through the lifespan. The Oxford handbook of music making and leisure, pp.31-60.
Hubley, J. and Copeman, J., 2018. Practical health promotion. John Wiley & Sons.
Kaholokula, J. K. A. and et. al., 2018. Culturally responsive approaches to health promotion for
Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. Annals of Human Biology. 45(3). pp.249-263.
Kubzansky, L. D. and et. al., 2018. Reprint of: Positive Psychological Well-Being and
Cardiovascular Disease: JACC Health Promotion Series. Journal of the American
College of Cardiology. 72(23 Part B). pp.3012-3026.
McGough, E., Kirk-Sanchez, N. and Liu-Ambrose, T., 2017. Integrating health promotion into
physical therapy practice to improve brain health and prevent Alzheimer
disease. Journal of Neurologic Physical Therapy. 41. pp.S55-S62.
Polan, E. U. and Taylor, D. R., 2019. Journey across the life span: Human development and
health promotion. FA Davis.
Robertson, S. and Baker, P., 2017. Men and health promotion in the United Kingdom: 20 years
further forward?. Health Education Journal. 76(1). pp.102-113.
Online:
Anxiety and Depression in Adolescence, 2021. [Online] Available Through:
<https://childmind.org/report/2017-childrens-mental-health-report/anxiety-depression-
adolescence//>