Promoting Better Health: Analyzing Health Issues in American Society

This essay examines the prevalent health issues facing the American population, including heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and depression, attributing them to poor dietary choices and a sedentary lifestyle. It emphasizes the role of fast food consumption, high caffeine and alcohol intake, and lack of physical activity in contributing to these problems. The essay proposes solutions such as fitness awareness campaigns, regular exercise, improved school infrastructure for physical education, and community development of safe spaces for physical activity. It advocates for a balanced diet and reduced consumption of harmful substances, ultimately aiming to enhance the quality of life and promote a healthier American society through collective effort and individual motivation. Desklib offers this essay as a resource, alongside numerous past papers and solved assignments, to aid students in their studies.

Running head: PROMOTING BETTER HEALTH FOR AMERICANS
Promoting Better Health for American Population
Name of the University
Name of the student
Author note

1PROMOTING BETTER HEALTH FOR AMERICAN POPULATION
The United States of America is the one of the highly diverse nation in the world.
According to the record numerous races are living together peacefully making up the total
population of more than 318 million where Americans hold the position of majority that is
73.3% of the total population. Besides, African Americans, Asians and individuals from
various countries include themselves under the population count of America. The lifestyle of
the American people is partly responsible for the health issues they face. There are some
common health problems, which become widespread and demand serious concern. Heart
diseases, diabetes, obesity problem, depression are some chief concerns against which
America needs to fight back. This essay will discuss about what kind of health issues are
being faced by the Americans and in order to recover the health condition of the mass some
probable solutions will be provided as well.
In order to promote better health condition, it is important to understand the health
problems that Americans are dealing with. America is a vast country with large acres of
farmland for cultivation and grazing cattle. The infrastructure is developed enough as far as
food transportation is concerned. The availability of fresh meat ensures healthy food habit of
the population. However, the reality is entirely different. The poor choice of foods and diet is
responsible for the chronic health conditions of Americans. The lifestyle of Americans is
much hectic yet they manage time to pursue their hobbies. Due to their busy schedule, they
tend to depend on fast food chains and their diet includes a large amount of caffeine,
carbohydrate and cheese. People having health concerns are expected to prefer healthier diet.
However, the cosmopolitans face difficulty for adopting unhealthy food habits and high
alcohol consumption. The most common heath issue they face is the epidemic of obesity
throughout America. As they consume more calories than they expend, extra calories end up
making them overweight. Moreover, they are not into physical activities much. Some people
have habits of walking in the morning or after dinner yet depending on the work culture of

2PROMOTING BETTER HEALTH FOR AMERICAN POPULATION
America it is very difficult for them to manage the time to do so. Therefore, as a form of
refreshment, American people prefer to spend leisure inside a restaurant or they like to have
snacks while watching television than working out. They lack either the time or resources to
maintain a healthy lifestyle. There are places in America where grocery store is far from the
locality and places with dense accommodation cannot provide areas for playing or any
physical activity. The habit of consuming a high amount of caffeine, carbonated soft drinks
and alcohol is mostly responsible for diabetes and heart diseases. A study estimates the fact
that in America someone has a heart attack in every 43 seconds. Diet reflects an overall
health condition of a human being and apart from physical health; mental or emotional heath
is intensely related to one’s diet as well (O’Neil et al., 2014). According to a survey, a quarter
of American population consider themselves as victim of depression. High level of stress may
lead towards some chronic health issues including headache, insomnia or sleep disorder,
muscle pain and finally they are diagnosed with hypertension or high blood sugar level
(Brook et al., 2013). Consumption of cheese, chocolates, carbs, and various kinds of snacks
preferably spicy is replacing the idea of having fresh fruits, vegetables and meats. A large
measure of America’s young population is affected with serious health problems due to their
unhealthy diet. (De, Liu, & Monga, 2014). They are inactive, unfit, and increasingly gaining
weight. Childhood obesity has become a provocative question. The purpose of this essay is to
elaborate the solutions that should be applied to promote the better health for the nation
(Naidoo & Wills, 2016).
Eating disorder and absence of physical activity is the chief concern against which
effective steps should be taken to improve overall national heath. The issues are significant
enough as a healthy nation is the pillar of development. In the long run, may be it will be
possible to reduce cardio-vascular diseases, children will be more interested in activities
rather than watching television and having snacks (Jensen et al., 2014) (Siervo et al., 2015) .

3PROMOTING BETTER HEALTH FOR AMERICAN POPULATION
Since 1980, the percentage of young population who are suffering from obesity has doubled
due to the practice of inactiveness. The idea of being fit or the practice of physical activity is
considered, as one of the heath indicators and consuming healthy food is the main solution
against all these problems (Webb, Donovan, & Meydani, 2014). In order to prevent heart
disease also physical activity and consumption of fresh foods help immensely. However,
Americans tend to depend on fast foods as it takes less time to cook. Processed foods are
always available in supermarkets and due to their hectic work schedule; they opt for these
foods rather than cooking fresh vegetables and meats from the market. A number of
recommendations will be discussed in order to solve this issue. First, fitness awareness
should to be circulated ( Vuori, Lavie & Blair,2013). People should understand the
consequences of not having a fit body and mind. Regular exercise should be a part of lifestyle
as it helps to develop a fit body followed by a healthy emotional state (Kruisselbrink Flatt,
2013). Thus, people from all the age group can actually be more productive if they can
achieve a stable state of physical and emotional balance. The following solutions can be
helpful if implemented properly. In the year of 1995, American College of Sports Medicine
and the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention took an initiative to help the Americans
with their health issues. A national guideline was published from their end on physical
activity and public heath of America. American Heart Association endorsed and encouraged
the guidelines. The purpose of this publication is to convey some recommendations to
promote and maintain heath. It was clearly stated on that report that all healthy adults aged 18
to 65 years should practice moderate intensity exercises on a regular basis according to the
health condition of an individual. As childhood obesity has been marked as a serious concern
of America, guardians should have the clear idea about the requirement of daily activities and
sports. ( Sobol‐Goldberg, Rabinowitz & Gross,2013). Simultaneously, educating the children
with the concept of fitness is necessary. Physical education or sports classes in school can

4PROMOTING BETTER HEALTH FOR AMERICAN POPULATION
encourage children the most to embrace a regular practice of activity (Vander Ploeg et
al.,2014). Health departments of America and educational boards should take joint initiative
to improve the infrastructure of schools so that they can arrange a better atmosphere for
children to continue with activity classes. In order to carry out all these strategies; people
should consider creative ideas, hard work and motivation. Schools, workplaces should
encourage physical activity as physical and emotional health directly responsible for regular
performance. Due to dense population and accommodation structure of the urban areas, there
are very few places where people can actually walk or perform some activities. Communities
should develop safe and well-maintained sidewalks, bicycle paths, parks where adults can
practice physical activities as well. There is national chain of Gold gym yet for working
professionals walking or cycling would be more convenient and less time consuming. Adults
can always promote better health condition for themselves by avoiding excessive intake of
caffeine and alcohol. Smoking is another bad practice, which is able to damage both physical
and mental health. A balanced diet can be the answer of American’s damaged digestive
system, insomnia and depression. Regular practice of physical activity is able to boost the
metabolism of a human body, which is a positive sign as far as betterment of heath condition
is concerned. (Salazar, Crosby, & DiClemente, 2015).
Hence, after discussing all the reasons behind ill health of American population and
the probable solutions of the health issues it can be concluded that the scenario is
transformable. The purpose of the health promotion in America is to enhance the quality of
lifestyle. Progress will come with the successful implementation of all the objectives. The
cost of leading a healthy life will reduce as well if all the strategies are executed in a correct
way to make the situation better. It is important to create mass awareness about fitness. There
are numerous reasons Americans give behind not participating in any kind of physical
activity but above all if, American population is able to motivate themselves towards good

5PROMOTING BETTER HEALTH FOR AMERICAN POPULATION
health and start considering physical exercise as a part of their lifestyle then only the
transformation in their health can be noticed.

6PROMOTING BETTER HEALTH FOR AMERICAN POPULATION
References:
Brook, R. D., Appel, L. J., Rubenfire, M., Ogedegbe, G., Bisognano, J. D., Elliott, W. J., ... &
Townsend, R. R. (2013). Beyond medications and diet: alternative approaches to
lowering blood pressure: a scientific statement from the American Heart
Association. Hypertension, HYP-0b013e318293645f.
De, S. K., Liu, X., & Monga, M. (2014). Changing trends in the American diet and the rising
prevalence of kidney stones. Urology, 84(5), 1030-1033.
Jensen, M. D., Ryan, D. H., Apovian, C. M., Ard, J. D., Comuzzie, A. G., Donato, K. A., ...
& Loria, C. M. (2014). 2013 AHA/ACC/TOS guideline for the management of
overweight and obesity in adults: a report of the American College of
Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines and The
Obesity Society. Journal of the American college of cardiology, 63(25 Part B), 2985-
3023.
Kruisselbrink Flatt, A. (2013). A Suffering Generation: Six Factors Contributing to the
Mental Health Crisis in North American Higher Education. College Quarterly, 16(1),
n1.
Naidoo, J., & Wills, J. (2016). Foundations for Health Promotion-E-Book. Elsevier Health
Sciences.
O’Neil, A., Quirk, S. E., Housden, S., Brennan, S. L., Williams, L. J., Pasco, J. A., ... &
Jacka, F. N. (2014). Relationship between diet and mental health in children and
adolescents: a systematic review. American journal of public health, 104(10), e31-
e42.
Salazar, L. F., Crosby, R. A., & DiClemente, R. J. (2015). Research methods in health
promotion. John Wiley & Sons.

7PROMOTING BETTER HEALTH FOR AMERICAN POPULATION
Siervo, M., Lara, J., Chowdhury, S., Ashor, A., Oggioni, C., & Mathers, J. C. (2015). Effects
of the Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet on cardiovascular risk
factors: a systematic review and meta-analysis. British Journal of Nutrition, 113(1), 1-
15.
Sobol‐Goldberg, S., Rabinowitz, J., & Gross, R. (2013). School‐based obesity prevention
programs: A meta‐analysis of randomized controlled trials. Obesity, 21(12), 2422-
2428.
Vander Ploeg, K. A., McGavock, J., Maximova, K., & Veugelers, P. J. (2014). School-based
health promotion and physical activity during and after school
hours. Pediatrics, 133(2), e371-e378.
Vuori, I. M., Lavie, C. J., & Blair, S. N. (2013, December). Physical activity promotion in the
health care system. In Mayo Clinic Proceedings (Vol. 88, No. 12, pp. 1446-1461).
Elsevier.
Webb, D., Donovan, S. M., & Meydani, S. N. (2014). The role of yogurt in improving the
quality of the American diet and meeting dietary guidelines. Nutrition reviews, 72(3),
180-189.