Health Benefits and Lifestyle Choices

Three kinds of health, three kinds of benefit

You already know health is physical, emotional and social wellbeing, not just the absence of illness. Here is what makes that definition worth knowing. Activity improves all three, and most candidates only write about the first. An answer that stops at "you get fitter" has left two thirds of the marks on the table, so this module starts with the other two.

The benefits, by domain

Learn at least two concrete examples from each column. Vague benefits earn vague marks:

Match each benefit to the kind of health it belongs to

Which one is a social benefit?

A student joins a hockey club. Which of these is a SOCIAL benefit of that choice?

• They cooperate with a team each week and feel part of a group
• Their leg muscles become stronger over the season
• They feel more confident in themselves
• They sleep better on training nights

Name the choice AND the consequence

This is the sentence that decides your grade on this topic. A named lifestyle choice must be attached to a specific, named consequence. "Smoking is bad for you" earns nothing at all. "Smoking damages the cilia in the airways, which can lead to bronchitis" earns the mark. Four pairs worth knowing cold: Smoking leads to bronchitis and lung cancer. Alcohol, over years, leads to liver disease. A diet high in saturated fat leads to raised cholesterol. Too little rest and sleep leads to incomplete recovery, slower reactions and more injuries.

Which sentence names a consequence?

Below is a profile of Sam, an invented person used here so the difference is clear. Tap the sentence that links a lifestyle choice to a specific named consequence.

• Sam is nineteen and works shifts.
• Sam knows that smoking is bad for you.
• Sam has smoked for six years and now has a persistent cough and breathlessness that a doctor has linked to bronchitis.
• Sam joined a running group in March and now trains with two friends twice a week.

Which sentence would earn nothing?

Same profile. Tap the sentence that would earn no marks if a candidate wrote it in an exam answer.

• Sam is nineteen and works shifts.
• Sam knows that smoking is bad for you.
• Sam has smoked for six years and now has a persistent cough and breathlessness that a doctor has linked to bronchitis.
• Sam joined a running group in March and now trains with two friends twice a week.

Which would be credited?

Select the TWO statements that would earn marks on this topic.

• Smoking damages the cilia in the airways, which can lead to bronchitis
• Drinking alcohol heavily over several years can cause liver disease
• Smoking is unhealthy and should be avoided
• A poor diet is bad for sporting performance

The four choices, both ways

The specification names four areas of lifestyle choice. Each one can push a person either way, and a strong answer uses both directions.

Order a personal exercise programme

A PEP is how a person turns intentions into improved health. Put its stages into order.

• Assess current fitness and health, and decide what needs to improve
• Set a specific goal that can actually be measured
• Design the programme, choosing activities that match that goal
• Carry it out, increasing the demand gradually
• Monitor and record what is done, and how the body responds
• Review against the goal, and adjust the programme

Three decisions

Three invented people, each making a lifestyle choice. Say what follows, in the way an examiner would credit.

• Someone who trains hard six days a week and sleeps about five hours a night wonders why they keep picking up small injuries.
• Someone gives up smoking after six years. What benefit would you name?
• Someone who works long hours joins a five-a-side team on Thursday evenings. Which benefit is easiest to argue?

Three kinds of health

Activity brings benefits to all three kinds of health: physical, _____ and social, and most answers only cover the first. The four lifestyle choices named by the specification are activity level, _____, the balance of work, rest and sleep, and recreational drugs. A personal exercise programme works by setting a measurable goal and then _____ what happens. And whatever the question, name the choice AND name the _____: smoking causing _____ earns marks where "smoking is bad for you" earns nothing.

Advise the friend who never exercises

A friend works long hours, rarely exercises and sleeps badly. Write an explanation of what taking up regular activity could do for them, and what their current choices are costing them.

• Give at least one benefit from each of the three kinds of health, with a concrete example
• Name two of their current lifestyle choices and, for each, a specific named consequence
• Explain how a personal exercise programme would be designed and monitored for them
• Say why "exercise is good for you" would earn no marks, and what you wrote instead