Factors Affecting a Healthy Lifestyle Essay Example

Factors Affecting a Healthy Lifestyle Essay Example Factors Affecting a Healthy Lifestyle Paper Factors Affecting a Healthy Lifestyle Paper Health is described as physical and mental well-being and freedom from disease, pain or defect. However, such descriptions only superficially define the concept of health. There may be many occasions when individuals are not necessarily ill or in pain but may be overweight, stressed or unfit. Health is a quality of life involving dynamic interaction and interdependence among the individual’s physical state, their mental and emotional reactions, and the social context in which the individual exists. There are many factors that influence your health. A healthy lifestyle has four major components: 1. Self-awareness 2. A balanced diet  3. Regular physical activity 4. Rest and relaxation 1. Self Awareness In order to lead a healthy lifestyle, it is essential that individuals constantly monitor their health. This involves not only physical, but also mental and emotional aspects of the body’s functioning, as they relate to the home, school, work, and leisure environments. If necessary changes are made sooner rather than later, then a stable, balanced and healthy lifestyle will be more consistently maintained. 2. A Balanced Diet The foods we eat provide us with a variety of essential nutrients required for normal bodily functioning and sufficient energy for activity. https://healtheappointments.com/lifestyle-diseases-essays/ The typical diet of many Australians is characterized by a more than adequate protein intake, high sugar content, a high fat content and a low content of fibre and roughage. This dietary combination has been related to the incidence of several contemporary diseases such as obesity, heart disease and bowel disorders. Foods required in the diet can be considered in 5 major groups:  · Bread And Cereals – Providing carbohydrates  · Milk and Milk Products – Providing calcium  · Meat, Fish, Eggs and Nuts – Providing protein  · Fruit and Vegetables – Providing vitamins and minerals  · Fats – An essential nutrient, which form an important part of cell structure, and is a source of energy.  · Water – An essential part of diet. 3. Regular Physical Activity Regular physical activity is basic to the attainment of health and an essential component of a healthy lifestyle. Contemporary diseases, with the exception of those transmitted through sexual activity, are mostly conditions of old age and degenerative illness, often the result of poor lifestyle habits. The degenerative diseases of the circulatory, respiratory and musculo-skeletal systems which are now so predominant, are a consequence of our technical society. Many technological advances are intended to eliminate physical exertion from everyday activities. At the same time, life in an increasingly complex and competitive society, with pressing business and domestic obligations and deadlines, can make the maintenance of a regular physical exercise programme more difficult. Physical activity develops and maintains a level of health sufficient to carry out normal occupational and leisure pursuits without undue fatigue, and decreases the risk of too early disability or death. It cannot be said that regular activity will extend lifespan, but the quality of life will certainly be enhanced.

The Mystery of North Americas Black Wolves

The Mystery of North America's Black Wolves Despite their name, gray wolves (Canis lupus) are not always just gray. These canids  can also have black or white coats; the ones with black coats are referred to, logically enough, as black wolves. The frequencies of the various coat shades and colors prevailing within  a wolf population often vary with habitat. For example, wolf packs that live in open tundra  consist mostly of  light-colored individuals; the pale coats of these wolves allow them to blend in with their surroundings and conceal themselves when pursuing caribou, their primary prey. On the other hand, wolf packs living in boreal forests contain higher proportions of dark-colored individuals, as their murky habitat enables darker-colored individuals to blend in. Of all the color variations in Canis lupus, the black individuals are the most intriguing. Black wolves are so colored because of a genetic mutation in their K locus gene. This mutation causes a condition known as melanism, an increased presence of dark pigmentation which causes an individual to be colored black (or nearly black). Black wolves are also intriguing because of their distribution; there are significantly more black wolves in North America than there are in Europe.   To better understand the genetic underpinnings of black wolves, a team of scientists from Stanford University, UCLA, Sweden, Canada, and Italy recently assembled under the leadership of Stanfords Dr. Gregory Barsh; this group analyzed the DNA sequences of 150 wolves (about half of which were black) from Yellowstone National Park. They wound up piecing together a surprising genetic story, stretching back tens of thousands of years to a time when early humans were breeding domestic canines in favor of darker varieties. It turns out that the presence of black individuals in Yellowstones wolf packs is the result of deep historical mating between black domestic dogs and gray wolves. In the distant past, humans bred dogs in favor of darker, melanistic individuals, thus increasing the abundance of melanism in domestic dog populations. When domestic dogs interbred with wild wolves, they helped to bolster melanism in wolf populations as well. Unraveling the deep genetic past of any animal is a tricky business. Molecular analysis provides scientists with a way to estimate when genetic shifts could have occurred in the past, but its usually impossible to attach a firm date to such events. Based on genetic analysis, Dr. Barshs team estimated that the melanism mutation in canids arose sometime between 13,000 and 120,00 years ago (with the most likely date being about 47,000 years ago). Since dogs were domesticated around 40,000 years ago, this evidence fails to confirm whether the melanism mutation arose first in wolves or domestic dogs. But the story does not end there. Because melanism is far more prevalent in North American wolf populations than it is in European wolf populations, this  suggests that the cross between domestic dogs populations (rich in melanistic forms) likely occurred in North America. Using the data collected, study co-author Dr. Robert Wayne has dated the presence of domestic dogs in Alaska to about 14,000 years ago. He and his colleagues are now investigating ancient dog remains from that time and location to determine whether (and to what degree) melanism was present in those ancient domestic dogs. Edited on February 7, 2017, by Bob Strauss