Poor health can often be attributed to social and behavioral actions that learned over time. These social activities that lead to illnesses include smoking, drinking, using illicit drugs, and overeating. While this is not necessarily new news for our community, the fact that there is a group of concerned citizens focused on improving the health of Crawford County’s residents may be an enlightening news bulletin. The Crawford Health Improvement Coalition (CHIC) is a group of individuals who represent health agencies across the county who are aiming to reduce poor health among Crawford County’s residents. CHIC’s most critical focus areas revolve around childhood obesity, tobacco and other drug use, and cancer awareness.
According to the County’s Health Rankings as performed by a study out of the University of Wisconsin, Crawford County contains a significant percentage of people who participate in unhealthy behaviors. Out of the state’s 67 counties, Crawford ranked 33rd in overall physical and mental health but 45th in healthy behaviors. What this latter number means is that Crawford County’s population engages in more unhealthy behaviors than most of the state’s population. Only 22 counties ranked worse than Crawford; yet, 44 counties fared better. Factors for such behavioral rankings included the fact that the county includes 23% smokers, 30% obese residents, 15% binge drinkers, and 18% who are considered to be in poor or fair health.
Public health professionals discovered that behaviors learned early in childhood often remain with the person throughout their lifespan. A recent study published in a recent issue of Psychology journal discovered that eating breakfast and participating in spontaneous activities (such as active play) were associated with healthy development of children in terms of building healthy relationships and not being overweight or obese. By contrast, children who did not eat breakfast and spent more time being sedentary (such as sitting in front of the television or computer) were more likely to be overweight and less able to develop social relationships with others.
While it may seem obvious, the most important behavior that parents and legal guardians can offer their children is feeding them a nutritious breakfast. A second behavior is engaging them in some sort of active play, which may involve something as simple as going for a walk. Increasing physical activity is one of the major focus areas for CHIC. For example, the Penncrest School District offers the program “Caring Habits” for its 7th graders at Maplewood and Cambridge Springs Middle Schools. Through their Caring Habits program, the district incorporates a physical activity into the youth’s school day as a means of encouraging spontaneous play. These activities have included bicycling, strength training, and track and field. The idea is to break up the day with movement – a means of warding off sedentary behaviors that can lead to obesity.
It’s important to instill healthy behaviors into our children today so that they can grow into healthy adults. However, anyone can retrain themselves and more from poor behaviors to healthy ones. Therefore, everyone – regardless of your age – should sit down to a nutritious breakfast and engage in spontaneously active play every day.
References:
Silvia, C., Giulia, B., Emanuela, R., Vacirca, M. F. (2010). Positive development in children and the precursors of healthy life-styles: The role of eating regularly and level of leisure activity. Psychology, 1, 151-158.
University of Wisconsin. (2010). County Health Rankings. Retrieved November 12, 2010 from http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/.
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