Overall I think Health Psychology is an interesting class because it covered several topics that I have not extensively covered in my other psychology classes. I think health psychology is an important class to take because the subject applies to everyone and it is important to have a general understanding of health, health disparities, culture, and treatment. After taking this course I feel like I have a better understanding of many health disparities and how cultures differ in terms of illness, practices, and treatment. I find the end of the year group projects to be very interesting and so far one of my favorite parts of this class. It is interesting to learn how different races are more susceptible to different health conditions. Yesterday during the student presentations I learned how Asian Americans are more susceptible to liver diseases and how Native Americans are more prone to alcoholism. I found these presentations to be very engaging and enjoyable.
Although I found the book “The Longevity Project” to be frustrating at times, I did enjoy reading the book and applying it to my own health as well as my family members. Although I may not take everything I read to heart it is definitely important to recognize some of the risk factors in my own behaviors.
I also enjoyed the multiple speakers that came in to speak to our class. I thought these speakers were very beneficial because it applied what we have learned in class to the real world. I particularly enjoyed the careers in health psychology class and Heather Gardiners presentation on her research. All of these speakers provided insight into how broad the term health psychology is and the many things you can do with a health psychology degree.
Another aspect of this class that I really enjoyed was the personal change project. I really enjoyed being able to choose a health behavior that I wanted to change. For me I choose to focus on drinking more water throughout the day. This project was important because even as this project concluded I still find myself being conscientious of how much water I am consuming throughout the day. While completing this project, it was interesting to see how hard it was to implement a change into my routine. After several months of tracking my water intake, I feel like I have accomplished drinking more water per day and the results have been very beneficial. I find myself having more energy, not being dependent on caffeine, and not getting as many headaches. This project applied to the class because we got the chance to reflect on our own health behaviors and implement a change.
I agree that I didn’t expect learn as much as we did both biologically, but also psycho-socially. I’m glad to hear you enjoyed the presentations so far–I’ll take that as a compliment 🙂 . But I too look forward to everyone else presentations. Normally having such a heavy focus on black-white differences, branching out to Native Americans was eye-opening for me and I hope you’ve enjoyed learning about your population.
I also enjoyed the many speakers we had come to class because, like you said, it helped to apply or see applied all of what we have learned throughout the semester. I will also say I enjoyed the meaningful breaks we took…
I’m glad to hear you’re maintaining your water intake! That’s a great habit/behavior to maintain and improve upon. Unfortunately I cannot say the same for me and my dessert intake. As classes and football progressed into the semester, I sought comfort in my beloved cheesecake at times. It’s alright though. Not being on campus during the summer (and therefore not being around Dhall) will serve me well in decreasing my dessert intake.
It was fun having not one but two classes with you this semester Amelia!