So far, this chapter is my favorite one. As a health-oriented person, I’m very conscious about what’s health and what should we do to achieve health. This chapter provides critical evaluations on how we define “health” and several valuable suggestions on how to maintain a moderate level of activity.<\/p>\n
Nowadays, people are setting an ideal standard for their health condition and therefore categorize a majority of people as abnormal. Even worse, the first thing physicians tried to do to bring people to the optimistic level was to use medicine. It reminded me a lecture on abnormal psychology. It’s also very prevalent for patients to use anti-depressant medicine when they feel depressed, and pills are very likely the first thing they go for in the U.S. due to the medical system. By contrast, in Europe, 10 weeks of psychotherapy was required before taking any medicine to treat depression. As an international student, I don’t know how the medical system in the U.S. lead to a strong preference for pills. No matter it’s for maintaining a physical or psychological health condition, medication only has short-term effect and cannot prevent future relapse, because patients are not really prepared to maintain the healthy status independently without the help of medication. Considering all the side effects and extra expense of medicine, living with pills doesn’t seem like a good idea.<\/p>\n
One suggestion on exercise mentioned in the chapter was very helpful for me. I tended to regard exercise as something I have to do to stay healthy (lose weight); consequently, it becomes a source of pressure. When I saw exercise as a “chore” I had to accomplish, I stopped enjoying it. Then, all I thought of is to finish my gym plan instead of exploring new sports that can actually make me happy. Moreover, when I was stressed out due to class and other things going on in my life, I chose not to go gym and I blamed myself for not going, which became a negative circle. Therefore, if the way I think about exercise can be changed, I would be able to enjoy it and then exercise more often.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So far, this chapter is my favorite one. As a health-oriented person, I’m very conscious about what’s health and what should we do to achieve health. This chapter provides critical evaluations on how we define “health” and several valuable suggestions … Continue reading