FACTORS THAT AFFECT OUR HEALTHBeing healthy is kind of a mysterious thing. Some people can drink alcohol all the time and smoke cigars in between and live long and relatively healthy, whereas nutritionnut individuals always eating organic food and abstaining from habits that would be detrimental at times die early. Genetics definitely has an influence on how long we live and how well we do internally, but there are many other factors that strongly affect our health. Let us explore the general, intrinsic, and extrinsic factors that affect our wellbeing.To get facts straight, the most influential factor affecting our health is our socioeconomic status (40%). After this comes, in order, health behaviors (30%), environment (10%), family genetics (10%), and finally healthcare (10%) (What Affects Our Health?). Socioeconomic status involves race, education, and poverty level. We are often born into an unhealthy status, or land into one due to economic situations. Not surprisingly, healthy habits such as exercising, good eating, and meditation reflect the second most influential factor. But it seems that many people with a low socioeconomic status cannot afford to engage in these health behaviors. Clean air, clean water, a lack of toxicity, safety, and green materials all help to maintain our health as well, reflecting the third most important factor for our health status. Maybe somewhat of a surprise, genetics is the fourth most essential factor, with predisposition playing a role. Slightly less influential is the standard of healthcare we have, which is curious to think about, since we spend enormous amounts of money on it.
Trang 1CAUSE – EFFECT ESSAYS FACTORS THAT AFFECT OUR HEALTH
Being healthy is kind of a mysterious thing Some people can drink alcohol all the time andsmoke cigars in between and live long and relatively healthy, whereas nutrition-nutindividuals always eating organic food and abstaining from habits that would be detrimental
at times die early Genetics definitely has an influence on how long we live and how well we
do internally, but there are many other factors that strongly affect our health Let us explorethe general, intrinsic, and extrinsic factors that affect our well-being
To get facts straight, the most influential factor affecting our health is our socioeconomicstatus (40%) After this comes, in order, health behaviors (30%), environment (10%), family
genetics (10%), and finally healthcare (10%) (What Affects Our Health?) Socioeconomic
status involves race, education, and poverty level We are often born into an unhealthy status,
or land into one due to economic situations Not surprisingly, healthy habits such asexercising, good eating, and meditation reflect the second most influential factor But it seemsthat many people with a low socioeconomic status cannot afford to engage in these healthbehaviors Clean air, clean water, a lack of toxicity, safety, and green materials all help tomaintain our health as well, reflecting the third most important factor for our health status.Maybe somewhat of a surprise, genetics is the fourth most essential factor, withpredisposition playing a role Slightly less influential is the standard of healthcare we have,which is curious to think about, since we spend enormous amounts of money on it
Next, we will get into more detail about the intrinsic and and extrinsic factors affecting ourhealth Intrinsic factors involve elements within our body that can possibly create diseasesand other harmful processes, whereas extrinsic factors comprise aspects of the outer worldthat can influence our health The main intrinsic factors are malfunctioning body parts,hereditary diseases, hormonal diseases, and allergies In terms of extrinsic factors, we gotnutritional disorders, infections by microorganisms, habit-forming substances, andenvironmental pollution (Shetty, Satya) I think “habit-forming substances” needs a bit moreexplanation Drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana or cigarettes, sniffing glue, or hard drugscould be classified as habit-forming substances They are usually addictive and areintertwined with popular lifestyles
We have been mostly delving into physical health, but mentioning mental health is also
key In fact, many specialists believe our mental and physical sides are interconnected Let us take depression If an individual is showing signs of depression, they have a “67% increased risk of death from heart disease” and also a “50% increased risk of death
from cancer” (Mental Health Foundation) With a more severe issue like schizophrenia,
people with this problem “double the risk of death from heart disease” and are “three times
Trang 2the risk of death from respiratory disease” (Mental Health Foundation) On a more everyday
level, stress can cause a large amount of emotional, physical, cognitive, and behavioralsymptoms There are too many symptoms to mention here, so I will give a run down of themost essential For emotional symptoms, we have “becoming easily agitated, frustrated, andmoody, feeling overwhelmed, like you are losing control or need to take control, havingdifficulty relaxing and quieting your mind”; in terms of physical symptoms, we can list “lowenergy, headaches, upset stomach, including diarrhea, constipation, and nausea”; withcognitive symptoms, we have “constant worrying, racing thoughts, forgetfulness anddisorganization”; and finally for behavioral symptoms, we can name “changes in appetite—either not eating or eating too much, procrastinating and avoiding responsibilities, increased
use of alcohol, drugs, or cigarettes” (WebMD) As you can see, stress creates a complex of
damage for an individual
What makes one person healthy and another person unhealthy involves a multitude of factors.Socioeconomic status, health behaviors, environment, genetics, and healthcare are the tip ofthe iceberg There are a myriad intrinsic and extrinsic factors that affect our health, and ourmental health is also interconnected with our bodily state With socioeconomic status beingthe most driving factor for health, it seems doctors and other professionals related to keepingthe health of people above water should focus on raising the socioeconomic status of theirlocales
FACTORS CAUSING STRESS
Modern psychology leans towards believing that maturing is a continuous process which canlast one’s entire life, rather than a single moment of psychological “initiation,” after which aperson realizes that he or she has become an adult Respectively, challenges we have to dealwith almost always correspond with the stage of psychological development we are currently
in Problems we go through as teenagers at high school and those we face as grown-upindividuals differ in nature and complexity, although our emotional response mechanismsremain the same: in difficult situations, our bodies react with stress
Being stressed is normal, usually In fact, stress is not necessarily a negative feeling, but rather a condition in which we find ourselves during or after periods of emotional and/or physical loads In other words, even positive factors such as marriage or graduation can be stressful Normally, after a stressful factor is eliminated, our psyche goes
back to its normal condition However, if a person was exposed to a series of stressful events,
or remained under stress for a long period of time, it may become not so easy to get rid of it
Trang 3In fact, psychologists distinguish between three main kinds of stress: acute, episodic, and
chronic (Psychologist World) Acute stress is a result of short-term yet traumatic events—for
example, a car accident, a conflict with a friend or relative, witnessing or falling victim toviolence, and so on Episodic stress is what we all go through on an everyday basis: short-term situations we have to deal with every day, and which have become almost habitual Forinstance, getting stuck in a traffic jam and being late for work, or having a deadline at work,
or paying taxes—these are some examples of episodic stressful events which can affect usnegatively, but which are bearable and manageable And finally, chronic stress is a result ofprocesses that occur in our lives, and the effects of which are prolonged in time as well.Perhaps the best example of a situation causing chronic stress is an unhappy marriage, whenboth a wife and a husband suffer, but have no courage to get divorced
Naturally, emotional sensitivity varies in each individual, so the same events can cause different emotional responses in people What is a mundane morning ride to work for one
person can be daily hell for another one; one spouse may be content with his or her marriage,while the other one can feel trapped and unable to go on with the relationship any longer Atthe same time, there are stress factors that tend to cause negative emotions of approximatelythe same intensity in almost everyone
According to the Holmes-Raye Social Readjustment Rating Scale, one of the most
emotionally-crippling factors of stress is the death of a loved one (LiveStrong.com) The
situation gets worse if spouses had common business or debts, so after the death of one ofthem, another one has to take full responsibility of chores However, it is not only a spousewhose death can cause intense stress: the death of a parent, a child, a friend, or a significantother can cause intense emotional pain as well As the time goes, the pain will become lessacute, but the psyche will take vast amounts of time to recover—this is a natural part of theprocess of grieving, so little can be done about it
Similarly to the loss of a loved one, divorce is another factor of stress that affects the majority
of people with similar strength Unlike dating, divorce implies not just two people breaking
up and starting to live separately, but also a number of legal consequences which need to beattended to Divorce usually means moving to a different place, learning to live a single life,sharing custody over children, dividing property, breaking previously-established socialconnections, and so on This is a huge change in the life of any individual, and even if spouseshated each other and the divorce was their first step towards a long-anticipated peaceful life,judicial and legal matters following a divorce can cause huge amounts of stress
Financial worries can be a powerful stress factor as well We live in a world where a hugepart of information perceived by every individual is advertising certain goods and services.The number of material temptations is overwhelming, and financial systems supportubiquitous consumption via loans, crediting policies, etc From one angle, this increases the
Trang 4standards of living, and makes people’s lives more comfortable, and goods more accessible.
On the other hand, having to pay numerous bills, loans, credits, calculating incomes andexpenses, financially supporting other people, and so on, is known to cause immense stress
(Psychologist World) Financial worries are not something rich people are free of: in fact, just
as in case with divorce and death, financial problems can become a huge strain in the life ofevery individual, regardless of their incomes
Psychological stress is a normal part of living While some people tend to be more emotionalthan others, there are stress factors that can affect almost everyone, regardless of theirsensitivity Among the most powerful ones are the death of a loved one, divorce, and worriesrelated to finance and money No matter what the reason is, it is important to learn how tomanage stress in order to not let it become chronic and overwhelming
THE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON COMMUNICATION SKILLS
With the emergence of Facebook, the way people communicate with each other changedforever A social network allowing users to share the events of their lives through postingphotos and status updates, to monitor the lives of their friends, and to communicate directlyvia a built-in messenger has revolutionized Internet communication, causing millions ofpeople all over the world to share all kinds of information about themselves There were, ofcourse, other social networks before Facebook, but none of them garnered such a significantuser base, remained as persistent, and continued to act as an effective form of communication
as much as Facebook did Along with Facebook, currently there are many other socialnetworks, each with their own features and purposes; what unites them all, though, is the idea
of sharing Seemingly, this should positively impact the communication skills of users, since
it allows communication even for people far away from each other, or who are unable tocommunicate live However, there have been numerous research studies proving the opposite:social media platforms not only impair a user’s ability to share thoughts, but distortcommunication processes, creating more problems than they solve
Speaking of the positive effects of social networks, they lie on the surface According to surveys, 39% of respondents reported feeling closer to their friends because of social media, while 26% of the sample felt that they had more friends because of social media (NR Media) Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other similar services make daily
communications between family members, friends, and business partners easier, moreaccessible, and independent of circumstances, such as distance Communities existing on suchplatforms unite people sharing similar interests or concerns, and allow the representatives ofvarious cultural backgrounds to reach each other with no constraints Helping strangers meet
Trang 5and enabling initial communication between them—this is what social networks are definitelygood for.
At the same time, numerous research studies prove that social media platforms negatively affect people’s social skills Probably the most alarming phenomenon connected to the extensive use of social media services is the decrease in quality of interpersonal communication One of the big problems in modern interpersonal
communication is the lack of interest people have for face-to-face communication; eventoday, there are many people (especially millennials, or younger) who prefer to solve work orpersonal problems via social messaging systems Approximately 93 percent ofcommunication today is already nonverbal, and thus requires an additional means of helpingpeople understand each other (such as smileys or emojis), since text does not convey the totalpalette of intonations or facial expressions This brings up several problems; for example,without these means, it is often more difficult to understand another person in a messengersystem (the classical “he/she did not insert smileys, so I thought he/she is mad at me”); or, inreal life, it may become harder to differentiate and understand real emotions According tosome experts, even families prefer texting over face-to-face chat All this leads to difficulties
in professional and personal relationships (Rampages.us)
Substituting real life experiences and events with Facebook-format online updates is another
problem Studies show that about 11 percent of adults prefer to stay at home on weekends and make posts on Facebook about how much fun they are having, instead of going out and acquiring real-life experiences According to Hussein Chahine, the founder
of the service Yazino, “Communication is constantly evolving Some people are as used toseeing their friends’ online avatar as they are their face […] People increasingly prefer quickand frequent engagement with instant updates on news than a prolonged chat and are alsofinding new ways to catch up with friends from the comfort of their sofa.” Mark Clennon, agraduate of the University of South Florida, says that “People tend to want to show others thatthey are having fun than actually having fun themselves […] There’s a greater desire to sharewith other people you barely know, than actually hanging out with friends and makingmemories” (USA Today College) This is directly connected to another problem: “Facebookdepression.” Generally speaking, it is the sense of inferiority occurring when people(teenagers, mostly) compare their real lives to the lives of their Facebook friends—based onthe posts these friends make online—completely missing out on the fact that what they see isnot necessarily true (NYBH) As a result, an interesting and alarming phenomenon emerges:many people sit at home, busy creating visibility of living fulfilled, happy lives, and sufferwhen they see how fulfilled the lives of other people are—who, in their turn, sit at home, busycreating visibility of living fulfilled, happy lives This is a poignant example of a viciouscircle
Trang 6Yet another impairment of communication skills caused by the extensive use of social media platforms is the impoverishment of language Using messengers, people often use shorthand and shortened versions of words in order to type and deliver their messages
as quickly as possible However, such means of communication are much less effective than conventional ones (or rather, traditional, since contractions, slang, and abbreviations
such as “brb,” “u r,” “m8,” “dunno,” and so on have already become almost conventional),and people getting used to them can experience difficulties in real-life interpersonalcommunication (Rampages.us) This is not to mention illiteracy, which is already becoming ascourge of this generation communicating through messengers
Although social media may help people establish initial contact and aid people in uniting intogroups under certain interests, they also cause a number of problems In particular, nonverbalcommunication is gradually becoming one of the dominant forms of interpersonal interaction,negatively affecting people’s ability to deal with personal contact and meet the reactions andemotions of other people in real life A significant percent of adults (up to 11 percent) preferstaying at home and communicating via their devices rather than going out and acquiring real-life experiences This, along with “Facebook depression” and the overall impoverishment oflanguage and communication skills, is alarming, and requires adequate and timely measures
WAYS IN WHICH VR CAN CHANGE OUR LIVES
It is commonplace that technologies are changing the world we live in Roughly every twodecades, Earth becomes almost a brand new place in terms of technological wondersbecoming routine, and revolutionary ideas settling as solid scientific theories However, wemight not be aware of the extent to which the world is changing—not just because weconstantly live within the eye of the hurricane, so to say, but also because technologiessometimes advance too fast for us to comprehend and evaluate their influence on the ways welive, think, feel, and behave One of such technologies is virtual reality, or VR: a conceptintroduced by science-fiction writers and scientists quite a while ago, but is now becoming atrending technology worldwide And, since it is obvious that VR will from now on be aninalienable part of the world, it is important to contemplate the ways in which it will affecthumanity
If we analyze the term “virtual reality,” we naturally need to understand what each of its twocomponents mean on their own So, according to the online Merriam-Webster dictionary,
“virtual” means “very close to being something without actually being it”
(Merriam-Webster.com) Specifically, this adjective is mostly applied to the environments created with
the help of computers (as in video games, for example) “Reality,” in its turn, is broadlyspeaking about the whole three-dimensional world we live in and interact with Considering
Trang 7these two definitions, it can be said that virtual reality is an artificially-created dimensional environment constructed with the help of computers, which people can interactwith in the same way as they do with the real world, using their senses to navigate andexplore it.
three-Computer generation can emulate situations and environments hardly possible in the realpresent world: visual effects we can see in movies such as “Transformers” or “Avatar” make
a solid example of this statement; no need to say that emulating regular real-life situations isalso possible for VR Therefore, VR can be used to enable people perform actions without
affecting the real world, which is especially useful for all kinds of training and practices For instance, a future jet pilot can safely learn how to maintain and fly their aircraft without putting their life at risk and wasting expensive fuel An astronaut can practice their outer
space repairing skills with the help of a computer simulation, completely emulating theconditions that he/she will face in actual space A medical student can learn how to performsurgeries or autopsies on fully interactive body models, which can appropriately respond to astudent’s every action—needless to say it is much safer for learning than when a novicesurgeon performs their first operation on a real patient Therefore, one of the most obviouseffects VR will have on the modern world is the enhancement of studying and trainingcapabilities, especially for the people involved in dangerous jobs
VR can be great for entertainment, socialization, and art In 2015, probably the biggest social
media giant, Facebook, bought Oculus VR technology, integrating the possibilities it offers
into the platform For example, with Oculus Rift, it will soon be possible to view your
friends’ photos in a 360-degree mode, which basically means you will be able to be virtually present on the events you missed, seeing them from a first-person perspective,
and giving you a more immersive experience (AndroidPit) Gaming and movie industries
will benefit from VR technology greatly, attracting millions of new customers annually—creating engaging and thrilling entertainment products capable of fully capturing consumersattention will benefit these industries and boost their further development
Also, virtual reality can be a great help and relief for people with limited capabilities, especially for those who are fully or partially paralyzed, and thus have to live their lives chained to only one or few locations It can give such people an opportunity to explore the
world around them in the same way people without disabilities can do: the ability to walk,run, and perform other actions we take for granted can be a life savior for the majority ofparalyzed patients, and this is probably the best opportunity VR can offer humanity at the
moment (Engadget) This is not to mention that VR allows things impossible in real life, such
as teleportation or Superman-like flying, all of which would also be available for such people
As it can be seen, virtual reality is a new technology that can affect the lives of many peopleworldwide in a number of ways Being an artificial, three-dimensional depiction of the real
Trang 8world, it grants numerous opportunities for practicing a wide range of skills that wouldotherwise imply great risks; jet pilots or medical students, for example, would definitelyappreciate the possibilities VR grants VR can significantly change the way people interactonline, making their digital experiences for immersive and realistic—for example, Facebook
has integrated Oculus technology, allowing 360-degree viewing of images, and this is just the
beginning The last but not the least is the fact that VR will allow disabled people toexperience what they are deprived of: walking, running, exploring the world and travelling,and so on, so its value in these terms is difficult to underestimate
WHAT CAUSES TEENAGERS TO RUN AWAY FROM HOME
Adolescence is probably the most extreme period in the life of an individual Transiting fromchildhood to being an adult is full of rioting, searching for one’s identity and purpose,developing new models of behavior, psychologically separating from parents, and maturing.Many people tend to remember their teen years as the most saturated and meaningful—eventhough what teenagers usually do is hang out with friends and party This age, however, is not
as carefree and unclouded as it seems; teenagers, due to hormonal hurricanes and thepsychological peculiarities of this age, often get themselves in trouble Millions of parentsaround the world are worried that their children at this age will get in the wrong surrounding,start doing drugs, or drink alcohol; there is, at the same time, a problem that is no lessdangerous: running away from home
Although it might seem romantic—escaping home and wandering around the country orabroad, in search of one’s purpose or for whatever other reason—the reality is
different According to statistics, every year, up to 2.8 million teens who escape from home have to live on the streets Among them, about 50% have been kicked out of their
homes or shelters at least once, and they specified home conflicts being one of the mainreasons of this; according to the reports of the Office of Juvenile Justice and DelinquencyPrevention, about 20% of young people who have been thrown out of their homes or escapedfaced physical and/or sexual abuse, or felt they were under the threat of abuse Overall, morethan 60% of runaway teenagers have depression, half of them have problems at school, andabout 20% have developed substance addiction (National Safe Place) As it can be seen fromthe statistics, being a runaway is not about romantically searching for their place in the world,but rather suffering from injustice, poverty, violence, and depression
Of course, there are cases when teens run away because of something bad at home (for
example, a big fight with parents, or harsh restrictions, and so on) However, for a large percentage of runaways, the need to escape is innate, due to systematic misfortunes at home or school In this regard, specialists distinguish between episodic running away and
Trang 9chronic running away Episodic running away does not have a consistent pattern, and usually
it not used to manipulate parents More likely, episodic runaways occur in order to avoidpunishment for misbehavior or misconduct, possible humiliation (for instance, from peers atschool), or embarrassment In the case of chronic running away, the situation is different;teenagers who regularly escape from home may be using this strategy to influence theirparents, draw their attention if other means do not prove to be efficient, manipulate parents, oract out One of the signs of such a pattern is when a teenager uses phrases such as: “If youmake me do this/If you do not do that, I will run away.” They may threaten their parents bysaying, “If you make me do that, I’ll run away,” knowing that running away is what manyparents are afraid of This is a bargaining strategy, and parents can engage in it without fullyrealizing they in fact cater to such behavioral patterns, not prevent them Once a parentconcedes to such blackmailing, a teenager may start using it more to always get what he orshe wants; when such a relationship model substitutes direct and open communicationbetween children and parents, it is not a healthy relationship anymore (Empowering Parents)
As for the reasons why teenagers choose to escape can be numerous Among the mostcommon ones are abuse (physical, emotional, sexual, and so on), substance addiction, andpeer pressure According to a study conducted at the University of Chicago, the mostcommon reason for teenagers to run away from home is the lack of support and understandingcoming from family members—and this is the best-case scenario Unfortunately, there arenumerous cases when teens have been molested, beaten, humiliated, threatened, andmistreated in their families; the fact that parents—probably the closest people to a teen—dothis to him or her deeply undermines a young person’s ability to trust the world and his or hergiven society Often being dependent on their parents in terms of finance or a place to live,they do not have an effective means of preventing or stopping harm from their parents;running away for such children seems to be the only valid option Nearly the same is thesituation for many teenagers at schools; feeling like a black sheep in class or being bullied,such teens tend to choose radical ways of problem solving There were infamous cases whensuch teens committed mass shootings in the schools they studied at, but less psychologicallytraumatized children prefer to eliminate themselves from the stressful environment—throughrunning away, usually As for substance addiction, it commonly accompanies theaforementioned problems; a healthy teenager who has good relationships within and outsidethe family rarely feels the desire to try out drugs, for example; this may be done as anexperiment or a part of teenage rioting behavior, but rarely turns into a consistent patterntypical for addicts Nevertheless, teenagers who develop a substance addiction may run awayfrom home in order to conceal this addiction from their parents, find money (often illegally)
to buy more drugs or alcohol, or because they got into trouble connected to substances Eitherway, parents need to look out for the signs of addiction a child may display in order to be able
to notice the problem in time and try to solve it before it is too late
Trang 10Running away as a teen is a dangerous act Teens who escape their homes often have to live
in poverty, depression, and abuse; trying to solve problems (such as physical or emotionalabuse, for example) at school or home, they run away hoping to get away from the source ofdistress; however, living on the streets means becoming less protected and more vulnerable,
so the reason why teens escape does not vanish Therefore, parents should be more attentive
to their children, encourage direct communication, and watch out for signs of problems theirchild might be demonstrating in order to prevent the situation from becoming worse
The Automation of Jobs
As exciting as the advancement of cybernetics and robotics might look, it also poses achallenge to the way of life we have got accustomed to throughout centuries Perhaps sincethe beginning of time, there was a job to do, and a man or woman who performed it Theresults of this work—food, goods, money—belonged to human beings Work has always beenboth a way to make a living, and a way of self-realization, a fulfillment of one’s calling, and aduty It is also true that it has always been time-consuming, occupying the time one couldprobably spend with family, or on hobbies and other activities
The latter (along with the ever-existing pursuit of increased productivity) caused scientistsand inventors to think whether work could be performed on its own, without the participation
of people—in order to use their time and energy for something more pleasant, interesting, etc.And in the 21st century, automation and robotic engineering have become the answer to thissearch; supposedly, almost any manned job can be performed by a machine Unfortunately,along with the new industrial revolution, the increase of work efficiency, and other benefits,automation will also most likely cause several critical issues to emerge—mass unemploymentprobably being the major one
Erik Brynjolfsson, a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and his colleagueAndrew McAfee believe the rapid progress in computer and robotic spheres (for example, theusage of robots in heavy industries, or the widespread usage of automated translation services,
and so on) do not correspond with the slow rates of employment growth In other words, technologies take more jobs than a modern society can produce; this is not to mention that automation reaches, or is about to reach, not only such spheres as manufacturing or retail jobs, but also education, finance, law, and medicine This is a worrying sign,
because such a spread of automation means qualified people gradually losing their workplace
in favor of machines; all this can lead to the stagnation of the median income, as well as thegrowth of inequality—this regards the United States and other technologically-developedcountries (MIT Technology Review)