Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Blog 5 Inspirational Woman

The inspirational woman whom I admire is Mother Teresa, a Roman Catholic religious sister, and a missionary nun. She is also known as Blessed Teresa of Calcutta. She was born in Skyopje, the capital of the Republic of Macedonia in 1910. She established her charitable foundation when she was as young as 18 years old known as “The Missionaries of Charity”. The main mission of the missionary was to look after the people who had no one to look after. Since Mother Teresa was a very religious person, she thought serving others was the key principle of teachings of Jesus Christ. She was the strong and independent woman who chose to give up luxury and served the poor people as the call of Christ. She devoted a tremendous amount of physical, emotional and spiritual work for almost 50 years as a missionary nun. Her focus was to help the poor and sick people in the community and slum areas where people are deprived of proper food, shelter, proper health care, and education.
I consider her an inspirational woman because she chose to provide a selfless act of service to others who didn’t have anything. She did not let any boundaries to stop her from serving others. She was a determined woman who devoted to caring for others especially were poor, sick and dying at the early age in which women normally tend to live for themselves and care for themselves. Her selfless act made her renowned in many countries and she was rewarded with many prestigious awards including Nobel Peace prize.
Of the topics and information that we have covered this semester in the course, the most impactful and interesting part was watching documentary and movies about inspirational women in different parts of the world. My personal favorite was “A Powerful Noise”. It is a privilege to watch these kinds of inspirational documentaries as a part of the course assignment. It inspires us to utilize the resources wisely that we have been given and be a part of positive change in the society. It also encourages us to help others in the time of need.

References
Biography Mother Teresa. (n.d.). Retrieved May 03, 2016, from
            https://www.biographyonline.net/nobelprize/mother_teresa.html


Saturday, April 9, 2016

How can we stop the assaults from being committed against women ?

           Women are equally important as men in a society. They play an important role in the family as daughter, mother, sister, aunt etc. They should get a lot of respect and love as they play a big role in the upbringing of the family especially the children. Sadly, women in developing countries and underdeveloped countries have deteriorating condition in the society. Often they become the victim of physical and sexual abuse, rape and assault. The main reason I have noticed is that women in these countries are uneducated and are fully dependent on their husband emotionally, physically and financially. Therefore, they do not raise a voice or even if they did, they are discouraged to do so. The men take advantage of their innocence and keep assaulting them. In this case, women can be provided with education and help them to be self-dependent. Awareness is another important factor that can help women to understand their rights and necessity to fight back if anything is done against their will. This might help to decrease the assault being committed against the women. They should also be encouraged to file the report against any assaults or violence that occurs to them in the family.


           In developed countries, women are educated and self-dependent, despite that they are being assaulted. The main reason behind this is either they do not want to fight back or they are emotionally attached to them that they do not want to take harsh actions against them. Many times they assume that their men will change eventually and do not report any cases of family violence and assaults. It is important to raise awareness regarding this matter among women that they should seek help if they are being abused or assaulted in the family. It might seem a difficult thing to do but it is important that they report any such case for their own safety. If they fail to do so, they might get into life threatening assaults in future. Therefore, we can stop or lessen the incidents of assaults from being committed against women by creating awareness and providing support groups to women. They should be encouraged to seek the legal help as well if they needed. They should be mentally and emotionally strong to raise voice against any assaults or violence against them.


Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Blog 3 Q3 Heart Disease in Woman


According to American Heart Association, heart disease is found to affect mainly the blood vessels and the cardiovascular system. Heart disease can take many forms such as Congestive Heart Failure, Arrhythmias etc. It can lead to various other heart issues such as Arteriosclerosis, a condition which develops after plague develops in the walls of arteries. This condition will lead to narrowing of the artery which slows down the blood flow through it and eventually can lead to the blood clot causing a heart attack or stroke (American Heart Association, n.d ). Women are not aware that heart disease is one of the leading causes of death. It is said that a woman has atypical symptoms than man which is why heart disease manifest woman differently than in men. The warning sign in a woman is completely different from those of man and it used to be considered as man's disease since many decades. Only 1 in 5 women believes that heart disease is the number one killer of the woman. As more attention is given to man, the issue of heart health goes ignored among woman. Woman themselves do not believe that they have the higher risk of heart disease compared to man which is why their symptoms just go undiagnosed and they do not get proper care (American Heart Association, n.d). Another reason why woman go undiagnosed with the symptoms of Heart disease is because the doctors are less vigilant about treating risk factors in woman and woman may have a different response to the treatment compared to man (“Heart Disease in Women - Mayo Clinic”, 2008)

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There are many things that can put us in the risk factor for heart disease such as family history. It cannot be controlled but can be prevented and treated with proper education and care. There are various lifestyle changes one can follow to prevent the disease later. Some of the lifestyle changes are as follows:
Quit smoking
Get the blood sugar under control
Control the Cholesterol
Stay Active
Lose weight
Eat Healthy (American Heart Association, n.d)
These life style changes will definitely help us to live a healthy life by keeping us active and engaged in healthy behaviors.

Reference
Facts About Heart Disease in Women - Go Red For Women. (n.d.). Retrieved March 08, 2016, from https://www.goredforwomen.org/home/about-heart-disease-in-women/facts-about-heart-disease/

Heart Disease in Women - Mayo Clinic. (2008, May 8). Retrieved March 08, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3fz8jYjr6I


Sunday, February 14, 2016

Blog 2 Menopause and it's viewpoint from a different cultural perspective

Menopause is the part of natural process for every woman. When woman has her menstruation period for the last time, it is called as menopause which is followed by various hormone changes (National Institute on Aging, 2013). Menopause occurs in every woman’s life after certain age leaving her unable to be pregnant again. National Institute of Aging says that average age of woman for menopause is around 51 and the experience of menopause is different for woman to woman. Various health behaviors such as smoking can start the early menopause in woman. Menopause can be viewed in different ways in different part of the world.

According to an article from BMC Woman’s Health, the result of a research program conducted among Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander shows that there is various factors associated with the attitude, view and perception of menopause in different cultures (Jones, Jurgenson, Katzenellenbogen, & Thomson, 2012). There is a slight variation in the experience of menopause because of biological, social, cultural, lifestyle and socioeconomic factors that is found in different culture. The research study also shows that there are various needs and understanding during the transition period of woman in the menopause phase( Jones et al. , 2012). It is completely individual experience but could be influenced by any of the factors.

The research conducted on Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander found out that the average menopausal age for Australian Woman was 52.9 years. Society with higher living cost was found to have higher median age for menopause (Jones et al. , 2012). The research also indicated that people who were educated and had the knowledge of woman’s health had different symptoms and perception which lead to improved quality of life. Many other factors were found to be responsible for variations in menopausal experience which includes biological and reproductive factor, psychological, cultural and social factors. Woman who were living in rural area were found to be far less educated and understanding about menstruation and menopause. In their culture, it was taken as private and woman’s business (Jones et al. , 2012).

The research conducted on Australian Indigenous women’s experience shows the huge difference between an educated woman and a woman from rural areas  about the viewpoint on menopause. Thus, it can be generalized that there are various factors responsible for viewing menopause in various cultures. Menopause is a natural process and woman should embrace it as part of their life without any hesitation. It is always good to watch out for symptoms and seek help from physicians for any unusual symptoms.


References


Jones EK, Jurgenson JR, Katzenellenbogen JM, Thompson SC. Menopause and the influence of culture: another gap for Indigenous Australian women? BMC Women’s Health. 2012;12:43. doi:10.1186/1472-6874-12-43.

Menopause | National Institute on Aging. (2013, December). Retrieved February 14, 2016, from https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/publication/menopause 

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Blog 1 Question 3

                I think adolescence is the important phase in a person's life. They get both good and bad experiences during this phase as it is also considered as transitional and learning phase from childhood to adulthood. Parenting plays a great role in directing adolescents to the proper path by showing them the right way. All the teenagers fall under adolescents where they get self-conscious about their looks and appearance, dress up, opposite sex etc. It is the phase where the child can pick up anything depending where they get more influence. Therefore, it is more important that adolescents be guided and directed towards right path by parents and teachers. They should be taught healthy behaviors in school and at home too. For this, education is very important. Educated adolescents can make better and wise decisions that will always help them to move forward proudly. Adolescents can go through any phase such as happy, sad, depression, confusion etc as they develop the biological, psychological, cognitive and social characteristics during this phase. We should always encourage adolescents to follow healthy habits and healthy behaviors as they are constantly learning new stuff everyday . I would encourage them to have an open discussion with their parents and ask them for help if they needed.

                 For parents, I would suggest handling this stage of their kids in a positive way instead of forcing them to do certain things. Adolescents are in that odd age where they may think that they know everything which is conflicting with what parents might think. According to Parenthood .library, parenting is much more complex than just providing food and safety to their child (Lerner, Noh, Clancy, n.d). Parents are charged with the responsibility of enhancing the development of youth especially when the child is going through adolescence. I think parents should handle this stage very responsibly. Health Care providers should be friendly as they are the one who could advise and give them healthy advice. At this age, adolescents might be more interested towards opposite sex, their own looks and appearance, therefore, they should be handled gently and advised politely. Health educators should also advise them sensibly as they might have various questions and confusions about their own health and body. At this stage, they might undergo through various changes such as voice change, bodily appearance, and growth in reproductive organs.

                 Health educators can advise them about how to stay away from different disease, practice safe sex, healthy diet and exercises. Media should play an important role in guiding adolescents towards the positive path. There are various examples of adolescent girls starving themselves to death in order to get that so called perfect figure by media. Media, therefore, should play the positive role by encouraging them to participate in youth development programs. Society should embrace the adolescents in the way they are instead of judging them .Adolescence is that sensitive phase where adolescents easily get carried away by what people say to them. They should be encouraged to be positive and embrace the way they are. There is various news of adolescent suicidal cases due to societal pressure and societal fear. It is sad that society always appears judgmental towards adolescents who force them to be frustrated and depressed. Society can avoid this situation and play the positive role in adolescent’s future by not judging them. They can throw some encouraging words instead. After all, adolescents will grow up to be the part of society and parents in the future.

                                                            Citation

 Lerner, R., C. W., & Noh, R. (n.d.). The Parenting of Adolescents and Adolescents as Parents: A Developmental-Contextual Perspective. Retrieved from http://parenthood.library.wisc.edu/Lerner/Lerner.html

Introduction

I am so excited to be at TWU majoring in community Health. I commute from Arlington to Denton for school. I normally take few online classes and few in class to save the time and balance my schedule. I am hoping to graduate from TWU in Spring 2017.My future plan is to get master's degree in Public Health and work for CDC or INGOs in future. I am very positive towards learning new things. I moved to the United States in 2009 from Nepal and ever since I have been living in Texas. I love everything here except for humid weather during summer. I think I haven’t been able to adapt to this transition yet. I came from a completely different part of the world to the United States for my better future. I see great opportunities here for hardworking people especially for those come from a different country for better life and better future. I find people very friendly and welcoming. I feel great that I got the opportunity to see two different sides of the world one that I was born and raised and other is the one that I currently live in. I am grateful to my parents and God for that opportunity. I spend a lot of my time in community college and finally figured out what I want to do in my life. I have developed a great interest in Health Science field. In my leisure time, I like to visit different places, watch movies and documentaries and hang out with friends. My expectation from this course is to learn more about the woman's health as it is highly important for a woman to know about her body and her health.I had used blogger 6 years ago for the first time in my history and government course, however,I stopped using it after the semester was done.Hopefully, I'll be fine using it again for this course.