HEALTH AND ILLNESS

Social Aspects of Health and Illness

Social Aspects of Health and Illness

Introduction

In this essay we study different social factors affecting the lives of mentally and physically unhealthy and ill people. There have been various problems reported on gather data on health, illness and diseases. It somehow gets really difficult to bring together this material with justification without any issues. There is an increasing need for the health care issues. Illness and diseases have had breakthroughs since the 16th century onwards.

Discussion

Numerous inventions and creations have been reported since then. Health factors force people to opt for different solutions. The most prominent one is consulting a doctor. That is the prior preference. However, some people are too shy to consult anyone as they fear what the world might think of them. Today, we study these social issues of health and illness in the lives of people in general. Different cultures have different relative importance on beliefs, values and attitudes. The social aspects of health and illness have certain key factors:

Gender

Sex and gender are independent variables associated with health. Men visit doctors less than women and are considered to be healthier and appear to have lower levels of illness. (Graham, H. 2002). Mostly it is considered that women live longer than men, except in underdeveloped countries where the birthrate is very high and which poses many harmful effects to women. Despite having had … mortality rates for all 15 leading causes of death, and a life expectancy about seven years shorter than women's in the United Kingdom, (Meryn S, Jadad AR. 2001 Nov pp.1013-4). Mortality data from 1995 for Canada's largest province, Ontario, show the same contradiction Ontario Ministry of Health in Public Health Research. Education and Development Program Report on the health status of residents of Ontario, (Journal of Toronto; 2002. p. 49). The government data itself shows that in men from birth to the age of 45, 76% deaths are due to motor vehicles where as 24% deaths were not related to their behavior. However, among women only 33% died of motor vehicles.

If the element of risk is subtracted from the data, women have approximately 1.5 times the mortality rate as compared to men. But over the age of 45, both men and women die of natural diseases mainly being heart attacks. It is very important to note that men have heart attacks at a younger age than women. However, men seem to waste their mortality on drinking, sex and driving. They lose around 50% of their mortality rate after 45 and up to 60. The data merely shows that gender is not the sole cause of shorter life expectancy. Also man has different behavioral responses.

They seem to get competitive and dominate other males, even though the results or the satisfaction achieved of doing so remain unknown. Only sex variables can calculate the life expectancy and even that cannot be a 100% true speculation. Changes are bound to happen every day and it is impossible to calculate or judge ...