Summary-Response- Health and Wealth

Summary-Response- Health and Wealth

Purnell, J. (2017). Financial Health Is Public Health

There is a very close connection between health and wealth. Physical and mental health is highly dependent on the financial health of an individual. Most of the people who struggle financially are unable to lead a healthy lifestyle. Some skip medical visits due to a lack of finances. Lower-income adults experience acute financial stress and mostly drink alcohol, smoke, watch excess television, and eat to cope. The coping mechanisms increase the risk of chronic and lifestyle diseases.  When money is tight, children also experience stress. Exposure to poverty and stress causes short-term and long-term effects on a child (Purnell, 2017). It can affect the health, behaviour, and development of the child-it makes them oversensitive and unable to learn. Children exposed to adverse experiences in childhood- domestic violence, abuse, mentally ill parents, and neglect-have a higher risk of having health, social and mental problems and can easily take up risky behaviours. The cycle continues when the children become adults. Stress is complex, starting from the brain and then to the body, including systems and organs. When short-lived, isolated, or mild to moderate, the brain and body have an adaptive response. However, if the stress is severe and from multiple sources, the stress response never turns off; this causes the body to break down. Subsequently, there’s a disruption in the ability to cope with stress later in life, compromising the individual’s immunity system.

The United States is the wealthiest country globally, and a lot of money is used in health care, yet people’s health lags compared to other wealthy nations. It can be explained by violence, drug abuse, high-calorie diets, child poverty, and areas that discourage physical activity. Poor health is among the poor and the high-income individuals as well. Providing better and more healthcare cannot solve this problem (Purnell, 2017). The interventions-medications, education, and counselling –have very little impact because they are for sick individuals. The most disappointing thing is that we think that these interventions are the heart of medical care. The heart of medical care and health is in the long-lasting interventions that can protect the health of individuals. They have a larger impact on people. They include; smoking cessation programs, immunizations against diseases, and cancer screening. The biggest impact is changing the environment. These interventions protect the health of individuals from potential risks. Essential resources like education, adequate housing, and poverty have the greatest impact on people’s health.  The efforts of the government to provide health insurance for every American are not enough.  As a country, we can continue with the path of an unhealthy nation and increase expenditure in health care or choose a different path of living healthy at the socioeconomic level. Decision-makers like politicians and parents need to know how social-economic factors determine health. The government should boost the lifestyles and education of the citizens more than increasing health professionals and medical coverage.

Clay, R. (2001). Wealth Secures Health

Health disparity between the rich and the poor is not because of unequal access to healthcare. Epidemiological studies have established a relationship between occupation, education, and income, and health outcomes; the risk of psychological and physical health problems increases with a decrease in socioeconomic status. People in lower socioeconomic status eat worse, smoke more, and live in unhealthy environments (Clay, 2001). It clearly shows that environmental and behavioural factors play a role. Something else is at work, too; hence the hypothesis inequality contributes to the disparity in health. Socioeconomic status is no longer viewed as a correlate but as a determinant of health. The status of people on the socioeconomic ladder correlates to objective indicators like education and income. It is also correlated with psychological and biological health outcomes like sleep quality, fat distribution in the body, heart rate, and repeated stress. Research shows members of racial and ethnic minorities are likely to be in low socioeconomic status compared to whites. Racism has increased the vulnerability of people who are struggling with low socioeconomic status.

Racism-related stress affects the health of ethnic and racial minorities in the US because racism affects a person’s health, both biologically and psychologically. It has a demoralizing effect that undermines an individual’s well-being and health. Both overt and ambiguous racism are debilitating. The interaction between the biological and psychological effects of racism brings about; self-doubt, anger, and other complex emotions. This may lead to immunological, hemodynamic, and endocrinological changes that cause diseases. Exposure to racism does not bring about hypertension, but it builds on the biological vulnerabilities that people already have, causing hypertension and other diseases. For example, if a person’s family has a history of high blood pressure, exposure to racism increases the chances of succumbing to the disease. More research is needed to know if exposure to chronic racism can contribute to genetic mutations.

Psychologists are looking for ways they can treat people who are suffering from stressors related to status. The situation is commonly called socioeconomic stress syndrome. It combines features of anxiety and depression (Clay, 2001). It is due to socioeconomic injuries and insults that are not discussed, digested, or exposed in a healing place.  People hardly talk about their struggles or pains in a healing class because our society is classless. It has caused many people both in high and low socioeconomic status to express psychological traumas. Socioeconomic stress can be overcome by people talking about their emotional wounds. It’s a complex societal issue; hence nobody should be blamed. Both large and small groups can help participants in overcoming socioeconomic stress. To address health disparities, job training programs and other programs that can improve the socioeconomic status of individuals should be implemented. They are the greatest health interventions

References

Clay, R. (2001). Wealth Secures Health [Ebook] (32nd ed., p. page 78). Retrieved 15 November 2021, from https://www.apa.org/monitor/oct01/wealthhealth.

Purnell, J. (2017). Financial Health Is Public Health [Ebook]. Washington University in St. Louis. Retrieved 15 November 2021, from http://www.strongfinancialfuture.org/essays/financial-health-is-public-health/.

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Select one of the social issues covered in 2-4. The possible issues are language and power, freedom and security, and health and wealth. Consider which issue interests you the most or about which you have a clear, strong perspective; ideally, you will continue to work with this issue throughout the remainder of the course assignments.

Now choose two of the reading selections related to that social issue. For each of those two readings,

write a 1-2 paragraph summary of the reading selection.
write a 1-2 paragraph response to the reading selection.
Organization

First, present the 1-2 paragraph summary and the 1-2 paragraph response for your first reading selection. Then, present the 1-2 paragraph summary and the 1-2 paragraph response for your second reading selection.
Be sure that your paragraphs follow the guidelines for paragraph structure.
Review the sub-module on Summarizing and Responding to Readings for a sample summary-response paper.
Grammar and Mechanics