Health Issues

Term Paper

A person's lifestyle is determined by many factors, such as the way in which they were brought up, the environment they grew up, as well as their social relationships and support system. The way a person is viewed by society based on their race, depending on the person, can also influence one's lifestyle if they are affected by societies stereotyping and its social norms. Gender roles can also play a key factor in a person deciding how to lead their life as I am a black female of Haitian descent. There is so much force going against me, and all these factors, along with some genetic predispositions, explain my Health and choice of lifestyle.

It is safe to say that I am fairly healthy and that my family has no reported history of diseases or infections. Because of the fact that my family has none of these genetic dispositions that make me susceptible to infections, diseases, and illnesses, I hardly get sick; therefore, I hardly have doctor visits. I don't have a recorded physician or doctor, but I also hardly visit a doctor because I am rarely very ill, and when I do get sick, I simply find a doctor to go to. Healthcare is available but it is often expensive and not as easy for me to retrieve as it may be for others. One would look at the apartment complex I reside in and come to the conclusion that I could be unhealthy or have a common condition for people living in apartment complexes, like asthma, but I actually do not have that and I mostly eat home cooked Haitian food that my family prepares. It is also very common, and I myself am about to stereotype right now, for black people to keep their homes especially clean so my home is very clean, therefore the food we prepare is also very clean.

As my family is of Haitian descent, we are known to eat a lot of rice and beans and beans is been reported to be fairly good for the body. Once in a while, I will get the urge to exercise though I must say it is not something I follow routinely as in twice a week or three times a week; I just spontaneously decide to do it sometimes so I believe exercising, if nothing at all, is also helpful in maintaining good health.

The neighborhood I live in is very stereotypical and I think these stereotypes are what mainly contribute to these problems such as littering, fighting, and stealing. America has given me a social class and when you are not considered to be in the "middle class" or exceptionally "rich" (who is to say who is rich and who isn't? and what does it mean to be rich?) and you live in an apartment complex, there are automatic stereotypes thrown at you that sometimes force you to conform and I believe that is what greatly influence the young boys in my neighborhood to behave as they do. Sometimes when someone consistently repeat something in your head you start to believe it and eventually start behaving that way. I think as a community, it would be best if they didn't place such emphasis on gender roles, as the boy is to assume the role of masculinity and thus take to the extreme where they start causing trouble. It will also help if more parents took great care to offer their children more direction instead of allowing them to do so much as such a young age. It helps to have a parent, who will give you unconditional love, where it is not "I will only love you ifÐ'..." but rather, "I love you despiteÐ'...but you should try this instead." A parent-child relationship also contributes to social relationships as mine is healthy because my mother offers me that discipline and love.

If it were up to me, I would build a huge recreational place where the boys in my neighborhood can attend to keep them busy because when someone is bored, it is when they tend to develop dangerous plans and ideas, but if you are busy doing something, you will have little time. So many children in my neighborhood simply have too much freedom and I think as a child, a parent should place some restrictions on what time you should be allowed out and what time you should stay in. At the age of 20, I still have a time when I can leave the house and when I have to come back. I respect it greatly and I think such discipline and more parental guidance will greatly decrease the amount of fighting, false stigmatisms, and stealing that goes on in my neighborhood.

At a young age my mother allowed me to hold a job. This taught me the nature of hard work and responsibility but I also believe holding a job, and college definitely is the biggest stressors in my life and a bulk, if any at all, of my health issues. The amount of time and commitment needed to put into school work and holding a job as well often causes me much headache and sometimes, panic attacks because it can get unbearable. It even becomes even more aggravating at times when it seems my race and gender come into play because although blatant racism has much faded,