Building Health Skills

In this lesson, you will Learn About…

What skills help you stay healthy.

How you can promote your health and the

health of others.

Building Health Skills

The Vocabulary term in this lesson is:

Prevention

Skills for Good Health

One of the keys to wellness is the prevention of illness and injury. Prevention is keeping something from happening.

Here are ten important health skills that help you become and stay healthy.

The Health Skills

Practicing Healthful Behaviors

Accessing Information

Stress Management

Analyzing Influences

Communication Skills

Refusal Skills

Decision Making

Conflict Resolution

Goal Setting

Advocacy

These ten health skills affect your health triangle.

Health Skill #1 - Accessing Information

Having the right information helps you make informed decisions.

Sources for accessing reliable health information include:

Knowledgeable adults Library resources Mass media The Internet Community resources

Health Skills #2 and #3 – Taking Care of Yourself

Taking care of yourself, or self-management, includes:

Maintaining good health by practicing healthful behaviors

Learning to cope with stress in healthy ways

Health Skill #4 - Analyzing Influences

Both internal and external factors influence your behavior.

Internal factors come from inside you, like personal likes and desires.

External factors come from outside sources, such as family, friends, television, books, and so on. External sources also include your culture, environment, and community.

Health Skill #5 - Communicating with Others

Communication is the clear exchange of ideas and information. It includes telling others how you feel and listening to and understanding how they feel.

To communicate clearly:

Use clear, simple statements. State your thoughts and feelings honestly. Make eye contact, and use appropriate body

language.

Health Skill #6 – Refusal Skills

Refusal skills help you say no to negative peer pressure in an effective way.

Refusal skills are a method of practicing self-control, and a strategy for coping with unsafe situations.

Health Skill #7 – Conflict Resolution

It’s best to settle conflicts, or disagreements, in a way that satisfies everyone.

Conflict resolution requires talking matters over calmly and reasonably.

Health Skills #8 and #9 – Decision Making and Goal Setting

Decision making helps you choose one course of action from the available alternatives.

Goal setting helps you set goals for yourself and achieve them.

Health Skills #8 and #9 – Decision Making and Goal Setting (cont’d.)

Decision making and goal setting are related skills. They are step-by-step processes that require careful thought.

These skills are effective strategies for coping with life’s challenges.

Health Skill #10 - Advocacy

To advocate for something is to support it or speak out in favor of it.

You can practice advocacy by showing that you feel strongly about healthful behaviors and by encouraging others to practice them.

Health Skills and Wellness

Like any other skills, the ten health skills must be learned and then practiced regularly.

Using health skills will help you keep your health triangle in balance.

Reviewing Terms and Facts

1. __________ means keeping something from happening.Prevention

Reviewing Terms and Facts

2. Name two internal and external facors that influence your behavior.

Internal Influences

Personal likes Personal desires

External Influences

Family and friends Media (TV, magazines,

newspapers)

Thinking Critically

3. Your friends want you to help them sneak into a movie. They want you to buy the ticket and open the back door of the theater for them to come in. You know this is wrong and want to talk them out of it. Which skills should you practice?

Refusal skills

Vocabulary Review

Prevention is keeping something from happening.