Health and Wellbeing

STUDY HEALTH AND WELLBEING ONLINE

The importance of our health and wellbeing is growing year on year as more and more people become aware of their own, and others, situations. This leaves the industry that has been developed, opening up to reveal many different opportunities across a wide range of fields. 

If you are working in, or seeking employment, as a:

• Fitness coach
• Sports instructor
• Wellness coach
• Holistic practitioner
• Teaching assistant or class teacher
• Support worker 
• Counsellor 

Of course, if you're also looking to understand health and wellbeing for a personal goal, then this is also appropriate for you!

Lesson Structure

There are 8 lessons in this course:

1. Industry Overview
   • Scope of the health and fitness industries
   • Defining fitness
   • Resources and networking
   • Aerobic fitness
2. Modern Lifestyle Problems
   • Health risks and physical activity
   • Hazardous substances
   • Cancer
   • Food allergies
   • Health care strategy for an aging population
   • Wellbeing of special demographic groups: pregnant women, children, obese people, people with disabilities etc
3. Human Nutrition
   • Overview
   • Nutrition basics
   • Carbohydrates, proteins, fats
   • Dietary fibre, vitamins, minerals
   • Balanced dieting
   • The food pyramid
   • Principles of weight loss
   • Dietary protein intake and physical activity
   • Food combining
4. Healthy Eating
   • Nutrition and diet problems
   • Anorexia
   • Obesity
   • Nutritive value with cooking and processing
   • Meat
   • Fish
   • Milk
   • Plant foods
   • Processing food
   • Canning and pasteurisation
   • Freezing, drying, etc
5. Stress Management
   • Body changes caused by stress
   • Muscle response
   • Gastrointestinal response
   • Cardiovascular response
   • Stress management program
   • Easy living
   • Stress cures
   • Drugs and alcohol
   • Relaxation
6. Preventative Health
   • Responsibility for your own health
   • Self esteem
   • Managing your own career
   • Decision making
   • Emotional security
   • Problem solving
   • Personal style inventory
   • Motivations and barriers for exercise
7. Alternative Medicine
   • Overview
   • Herbal medicines
   • Aromatherapy
   • Complimentary therapies
   • Acupressure
   • Pain points; trigger points
   • Acupuncture
   • Homeopathy
   • Osteopathy
   • Chiropractic
   • Physiotherapy
   • Counselling and psychological therapies
   • Relaxation therapies
   • Other therapies
8. Basic First Aid
   • Overview
   • Soft tissue injuries
   • Wounds
   • Shock and fainting
   • Fractures
   • Strains, sprains and dislocations
   • Heat and cold
   • Resuscitation
   • Drowning
   • Eye injuries
   • Spinal injuries
   • Health promotion at work

What You Will Do

• Create a resource file of health and fitness related businesses, contacts, services etc.
• Interview people to learn how they rate their health and fitness and what they do to improve/maintain them.
• Identify ways to overcome a health/fitness problem in your own life.
• Identify different food allergies and ways to deal with them.
• Identify eating and nutritional disorders and describe possible treatments.
• Explain how age, level of activity, gender and other factors affect their dietary needs.
• Explain the principle of food combining.
• List the effects of alcohol abuse.
• Explain how high self esteem is achieved, and consider positive and negative effects.
• Identify services in your area that offer natural therapies and what they entail.
• Find out what first aid courses are available in your region, and what is entailed.
• List items that should be kept in a basic first aid kit.

Start with Diet

Achieving good health and well being will require you to attend to all aspects of your life.

When we consider the effects of nutrition on health we could consider those that occur in the short term (0-3 months) those occurring in the medium term (3-6 months) and those that are long lasting (6 months plus) . In the short term a poor (unbalanced diet) can cause us to lack energy/ feeling lethargic or to gain or lose weight. For example snacking on foods and drinks high in simple sugars can cause blood sugar levels to fluctuate across the day. Higher blood sugars raises the level of insulin in the blood promoting the storage of fat which leads to weight gain, higher blood sugars can also cause irritability, aggression and restlessness. While consequent dips in blood sugar are associated with fatigue, irritability, depression, problems concentrating and headaches. Diets containing insufficient amounts of nutrients also cause fatigue and a lack of energy while an unbalanced diet can also lead to short term digestive disorders such as constipation.  Short term dietary effects can be avoided by limiting intakes of sugars and eating regular meals and including starchy carbohydrates at each meal such as bread, cereals , pasta and potatoes. Constipation may be avoided through ensuring adequate intakes of food high in fibre and avoiding dehydration.

Medium effects of a poor diet include effects on the immune system, more severe weight loss/weight gain and malnutrition. A poor diet can weaken the immune system by failing to supply the nutrients required for the immune system to function properly such as vitamin C, zinc, vitamin B6 and antioxidants. Signs of malnutrition include muscle wasting, tooth decay, hair loss and brittle nails. A nutritionist will typically look for these signs and symptoms to diagnose a nutritional deficiency. On the basis of this assessment nutritional supplements or specific foods may be advised e.g. Vitamin A supplementation or the inclusion of green leafy vegetables, tomatoes and fish liver oils to maintain the skin, bones, teeth and hair and Vitamin C supplements or food sources such as fruit and vegetables to promote healthy teeth and gums.

Long term effects of a poor diet include obesity, heart failure, anorexia, osteoporosis and diverticular disease. Weight gain and diets high in saturated fats such as butter and processed foods can cause atherosclerosis (blocked arteries) increasing the likelihood of cardiovascular disease. While longer term effects of obesity can also cause of the development of diseases such as Type 2 Diabetes. Long term constipation also increases the risk of digestive disorders such as diverticular disease.

WHY STUDY WITH ACS?

There are lots of reasons why you should sign up to do this course with us, including:

• The information is comprehensive and will give you excellent depth to your knowledge to help you support others with their health and wellbeing
• Within each lesson you have the opportunity to apply your learning to activities in order to extend your knowledge and research specific areas of interest, enhancing your understanding
• Knowledge of the areas studied in this course will enable you to stand out from others and give you greater confidence
• Understanding about the areas covered in the course can take you in to many different job roles, giving you flexibility now and in the future with the opportunities you seek
• Our subject specialist tutors will be there to support you throughout your course, they are only too happy to share their industry knowledge and experience with you
• When studying with us you set your own deadlines, meaning you study at your own pace enabling it to fit around other commitments

TAKE THE NEXT STEP AND ENROL NOW!

You can enrol on the course now, but if you have any questions about the content of the course or studying with ACS, then please get in touch with us today - use our FREE COURSE COUNSELLING SERVICE to get in touch with our expert tutors. They will be pleased to help you!