Physical Comparison: Young Adulthood Essay, Research Paper

PHYSICAL COMPARISON

This section of the report is a comparison of the physical development in young adults, ages 20 to 40, with the observations and the interview we conducted in our group of a young adult in her twenties.

Physical development is when changes in the brain, sensory capacities, and motor skills take place. The changes that take place in young adults may be more gradual and less dramatic than in childhood. Most people during this time are on their own and, getting through school or staring a new career. They are getting married, having kids, and running households. To look at the physical development of a person we must look at their diet, how much exercise they get, wether they smoke or drink alcoholic beverages (how much), their socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and gender (which include the factor within the genders, i.e. menstruation for women.)

Most young adults are at the peak of their strength, endurance, and energy. Most body functions are completely developed by their mid twenties and their senses are very sharp. There is however a gradual hearing loss which becomes apparent after 25. During this time most people have reached their full height but their weight can still fluctuate and is determined on their diet ,exercise, and other factors.

More than 93 percent of Americans ages 15 to 44 consider their health good, very good, or excellent (Papalia &Wendkos Olds 400). Our subject Jamie told us in the interview that she considers herself to be in good health, but just needs to lose some weight.

There are several behaviors that are directly linked to health and fitness as listed above . They are: diet, exercise, tobacco, and alcohol use. There are also indirect influences which are the socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and gender of a person.

What people eat affects how they feel about themselves, how they look, and how they act. It is important that they eat a healthy diet to get good nutrition. A healthy diet contains the right amount, or balance, of specific nutrients. There are six types of nutrients they are carbohydrates, fats, proteins, Vitamins, minerals, and water. To ensure a healthy diet they should eat the suggested number of servings from the food pyramid recommended by the RDA. In the interview the subject said that she tries to eat well in order to stay healthy, and in observation number three the observer had the opportunity to view our subject eating a meal, one of the most important meals of the day, breakfast. She was eating four half slices of french toast with syrup on them, coffee, two pieces of ham on the side, and a glass of water. This is a fairly decent meal although it is missing some of the food groups. In observation numbers three and five the subject had sugar such as the syrup on the french toast and the super sour ball from the candy machine which occurred in observation number three and in observation number five she had a slurpee. Too much sugar is bad can promote tooth decay and has no important nutrients in it.

In young adulthood it is a very important that they watch their cholesterol intake and they should be tested for cholesterol every five years. More than one out of every two American men 35 and older, and women 45 and older have bad cholesterol.

Bad Cholesterol can cause heart disease. If their is a family history of early heart disease, smoking, and high blood pressure then they should be tested every two years (Papalia & Wendkos Olds, 403). In the interview the subject said that there was high blood pressure in her family history. So she should get her cholesterol tested probably every two years just to be on the safe side.

Another big issue is obesity. Being overweight can lead to emotional problems, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, gallstones, and certain cancers. About 7 in 10 Americans age 25 and older are overweight. Overweight becomes more common with age, when the metabolism slows down (Papalia & Wendkos Olds, 403) In the interview the subject mentions that she wants to lose some weight. She also says that she tries to eat well and controls her diet by not eating whatever she wants. It is also a very good idea to watch her weight so that she does not increase her risk for high blood pressure that she mentions in the interview is in her family history.

One of the next issues in the development of young adulthood is exercise. It is very important to have an active lifestyle. Physical activity helps maintain a desirable body weight, helps build muscle, it strengths the heart and lungs, and also lowers blood pressure. It protects against heart attacks, strokes, cancers, osteoporosis, and depression.

In the interview the subject was asked wether she exercised on a regular basis and she replied with “not often enough.” It is important to get at least 30 minutes of exercise 3 times a week. In observation number one it shows her at work and she is doing a lot of moving around and walking back and forth from one counter to another or one room to another, unlike having a stationary office job. It is also apparent that she does a lot of walking around besides with her job, it shows her in observation numbers three through five shopping wich she claims in the interview as one of her favorite fun things to do, so I assume that she goes shopping pretty often.

Next on the list of physical development is smoking. One out of four Americans age 18 and older smoke, the highest number are adults in their thirties. Smoking can lead to cancer of a, and bronchitis. Smoking also kills 400,000 Americans each year. A total of 300,000,000 die world wide from it. Our subject in the interview claims to not smoke, and there is no record of her smoking in any of the observations. Still second hand smoke is very deadly and she should be very careful to stay away from it. The death rate for second hand is 450,000 people a year (Papalia & Wendkos Olds, 405).