Week 6 Harris: Remember who you are...

Being a young adult, I can relate to a lot of things that were talked about in these chapters. Young adults are in their peak condition and should be able to do strenuous work and activities without limitations or worry about chronic illness (pg. 210). The way that this is possible is based on the lifestyle you choose to live. I surprise myself on how I function with working full time being a personal trainer and go to school after that. It’s a miracle what your body can do. Having a proper diet is so important, especially being at the age of a young adult. It will help prevent the risk of heart disease or cancer, that are the two most prevalent diseases seen in America (pg. 210). Middle adults have more concerns about health and should get tested for preventative reasons (pg. 232). Physical fitness is obviously very important, and needs to go hand in hand with proper nutrition. Studies show that for women, by increasing physical activity by only two and a half hours per week can add months to their lives (pg. 211). Moderate exercise, such as walking, can help reduce the risk of stroke, osteoporosis, cancer and diabetes. Being a personal trainer, it blows my mind how many people I know who don’t see the benefits of exercise. I see so many people younger than me who are obese and have over 50% body fat. There are so many easy tasks people can do to get away from these risks, but some people don’t understand how easy it really can be. Middle adults also have to worry about their physical appearance, such as skin tone, hair, fingernails and teeth (pg. 232). Being healthy can affect the outside appearance as well.

 Alcohol and tobacco use is very prevalent for young adults. On a personal level, I’d say 90% of my friends smoke. Smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in America (pg. 212). Smoking can lead to cancer, lung disease, and heart disease, but people still justify a reason to pay for that. Binge drinking is commonly seen in middle aged adults as well. From stress from work and life, we need to find better outlets to deal with them. Honestly, being healthy is easy, you just have to want to do it.

            Cognitive development as a young adult in important as well. We have life experiences, find our interests, and have the urge to want to research more (pg. 214). Piaget says young adults generally possess more knowledge than adolescents, especially in areas of interest. Middle adults have more life experiences and acquire more knowledge and are able to transfer that into novel situations (pg. 241). Experience can be helpful to solve more problems readily. Daniel Levinson explains how individuation plays an important role in young adults. We develop a separate and special personality derived less and less form our parents and more from our own behavior (pg. 218). I can see that so much now and it shocks me how much me and my mom are not alike and have completely different interests and outlooks on certain things. I think It’s very interesting how we all get our own personality, and really become our special individual.

With the personality we find, we use that to build friendships. Friends are important because they provide a source of support and we actually get to pick who we want to be around (pg. 220). Good friendships tend to be formed in adult ages, but may trickle away as we get into middle adulthood. Friendships become fewer, but more precious and we have less intereaction with them and more with our spouse and siblings (pg. 246). It is sad to see this, but we get caught up in our own lives and families. I hope to always keep my friends I have now, and make it part of my life to not let distance come between us.