Britton’s Burning Question

As the semester comes to an end, recurring topics have been surfacing in Human Growth and Development, one of which is that choices people make when they’re young affect their later years. Examples discussed in class include exercise (or lack of it), smoking, drinking, proper diet, stress management, and so forth.

To supplement and reinforce text information, I added some tidbits from a new book entitled 127 Things You Need to Know. Information included the importance of exercise (at least 30 minutes five times a week), the harmful effects of smoking, and the perils of a diet high in fat. Smoking is the number one cause of preventable premature death, and yet people continue to light up. Obesity has almost reached epidemic proportions in the United States, and yet old and young alike continue to drink sugar-loaded soft drinks and eat double cheeseburgers. AIDS is the #2 killer (after accidents) of young adults, but somehow young people aren’t heeding the message.

 Britton spoke up and asked a question that probably most of her classmates were thinking (paraphrase): “So how do we change? We know what’s good for us and what isn’t, but how can we get more motivated?”

I once read an article entitled “Change or Die” in which the author spoke of how scaring people into safe health practices didn’t seem to be that effective. He proposed that the message be changed to “Change and Live.” Saying, “If you stop smoking, you’ll add seven years to your life” could be more effective than, “If you don’t stop smoking, you’ll going to decrease your longevity and increase the odds of dying a slow painful death.”

What do you think? Would that work? Answer Britton’s question and tell us how to get young people to take heed to what the experts are saying