Chapter 1

Lecture Notes

This table again illustrates how important behaviors are to our own health. So here you're seeing the risk factors for death among people in high-income countries, of which the United States is one, and you see the top five risk factors: tobacco use, high blood pressure, overweight and obesity, physical inactivity, high blood glucose, in that order, 1 through 5, top highest risk factors for death in high-income countries. What do you notice from this list? If you are thinking to yourself "These are all either behaviors or related to behaviors," you're right. So tobacco use is a choice whether we use tobacco or not. High blood pressure; again, this is not a direct link, but high blood pressure is linked to behaviors. Overweight and obesity, again indirectly related to behaviors. Physical inactivity, that's a behavioral choice. High blood glucose, again indirectly related to physical activity and other behaviors that we can make choices about to make a difference in our risk factor for death.