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The Importance of Managing Physical and Mental Health and Stress Levels

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The Importance of Managing Physical and Mental Health and Stress Levels
And How Might These Skills Relate to Academic and Personal Success
Billy J. Houston
GEN 200
01/11/2014
FRANCIS JONES

It is important to manage our physical and mental health and stress levels because physical health is directly related to mental health and both of which can be affected by high stress levels causing both physical and mental illnesses to develop. The physical health of a person can affect a person's mental abilities resulting in higher stress level. The bottom line is that stress can kill, as I have learned to be true in my own life experiences, as my father passed away from a massive heart attack at the age of 46 years old. How his physical life contributed to his development of stress related maladies is clear as my father was an alcoholic, a smoker, and also a diabetic who never took his conditions or his medications very seriously until it was too late and he was taken from us. He did manage to participate in several activities which reduced his stress somewhat such as fishing, bowling, and playing baseball with his children, but because he had the contributing factors already in place, due to hereditary traits for diabetes and heart disease it would have been much better for him if he did not drink or smoke. As a result of his early death none of his six children drink at all and only one of them smokes and is in the process of quitting. Another reason it is important to manage our physical and mental health and stress levels is in the area of education. Being overworked, highly stressed, and in poor mental health (depression), will lead to poor performance in an academic setting as a person will not be physically able to devote the attention and energy required to studying. And if you are unable to study effectively you will not do very well on your exams. A

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