Why's It Important to Maintain Your Overall Health & Well-Being?
Through my service activity, I first handedly have tried to educate and disseminate self-health and overall well-being. The first and most important topic percolating these days throughout the world, is the importance and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine. Due to social media and other news platforms, many myths about the vaccine are being spread in communities throughout the nation. This semester, I was given the opportunity to work with the Unity in Action Magazine to dispel some of the myths about the COVID-19 vaccine. I, along with three of my peers, created pamphlets, wrote articles, and contacted individuals within the Urbana-Champaign area to set up vaccination appointments for eligible community members. Moreover, we contacted professionals, such as, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty, researchers, physicians etc., within our community to get their views of the vaccine. With these interviews, we hoped to inform the general public on the positive effects these professionals have begun to see from people who’ve already received vaccinations. Using the Unity in Action Magazine’s media platform, we were successfully able to collect data from these various credible sources to provide and spread objective information regarding the vaccine within our local community.
In specific, I helped formulate an article containing four common myths concerning the vaccine, and dissipated these myths based on data from both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The 4 myths we worked to debunk were as follows:
1. The vaccine process was rushed and was not researched enough.
2. The vaccine gives you the virus.
3. The mRNA vaccine changes your DNA.
4. The vaccine causes infertility and/or autism.
Misinformation travels much faster and further than fact-based evidence, which raises a concern as more and more people have become hesitant to get vaccinated. Oftentimes, those people who live in lower socioeconomic classes are not able to access the resources needed to obtain and fully understand the correct information. A further reason as to why the service activity focused on using language and terminology that can be understood by all.
As a prospective doctor it is very important to me to dispel the propaganda around vaccinations in order to promote overall health and well-being. People need to be educated properly, and consciously, in order for the message to be received. Aside from the medical aspect of this pandemic there’s is high degree of underlying social and racial issues. Surprisingly the effect that COVID-19 has had on the citizens of the United States, can be largely attributed to racism. Not only because it causes not only emotional stress but is also seen to alter the genome of those who are discriminated against. These modifications occurring in the genome, can then in turn affect immune function and response. In specific, discrimination has led to an increased prevalence of stress-related diseases in people of color. Studies show that social environment and social stresses, such as racism, have a large effect on the gene expression of white blood cells in an individual, which is referred to as conserved transcriptional response to adversity (CTRA). CTRA is “an increased expression of pro-inflammatory genes” and occurs simultaneously as “decreased expression of genes engaged in antiviral responses and antibody synthesis.” By addressing both the ramifications of racial injustice and acknowledging and educating the vaccines efficacy to every sub-sect of the social spectra, we can work toward a holistic approach to self-health from macroscopic (healthcare services) to microscopic (each individual).
The life of mankind has been drastically transformed within the last fifteen months. During these unprecedented times, many have felt angry, confused, sad, scared, and various other emotions. When the pandemic first began to catch speed, there was a worldwide lockdown that initiated a massive cascade of events. Many businesses went bankrupt, students were forced learn virtually, professors had to change their class structures to better incorporate remote teaching, the number of unemployed has gone up, some people have had to face a decrease in income or basic means of survival, others have lost their homes, and even loved ones. The prevalence of depression, stress, and anxiety has exponentially grown, when compared to pre-COVID. As the pandemic has continued to progress, the mental and emotional health of many individuals has also continued to worsen. Moreover, many people who have been infected by the virus faced, or are still facing, short- and long-term consequences. People have been hospitalized months after contracting COVID, with problems such as – pneumonia, Guillain-Barré syndrome, and asthma to name a few. Due to stay-at-home orders and quarantine, many people have not been able to get sufficient daily exercise or activity. Exercise is important for your physical and emotional health. Vaccines are another way we can care for our physical health, in today’s day and time. While getting vaccinated does not mean you are safe from getting or transmitting the virus, it does mean you won’t get the symptoms of the infection. Using a pamphlet, with images, I hope to catch people’s attention to inform them of ways they can practice self-care for their mental, physical, and emotional health.
Many people should already know the ways to maintain good health and overall well-being. However, it’s gotten more difficult to follow through with the activities for our self-care, which is why I decided to incorporate all aspects of health into the public message. It’s important to take of our health whenever we’re going through worldwide crisis because the only way to get through this, is by supporting each other and working together. With this presentation, I hope to just remind people of a few ways they can take care of themselves from the comfort of their own home. By having these little reminders, we are more likely to perform the activity, thus also improving our overall health. While I don’t believe there are necessarily counterarguments to the mental and emotional aspect of the public message, there could be some against the aspect of physical health. Some people may not agree that getting the COVID-19 vaccine is the best way to protect one from the coronavirus sickness. As mentioned in the most recent op-ed, I believe those people are the individuals who may cause problems in the future, in terms of COVID cases. Hopefully, one day people will recognize the importance of vaccines. Though, until then, the most important thing we can each individually do is to practice self-care and well-being by focusing on our mental, physical, and emotional health.
