Effects of age, gender, and income on health support

¶ … Health

Factors Influencing Support of Health

Gender

Age

Income

Today, health support system has become a significant aspect in our society. With the growth and advancement in technology, nations have evolved their heath support system and it has become a significant aspect of the life of every individual. The welfares of a perfect health care system are plentiful. Numerous aspects can affect the health of individuals like the area where one resides, the condition of the government, income of the person and the level of education that one has acquired, genetics, the condition of the surrounding environment, while the more normally measured effects such as access and use of health care services often have less of an influence. Apart from all these measures age, gender and incomes has the deepest impact on health care. The research paper is based upon the three independent variables that are age, health and income. The effect of these three variables will be studied in detail on the health support system. Direct and indirect link between independent variables and health support system will be examined and measures to avoid negative influences of these independent variables will be listed.Thus, all the three variables directly or indirectly affect the health support system in a significant manner. Another important feature that needs to be thoroughly examined is the relationship between the three independent variables and its combined effect on the health support system.

Factors Affecting Support of Health

High quality health care services combine and coordinated with a strong public health system is of immense importance to enjoy ideal health as individuals as well as groups. The benefits of an ideal health care system are numerous. The health sector usually consists of a system of clinicians, hospitals and other health care services, insurance plans, and consumers of health care facilities, all functioning in numerous formations of groups, systems, and free practices. Some are grounded in the public sector; others operate in the private sector either for-profit or not-for-profit. Multiple reasons amalgamate and result in impacts on health of individuals and communities on the whole. The health of people is determined by multiple factors and circumstance and environment does have a huge impact on the environment. Several factors can influence the health of individuals like the area where one resides, the condition of the government, income of the person and the level of education that one has acquired, genetics, the condition of the surrounding environment, while the more ordinarilymeasuredinfluences such as access and use of health care services often have less of an influence.

Apart from all these measures age, gender and incomes has the deepest impact on health care. The major determinants of the health include the social and economic environment surrounding an individual, the physical environment and the individual characteristics and behaviors of an individual. It is a well acknowledged fact that the scenarios of an individual's life have a deep impact on their health so one cannot be blamed for having poor health. In fact it would be completely inappropriate to credit someone with the responsibility of bad health. Individuals are unlikely to be able to directly control many of the determinants of health. These factors or things that make people healthy or not include the above factors, and many others: first of all income and social status are directly linked to health. Higher income and higher social status somehow influence the health positively; on the contrary, lower income and lower social status will have a negative impact on health. The greater the gap between the affluent and the poor, the greater is the difference in health.

Similarly, education is also linked with the quality of the health of any individual. Low education levels are linked with poor health, increased stress and lesser self-confidence. Physical environment is another essential feature that adds a significant impact on the health care service. It is well acknowledged fact that safe water, clean air, healthy workplaces, safe houses, communities and roads all contribute to good health. Likewise, genetics play a significance role in determining the lifespan, healthiness and the probability of developing a certain disease. Last but not the least; gender is another fact that impacts the support of health. Men and women are probable to have different types of diseases at different ages. In this research paper, the basic factors that will be studies and discussed in detail are the impacts of age, gender and income on the support of health care system. The role played by all three factors will be discusses in detail. All the direct and indirect factors influencing the health support system because of age, gender and income will be thoroughly studied.

Literature Review

Gender

Gender preciselydenotes the features in the surroundings that regulate what it means in culture to be either male or female. To streamline it even more, sex is the organic group into which we are born and gender includes what it means within society to be labeled as either male or female and the corresponding roles that go along with the labels (Athenstaedt, 2002). This gender plays a major role in leading towards the differences in all parts of the society whether it is job, policies or health care. There are certain societal factors that discriminates the role and importance of men and women in different fields and aspects of life but it is a fact that biological dissimilarities also result in certain differences in many aspects of life. Health care is an example of this case. Women and men do not seem to suffer from the same types of diseases and do not react in the same manner to them. One of the most basic statistics that exemplifies this is the average life expectancy. In the United States, the average life expectancy for a male born in 2000 was 74.1 years. The average life expectancy for females at birth at was 79.5. This shows that women generally live 5.4 years longer than men (Annandale & Hunt, 2000). On the contrary, when illness or diseases are studied, the fact brought to light is that women usually report higher levels of illness as compared to men. This indicates that women tend to live longer but not essentially in better health. Many real life factors can be pointed out that would clearly indicate the impact of gender on the health support system. Firstly, if a male and female consume same amount of alcohol, the woman's blood alcohol content is always higher than that of men. This means that alcohol can leave more negative impact on woman's health as compared to a man's health. Same is the case with smoking, women and men who smoke the same number of cigarettes; women are 20 to 70% more likely to develop lung cancer than men. Women are more probable to have a second heart attack within one year of their first heart attack. In spite of the fact that women have tougher immune systems to defend them from disease, women are more liable to autoimmune diseases. In case of intercourse with an infected person without any precautions, women are twice as likely as men to get a sexually transmitted disease. Depression in women is two- to three-times more common than in men. This figure is true due to the fact that woman's brains produce less of the hormone serotonin. All these factors clearly indicate the fact that gender has a huge impact on health support system.

Age

Aging tends to have a deep impact on health support system. It does not only develop wrinkles and grey hair but also effects teeth, heart and sexuality (Manuck, Jennings, Rabin, & Baum, 2000). With growing age, heart rate becomes somewhat slower and the heart might become bigger. The blood vessels and arteries also become stiffer, causing your heart to work harder to pump blood through them. This can lead to high blood pressure (hypertension) and other cardiovascular problems. Some measures can be adopted to reduce the effects of age like including physical activity in daily routine, eating a healthy diet, managing stress and by avoiding smoking and use of alcohol. Even bones, joints and muscles become weaker with age. They shrink in size and density which in turn makes them weak and they become more viable to fracture. Muscles usually lose strength and flexibility, and one might become less coordinated or have trouble balancing. In order to reduce these problems few necessary measures can be adopted like increasing the intake of calcium, getting adequate amount of vitamin D, including physical activity as a part of daily routine and avoiding smoking and excess use of alcohol. Another adverse impact of aging on the health of every individual is the weakening of the digestive system. In adults, problems related to digestion and constipation increase mainly due to low intake of fiber, less drinking of fluids and lack of exercise. Thus, eating a healthy diet and including physical exertion as a part of your routine will reduce the problem. Even memory tends to get affected with growing age. It is a well acknowledged truth that memory related diseases like Alzheimer's are common in older people rather than younger ones. Memory tends to becomes less competent with age. It might take longer to learn new things or remember familiar words or names. Many measures can be adopted to reduce the increasing adverse effects of memory like eating a healthy diet, including physical exercise as a part of daily routine and by being social. Despite of adopting these measures to reduce the effects of growing age on health, these problems cannot be eradicated completely. Young people are more energetic and are less viable to diseases because of the strength of their immune system. They have a stronger defense system against diseases because of the age. There is a strong relationship between age and support of health. Aging is inevitable. It is tend to occur but applying few important measures cannot eradicate but can reduce the problems of aging. Young people are healthy as compared to the older one but age one way or the other, affects the health support system.

Income

Income and social status are directly linked to health. Higher income and higher social status somehow influence the health positively; on the contrary, lower income and lower social status will have a negative impact on health. The greater the gap between the affluent and the poor, the greater is the difference in health.Income does have an impact on health and there are multiple reasons that can be pointed out for this impact. Poor people usually have a huge impact on the health support system but not because they have insufficient money but there are other reasons, a society considered by a high degree of income inequality could have poor average health for reasons other than the distribution of income (Raphael, Labonte, Colman, Hayward, & al., 2006). Or countries that spend more money on surgeons may have better health because they are democratic, not because of the surgery. Lack of health care facilities is one of the core reasons that create a link between income and health support system. For instance, consider the case of infant mortality. Infant mortality customarily has been viewedas the measure of health, more strictly ill health that is utmost sensitiveto poverty. Thus, income widens the gap between communities. Higher income and higher social status somehow influence the health positively.It is well evident and well established reality that higher income in directly related with better health support system. Within a country, people with higher income tend to be physically healthier. The basic reasons that can be listed for this direct relation are that higher income means more inputs from the market can be used to improve the health support system. For instance, with increased income in a country, many improved health care systems can be established like health care centers, gyms etc. They will benefit the individuals who are a part of that environment. Higher income also increases the affordability of the individuals and they will tend to buy better housing, food and other health related facilities. As a result of which, health support system will improve positively. Health is a type of human capital. Healthier people are expected to be more productive and prolific and this is also true that healthier people tend to earn well and progress academically as well as professionally. Thus health support has an influence on the income as well. The better the health condition of an individual is, the more he will be positive and dynamic towards his profession (Norton, 1946).

Hypotheses

The first hypothesis of this study is that gender has a huge impact on the health support system. According to the research made, men and women somehow affect health support system differently. The research has brought this fact to light that although the life span of women is 5.4 years longer but they are more viable to diseases as compared to men. This indicates that women tend to live longer but not essentially in better health.

The second hypothesis of this study is that aging tends to have a deep impact on health support system. The research has deciphered the fact that young people are more energetic with a better immune and defense system whereas older people have a weak immune system, their heart rate becomes somewhat slower and the heart might become bigger. Even bones, joints and muscles become weaker with age. Muscles usually lose strength and flexibility, and one might become less coordinated or have trouble balancing. Even memory tends to get affected with growing age. It is a well acknowledged truth that memory related diseases like Alzheimer's are common in older people rather than younger ones. Thus, aging has a direct relationship with increased effects on health support system.

The third hypothesis of this study is that income has an impact on health support system. Higher income and higher social status somehow influence the health positively; on the contrary, lower income and lower social status will have a negative impact on health. The greater the gap between the affluent and the poor, the greater is the difference in health. Income does have an impact on health and there are multiple reasons that can be pointed out for this impact. Thus health support has an influence on the income as well. The better the health condition of an individual is, the more he will be positive and dynamic towards his profession (Norton, 1946). The impact income on the life of individuals as well as on the country and its economy are also determined. An economically stable country with a good enough budget tends to invest more on the health care facilities as a result of which, the health of every individual is positively improved.