Science Week Ireland: A change of perspective is needed regarding individual responsibility in assessing personal health in the Ireland if young people hope to combat the accompanying stresses and strains of achievement and progress, a lecturer from Dundalk Institute of Technology told a group of 250 secondary students in Co Louth yesterday.
Speaking as part of Science Week Ireland, Dr John McEvoy, a lecturer in psychology at the school of nursing, health studies and allied science, said his talk was intended to encourage young people to use their emotional intelligence and to look at how psychology can influence healthy behaviour.
"Psychology just isn't about the mind," Dr McEvoy said. "What we think affects our body and how we treat our body ultimately affects our mind too."
Dr McEvoy's lecture, Hunger, Thirst and Sexuality, examined how these three basic body needs can be rewarding and motivating, yet also have health risks attached to them.
Dr McEvoy, who has been a psychologist for more than 20 years, cautioned that trying to frighten people in terms of health education might bring short-term results but that it did not change long-term behaviours. "For young people, this all seems very far away," he said. "But they'll be gone from home soon and out in the world.
"With that freedom comes responsibility" and the need to make responsible decisions as young adults, that effect not only themselves but others around them.
A better-organised health-issues discussion on a broad spectrum, including the dangers of alcohol, rather than parcelling them together could help to combat the nearly 2.4 billion spent per year on alcohol-related issues, rapidly rising obesity and an increase in sexually transmitted diseases within Ireland.
Dr McEvoy encouraged the students to develop one-line text messages to send out health reminders by mobile phone to their friends and acquaintances, such as how not to overindulge in drinking or how to practise safe sex, in a bid to prompt awareness among youth.
He urged young people not to rely solely on the health boards and the public services available to them, but to internalise how to avoid health problems in the first place.
"Clearly, if someone gets an infection or a disease, they need to go to the doctor," Dr McEvoy said.
"But if that disease happens to be sexually transmitted, you have to take some responsibility for yourself."