Body

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Assembly – A Healthy Body

A healthy body – wow, seems like a huge subject for an assembly. As humans, we come in all different shapes and sizes – so what does it mean to have a healthy body? Do we even need to worry about this?

Have you ever thought about this scary fact: in the Western world, people are trying to lose weight; in much of the world people are trying to gain weight. Why? Because they are hungry. Around 1/3 of the world is hungry, another 1/3 is starving. Did you know that there is enough food in the world to feed the whole world, even with the increase in population each year..?

What do Christians believe?

Christians believe 2 things. Firstly, that as humans, we are made in the image of God. God tells us to look after our bodies – this means, think about what we do, eat and act. It also means we need to look out for others. Secondly, Christians believe God provides for the earth. There is a Bible story about Noah and a flood. After the flood, God promised Noah, “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” And these things never have ceased. But, here in the Western world, we’ve got greedy and uncaring. So many people starve around the world. Because of this, many people do things to help others, wanting to fight injustice.

YouTube Video

A brilliant YouTube video to show is ‘Slob Evolution’, which is a parody of the ‘Dove Evolution’ clip – which may also be worth showing!

Slob Evolution Direct Link – https://youtu.be/lV8JardV74w

What things cause us to have an unhealthy body?

Smoking – is the number one cause for heart disease, cancer, and causes premature bone loss. Heart disease and cancer are the 2 main causes of death in the UK and US. Smoking kills more than 114,000 people in the UK each year – and kills 5 million around the world. Did you know that smokers also have lower Vitamin C and Vitamin E in their bodies than people who smoke?

Alcohol – causes cancer of the liver plus contributes to premature memory loss, as well as the other side-effects we all know about. In 2007, there were 8,724 deaths due to alcohol in the UK. IN 2003, alcohol cost the health service £1.5 billion and we lost around 15 million working days. The cost to the economy of alcohol related deaths is estimated to be around £2.3 billion. In 2000, 5789 people died due to alcohol related incidents, and a further 16,169 died due to indirect alcohol causes. The cost of alcohol related crime in 2003 was estimated to be at least £1.5 billion. The overall cost of alcohol misuse is around £19 billion each year.

Overeating – people overeat because of things like lack of knowledge, lack of exercise, lack of spiritual and emotional fulfillment, having food on their mind too much, eliminating entire food groups and not eating a balanced diet, and unwillingness to deny themselves comfort. If we eat too much, eat out of balance and don’t exercise, we will gain weight. If we don’t stop eating by 2010, one third of Britons will be clinically obese and their risk of diabetes will increase more than 10 fold. Already in the last 20 years obesity in adults has trebled.

Lack of exercise – there are lots of factors here – some parent’s fear letting their children out saying it’s unsafe. Yet facts show that things like abductions on children have not increased at all in decades. Therefore, some young people stay in. Others have to stay in due to very real crime going on in their neighbourhoods. Often it’s because we have new distractions – TV, cable TV, DVDs, Playstation, XBox, Wii, computers (and things like Facebook, Bebo and MSN), the internet etc. People are reluctant to get out and do sport, get outdoors because they can’t be bothered or are tired, or lazy even! You can’t have a healthy body or a healthy mind without exercise.

Thanks to this site (http://www.christcenteredmall.com/teachings/health/health1.htm) for the ideas for / some of the information above

Sexual health – yep, sorry to spoil your fun but this is a major cause of problems too. Apart from the potential of being a parent before you’re ready, there are a number of other conditions.

Facts below taken from gov.uk – (site checked January 2019).

In 2017, there were approximately 422,000 diagnoses of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) made in England, around the same number that was reported in 2016.

There were 7,137 diagnoses of syphilis reported in 2017, a 20% increase (from 5,955) relative to the year prior and a 148% increase relative to 2008.

There were 44,676 diagnoses of gonorrhoea reported in 2017, a 22% increase (from 36,577) relative to the year prior.

There were 441 diagnoses of first episode genital warts in 15 to 17 year old girls in 2017, a 90% decrease relative to 2009 and an early expression of the success of the national HPV immunisation programme.

Over 1.3 million chlamydia tests were carried out and over 126,000 chlamydia diagnoses were made among young people aged 15 to 24 years. There was an 8% decline in the number of chlamydia tests in 2017 compared to 2016.

The impact of STIs remains greatest in young heterosexuals 15 to 24 years; black ethnic minorities; and gay, bisexual and other MSM.

According to research by Guy Brandon (Jubilee Centre) in 2012, the cost to the NHS of STIs is more than £1 billion per year. The cost of sexual freedom and relationship breakdown is estimated to cost the taxpayer and the total economy around £100 billion per year – about twice the cost of alcohol abuse, smoking and obesity combined (article from cmfblog.org.uk, accessed January 2019).

In 2016, government figures showed that 21.7% of all conceptions led to a legal abortion.

Powerpoint

The TES has an STI powerpoint download. You need to register first – it’s free. The link to the STI Powerpoint is here – (last checked January 2019). The Powerpoint itself was last updated in 2012 but is still available to download

Be aware that this is not a ‘Christian’ Powerpoint – it does have a couple of grim images in. Please click through the Powerpoint before you use it in an assembly. Of course, you can open it up and edit it to your liking before using!!

The Consequences and some solutions

It has even been suggested that the life expectancy of adults today will be higher than for young people due to their overall lifestyles.

You see, the world has lied to you. It tells you that you have to get the latest gadget will make you happy. It tells you that you need certain brands of clothes to be happy. The lie is that you’ll be happy if you have sex or sleep around. The lie is that by drinking more you’ll be happy. The lie is that by looking out for yourself and being selfish, you’ll be happy.

Christians believe that God isn’t out to spoil your fun, although you may think it. Jesus actually said he came to give life, and give you a life that overflows and is amazing. It’s just that God says he knows what’s best for us and gives us boundaries that allow us to live a full and free life. Outside of those boundaries, God says we will end up hurting ourselves and others. Many Christians live a life that is selfless – putting others first. I could tell you all about friends working with AIDS orphans, people working in Africa, people working as Street Pastors to help out clubbers at night, other people running youth clubs and projects for young people in places where the young people have nothing. Jesus actually said this is the way to live, the way to be happy, the way to be truly free.