This document outlines a unit on healthy living that explores factors influencing healthy and unhealthy lifestyles and their effects on well-being. It examines topics like diet, exercise, substance use, relationships and more. Students will learn about influences on lifestyle choices and ways to improve well-being through goal setting and accessing support. The unit is assessed through an external 60-minute exam covering topics from exploring lifestyle factors and their impacts to improving health.

1. UNIT 9: HEALTHY LIVING
BF034943 – Specification – Edexcel BTEC Level 1/Level 2 First Certificate and Extended Certificate
in Health and Social Care – Issue 2 – February 2013 © Pearson Education Limited 2013
119
Unit 9: Healthy Living
Level: 1 and 2
Unit type: Mandatory
Guided learning hours: 30
Assessment type: External
Unit introduction
This unit gives you the opportunity to explore how healthy and unhealthy lifestyle
choices impact on health and wellbeing.
Health and wellbeing are influenced by a range of biological and lifestyle factors.
Some of the choices people make can have a positive effect on their lives, both
in the short term and the long term Exercising, for example, may have a short-term
effect for a person of creating a ‘feel good’ factor, but also contribute to long-term
weight management and heart health.
However, health and wellbeing are also influenced by the negative choices people
make in their everyday lives. For example, if a person chooses to smoke heavily and
drink more units of alcohol than the recommended daily and weekly limits, this will
have both a short-term and long-term impact on their health and wellbeing.
In this unit, you will explore how a range of factors contribute to good health and
wellbeing, and other factors that can lead to poor health and wellbeing.
Many health and social care professionals help people to review and analyse their
current health and wellbeing. This type of analysis forms the basis from which health
improvement plans can be designed.
In this unit, you will develop your skills in analysing information and will explore
personal strategies that can be implemented to improve health and wellbeing. You
will also consider the barriers and limitations that may have an impact on the success
of measures taken to improve health and wellbeing.
Learning aims
In this unit you will:
A explore the factors that contribute to healthy and unhealthy lifestyles, and their
effects on health and wellbeing
B explore ways of improving health and wellbeing.

2. UNIT 9: HEALTHY LIVING
BF034943 – Specification – Edexcel BTEC Level 1/Level 2 First Certificate and Extended Certificate
in Health and Social Care – Issue 2 – February 2013 © Pearson Education Limited 2013
120
Learning aims and unit content
What needs to be learnt
Learning aim A: Explore the factors that contribute to healthy and unhealthy
lifestyles, and their effects on health and wellbeing
Topic A.1 Defining a healthy lifestyle
● World Health Organization (WHO) definition of health – a complete state of physical,
mental and social wellbeing, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity (for
the context of this unit, ‘health and wellbeing’):
o physical effects: reduced chance of illness, healthy body systems, healthy weight
maintenance, improved fitness, higher energy levels
o intellectual effects: improved concentration, clearer thinking, ability to learn
o emotional effects: greater levels of happiness, improved mood, improved self-
confidence, improved self-esteem, positive self-image, developing and maintaining
close intimate and sexual relationships, increased emotional resilience, improved
motivation levels, reduced stress, good mental health
o social effects: improved quality of social life, closer friendships, extended patterns
of social relationships.
Topic A.2 Defining effects of an unhealthy lifestyle
● Physical effects: disease and illness, weight gain/loss, body fat composition,
short-term health problems, long-term health problems.
● Intellectual effects: reduced potential success in education, negative impact on
long-term career prospects, inability to think clearly.
● Emotional effects: general feelings of unhappiness and worthlessness, low self-
esteem, negative self-image, feelings of stress and anxiety, difficulties in developing
and maintaining close, intimate and sexual relationships, psychological dependence.
● Social effects: loss of friends, increased pressure on existing friendship groups,
negative impact on family relationships, decreased levels of involvement in social
activities, social isolation, increased potential for accidents, injury or criminal record.
Topic A.3 Factors that contribute to healthy or unhealthy lifestyles and their
effects
For each factor, learners should be able to make the link to physical, intellectual,
emotional and social effects. Any specific coverage in addition to the effects above in
Topics A.1 and A.2 is given below.
● Diet and nutrition: balanced/unbalanced diet, food groups and common sources
(fats, carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, minerals, fibre and water), nutrient
balance/imbalance (vitamins and minerals), recommended daily intake:
o physical effects: maintenance of healthy weight, appropriate weight loss, higher
energy levels, common diet-related illnesses (including obesity, diabetes, coronary
heart disease), excessive weight loss.
● Exercise: frequency of exercise, types of exercise, appropriate levels of exercise for
life stage:
● physical effects: maintenance of healthy weight, weight loss, energy levels, impact
on flexibility, endurance, strength, stamina, likelihood of obesity, coronary heart
disease, respiratory conditions, effects on Body Mass Index (BMI) (calculating and
interpreting BMI, significance and limitations).
continued

3. UNIT 9: HEALTHY LIVING
BF034943 – Specification – Edexcel BTEC Level 1/Level 2 First Certificate and Extended Certificate
in Health and Social Care – Issue 2 – February 2013 © Pearson Education Limited 2013
121
What needs to be learnt
● Home environment: type of home accommodation, condition of home environment,
location, personal space, the influence of partners and family, level of conflict, access
to services:
o physical effects: chance of illness/disease/health problems relating to living
conditions, existing health conditions.
● Work environment: manual/non-manual work, job satisfaction/dissatisfaction, career
success/lack of success, mental stimulation, support from work colleagues and
employers, work/life balance, level of conflict:
o physical effects: impact of type of work on health, illness or injury, impact of
manual and sedentary jobs.
● Alcohol consumption: safe and unsafe drinking patterns (binge drinking, underage
drinking, recommended weekly consumption levels), alcoholism:
o physical effects: health risks associated with excessive alcohol consumption
(cancer, mental health issues, weight gain, liver disease), health benefits of small
quantities of alcohol in middle and later adulthood, impaired judgement leading to
accident/injury/unsafe sexual practice
o emotional and social effects: dependence, effect on mental health.
● Smoking: quantity smoked and pattern of smoking, cause of smoking:
o physical effects: health risks associated with smoking, (lung cancer, bronchitis,
coronary heart disease, emphysema)
o emotional and social effects: dependence.
● Recreational drug use: levels of consumption, age of consumption, unknown
composition of substances:
o physical effects: accidental death, illness and disease, impaired judgement leading
to accident/injury/unsafe sexual practice
o emotional and social effects: dependence, effects on mental health.
● Safe and unsafe sexual practices: use of contraception, number of sexual partners,
informing sexual partners of a pre-existing sexual infection or health status, use of
barrier methods, participation in sexual health screening:
o physical effects: contraction and spreading of sexually transmitted infections
(STIs) (chlamydia, gonorrhoea, HIV/AIDS, herpes), development of cervical
cancer, pregnancy
o emotional and social effects: developing and maintaining close intimate and sexual
relationships.
● Personal hygiene: bathing/showering (frequent and after exercise), hand washing,
frequency of changing of clothes:
o physical effects: contraction and spread of disease and illness, body odour
o emotional and social effects: loss of friends, social isolation, bullying,
unemployment.
● Sleep patterns: the importance of regular sleep, number of hours of sleep,
age-related factors, employment-related factors (shift work, stress):
o physical effects: fatigue, impact on energy levels, risk of accident.

4. UNIT 9: HEALTHY LIVING
BF034943 – Specification – Edexcel BTEC Level 1/Level 2 First Certificate and Extended Certificate
in Health and Social Care – Issue 2 – February 2013 © Pearson Education Limited 2013
122
What needs to be learnt
Topic A.4 Influences on adopting of healthy and unhealthy lifestyles
Learners need to be aware that there are factors that can be outside the control of
individuals and that there are a range of influences that can affect lifestyle choices.
Learners should know how each of the factors below may affect individual lifestyle
choices.
● partners and family
● culture and religion
● peer group pressure
● role models
● media influence
● self-esteem levels
● education and understanding
● personal and family finances
● genetic inheritance (including predisposition)
● mental health and illness.

5. UNIT 9: HEALTHY LIVING
BF034943 – Specification – Edexcel BTEC Level 1/Level 2 First Certificate and Extended Certificate
in Health and Social Care – Issue 2 – February 2013 © Pearson Education Limited 2013
123
What needs to be learnt
Learning aim B: Explore ways of improving health and wellbeing
Topic B:1 Ways to improve health and wellbeing
● Identify areas for potential improvement: diet, exercise, home/work environment,
alcohol consumption, smoking, recreational drug use, sexual practices and personal
hygiene.
● Improving health and wellbeing – implementation.
● Assess the difficulties that might be encountered in starting and keeping to a healthy
lifestyle:
o getting started: setting of realistic goals, seeking support, accessing professional
advice
o time commitment: setting regular time aside to exercise, balancing exercise and
home life commitments, balancing exercise and work commitments, managing
potential times when it is difficult to keep to the plan
o motivation: motivation to start, keeping to plans after initial interest falls, pushing
through difficult times when little progress appears to be happening.
● Setting realistic targets for improving health and wellbeing in different areas: diet,
exercise, weight, home/work environment, alcohol consumption, smoking,
recreational drug use, sexual practices and personal hygiene.
● Intervention strategies and their effect on health improvement: healthy lifestyle plan,
support strategies (hypnotherapy, acupuncture), techniques to stop smoking, reduce
alcohol consumption and recreational drug use (face-to-face support, nicotine
replacement therapy).
Topic B.2 Types and sources of support available to help promote healthy
lifestyles
Forms of support: listening, empathy, encouragement, advice and guidance:
● formal support: doctors, health specialists, counsellors, youth workers, teachers,
career advisers, human resources department, support groups
● informal support: family, friends, partners, work colleagues
● support in maintaining positive change: keeping to the plan, maintaining a positive
outlook.
Topic B.3 The barriers to achieving a healthy lifestyle
Limitations – financial limitations, access to resources and support, genetic factors,
time limitations, current physical condition, unrealistic goals:
● motivation to change
● influence of partners and family
● peer group pressure
● media influence
● self-esteem levels
● time available
● lack of education and understanding
● addiction
● financial barriers
● availability of negative lifestyle choices
● lack of access to support.

6. UNIT 9: HEALTHY LIVING
BF034943 – Specification – Edexcel BTEC Level 1/Level 2 First Certificate and Extended Certificate
in Health and Social Care – Issue 2 – February 2013 © Pearson Education Limited 2013
124
Teacher guidance
Resources
There are no special resources needed for this unit.
Assessment guidance
This unit is assessed through the completion of an externally set examination.
Examination format
The learner will complete a 60-minute examination with 50 marks. This unit is
externally assessed using a paper-based exam marked by Edexcel.
Learners will complete a paper-based test that contains a mixture of question styles,
including objective questions, short-answer questions and extended writing
questions.
The learner will need to demonstrate knowledge and understanding, the application
of this knowledge and understanding, and the skill of evaluation.