Understanding Health Risks: Factors Affecting Your Well-being

Exploring potential risks to health that may arise from various factors such as lifestyle choices, environmental exposures, and genetic predispositions.

Health Risks FAQ

Image credit: nih.gov

What is a health risk?

“It gives you perspective on potential harms and benefits, so you can make smart choices based on facts and not fears.” A health risk is the chance or likelihood that something will harm or otherwise affect your health. Risk doesn’t mean that something bad will definitely happen. It’s just a possibility.

Which health risks apply to you?

A nearby sneeze may raise your risk for catching the flu. Obesity boosts the odds you’ll get diabetes. Smoking increases your risk for many cancers. And if you pay attention to news headlines, you may worry that you’re at risk for food poisoning, Zika infection, shark attacks, and more. How can you know

How should risk be described in healthcare?

This table below shows how risk should be described in healthcare: People’s views of the descriptions of ‘very rare’ or ‘common’ regarding harm or satisfaction vary greatly concerning health care. Your concerns, anxieties and fears about the present and the future are very personal and may affect how you view risk.

What factors affect your health risk?

Several characteristics, called risk factors, affect whether your health risks are high or low. Your personal health risk factors include your age, sex, family health history, lifestyle, and more. Some risks factors can’t be changed, such as your genes or ethnicity.