One of the things that I really enjoy is working out and being healthy. My reasons for this hit close to home. My dad was diagnosed with Parkinson disease and Alzheimer’s. These are diseases that affect the brain and body. These really did a number to his body and he was also constantly ill. I believe that by eating healthy and exercising my mind and body that I can avoid these awful Diseases or at the very least be able to hold them at bay as long as possible. This falls under the category of Health psychology because of the exercising and healthy eating. Health psychology specializes in exploring the biological, psychological, cultural, societal, and environmental factors of life, and how each of these affects a person’s physical health. (MacDonald) It also focuses on promoting health as well as the prevention and treatment of disease and illness.

People’s actions are controlled by either biology or society or sometimes both, but neither biology nor does society stand without the other. This can be seen as a contradiction - either nature (biology) controls people, or nurture (society) does. But in fact we filter everything through both to determine how we react to stimuli. . (Taflinger) When people work out they need a motivator, that one thing that pushes them, that is their driving force that keeps them pushing harder and faster. I use the mental picture of my dad in the hospital bed as a motivator. This makes me work harder when I want to quit because that feeling of self preservation to not become ill is so strong in me that I will push do whatever it takes to avoid that. My motivations are both nature and nurture. Nature, because of how society sometimes looks down on ill people and feel sorry for them – I cannot stand looks ill people get. My motivation from a nurture stand point is the fact that I want to keep my daughter from going through the same feelings that I went through and in some ways still do. It is a fear that pushes me. Fear is fickle, it can either push you to be stronger or it can cripple you.

There are three main elements in biology that contribute to human behavior and these elements are self-preservation, reproduction; and greed. (Taflinger) What drives me is the self preservation and greed more than the reproduction. I do not want to have my daughter see me deteriorate slowly right before her eyes as I saw my dad. I work out every day and I try to eat healthy foods that not only stimulate good body growth and cell