CHAPTER 1: HEALTH PRINCIPLES – SCIENCE STANDARD FOUR NOTES

CHAPTER 1: HEALTH PRINCIPLES – SCIENCE STANDARD FOUR NOTES

Explain the Basic principles of health

Meaning of Health

What is health?

Health is the state of physical, mental and social wellbeing of the person.

Health is condition of being free from diseases. In order to have a good health, we should be with strong immunity.

Immunity is an ability of the body to resist diseases.

Basic principles Health

Health principles are actions that help to keep our bodies and minds in a good condition. Health principles are also called Health habits. There are nine health principles which are;

1. Eating balanced diet.
2. Doing physical exercise
3. Drinking enough water
4. Having enough sleeping
5. Maintaining personal hygiene
6. Maintaining cleanliness of the environment
7. Avoiding irresponsible behaviors
8. Avoiding unsafe environment
9. Being vaccinated

1. Eating balanced diet.

Good health is a state of the body to be physically and mentally well. One of the things that contribute to good health is eating a balanced diet.

What is a balance diet?

A balanced diet is a meal which contains the right proportion of different groups of food nutrients. This meal includes all major groups of food which are; Proteins, Carbohydrates, Fats and oils, Vitamins and Minerals.

Protein-rich foods include; Meat, Mushroom, Fish milk, Beans and peas. The function of proteins is to build up the body and make it grow. This type of food is also responsible for building new cells to replace the old or dead cells.

Carbohydrate foods such as; Cassava, Potatoes, Rice, Yams, Bread Bananas give heat and energy to the body. These food types enable the body to perform various activities such as playing, tilling, walking, and running. Likewise, foods which contain fats and oil, such as; Coconut, Groundnuts, Sun flowers and Butter, give the body heat and energy.

Vitamin-rich foods are; Vegetables and fruits, such as; paw paws, Oranges, Avocado, Apples, Cabbages, Spinach and carrots. These foods enable the body to protect itself from various diseases such as; High blood pressure, Diabetes, Cancer, Flu, Diarrhoea, and Re-curing fevers. Cabbages, carrots, eggplants, and green vegetables are some example of foods rich in minerals.

These minerals are calcium and phosphorous. They help to build and strengthen body muscles, bones and teeth. The body also needs enough water to perform its functions properly. Therefore, water should be part of the meal.

Water contains several minerals such as; Sodium, Potassium, Iron, Calcium and Magnesium. These minerals help various body systems to perform their functions properly. Water helps in; regulating body temperature, digesting of food, and absorbing of nutrients from the food. It also helps the body to remove toxins and body wastes.

EXERCISE

Answer the following questions:

1. What is a balanced diet?

2. List the main types of food groups

3. Why is it important to eat fruits and green vegetables?

4. What is the importance of water in the body?

5. List three examples of foods which contain

a. Proteins b. Carbohydrate c. Fat d. Vitamins

2. Doing physical exercise

Physical exercises are important for our health and immunity.

IMPORTANCE OF PHYSICAL EXERCISE

1. Keep our body strong
2. It helps us to be active and health
3. It helps us to breath well
4. It increases body immunity
5. It helps our muscles to function properly.

Disadvantages of not doing physical exercises

1. Weight gain. Increases of the body weight
2. Body and Muscle weakness
3. Lead to the heart diseases
4. Increases of obesity
5. Increases of the blood pressure

3. Drinking enough water

A Large part of our body is made up of water. About 70% of our is made up of water so that we should drink plenty of water very day.

Why we should drink plenty of water?

Importance of water

1. Water it helps us in digestion of food
2. It helps to remove thirsty
3. It helps to balance fluid in the body
4. It cooling our body
5. It removes kidney stones

Disadvantage of not drinking enough water

1. Urinary tract infections (UTI)
2. Suffering from Constipation
3. Drop of blood pressure
4. Poor skin health
5. Kidney stones

4. Getting enough sleep

Sleep is important for health and ability to think well.

Enough sleep helps the body to grow well and become strong. So, we must have enough sleep to keep ourselves health and strength immunity.

Lack of the sleeping lead to;

• Difficult in concentration
• Loose of memory
• Reduce body ability to resist diseases
• It causes heart diseases
• Increase obesity and diabetes

5. Maintaining personal hygiene

Personal hygiene is way of keeping body clean.

Maintaining good personal hygiene helps to prevent the spread of infections and diseases.

Principals of personal hygiene

• Washing the face
• Brushing the teeth
• Taking a bath
• Cleaning ourselves after using the toilet
• Cutting nails short
• Taking care of the hair
• Washing clothing.

Washing the face, ears and nose

• Wash your face every morning and wherever you take a bath.
• Wash your eyes, ears, nose and back of your ears by using clean soft cloth.

Things to consider during cleaning;

• Do not use sharp objects to clean your face, eye, nose and ears
• Do not use cotton buds or ear sticks to clean your ears.Only clean the outer part of the ear with your finger wrapped in a soft cloth.

Cleaning the mouth and teeth

• Clean your mouth by brushing your teeth, tongue, nd gums.
• Bruch it every morning and evening before going to sleep.

Things used to clean mouth

• Clean water
• Toothpaste
• Toothbrush
• Dental floss

Dental floss is the soft thread of floss silk or similar materials used to clean between the teeth.

Importance of cleaning the mouth and teeth

1. It keeps teeth clean and attractive
2. It gives your fresh breath and prevents bad smelling
3. It prevents your teeth from decaying.

Washing clothes (garments)

• Garments are body clothes used to cover our bodies and keep ourselves warm during a cold weather.
• Dirty clothes make us smell bad and may cause skin diseases or irritate others around us.

SAFETY SIGNS AND IMPORTANT INFORMATION IN THE ENVIRONMENT

There are signs or symbols that guide us in our environment. These signs can be words or pictures which give instructions to keep everyone safe.

Signs and symbols

Warning signs found in the specific environment.

There are four major types of safety signs, which are, prohibition, Warning, Mandatory, and Emergency. Each type of the safety signs is presented in a specific shape and colour.

The shapes and colours of the signs are governed by the international safety regulations as shown from the table bellow;

S/N	Types of safety signs	Colour	Instructions	Characteristics	Example
1	Prohibition sign	Red	Danger Stop Turn off or shutdown Vacate No entry for unauthorized person	Red circle or quadrilateral (rectangular or square), black image on a white background and red boarder. Some of these signs have a red diagonal line through them.

2	Warning signs	Yellow	Be careful Take precaution Danger nearby.	Triangular, black image on a yellow background and a black boarder.
3	Mandatory signs	Blue	Insisting specific behavior or actions	Circular, a write image on a blue back ground
4	Emergence sign	Green	Emergency exit door Emergency exit First aid or rescue facilities	Rectangular or square, white image or text on a green background or green image or text on a white background.

NOTE: Some of the safety signs are presented using different colours depending on the degree of potential effects in case the precaution is not taken. For-example danger signs may have red, orange or yellow colours. The red colour indicates major effects followed by orange and yellow colours.

The danger sign is used in places that can cause severe injuries or death in case precautions are not taken. A danger sign with a red background and white text is used to indicate environmental hazards which can cause major effects.

EXERCISE

1. How do safety signs help us?

2. Why some safety signs are presented with texts?

3. What is biotic environment?

4. Identify examples of abiotic environment.

VARIOUS WARNING SIGNS FOUND IN SPECIFIC ENVIRONMENT

Safety sign offer precautions to users. It is important to recognize these signs and their meanings.

This help to avoid the possible dangers or accidents which may occur by ignoring the given precautions. The table below shows some of the safety signs.

S/N	Safety sign and interpretation	Items or places where the safety signs are displayed	Effects for not taking the required precautions
1	No entry	Unauthorized access, such as in the laboratory	One can get health-related effects in case he/she enters or passes through the restricted areas.
2	No smoking	In smoking prohibited areas such as in filling stations, airplanes, restaurants, schools and other public places	Fire can erupt and it can cause health-related problems to a non-smoker who is close to the smoker.
3	Do not eat or drink	Areas where eating or drinking is not allowed such as laboratory	Health-related issues can occur to a person.
4	Fragile	On packages which carry fragile items, such as glass utensils.	Items can break and result into loss.
5	Unsafe water	On water taps with unsafe water that is not suitable for drinking, washing, or cooking.	Health problems may occur to a person.
6	Explosive	On explosive items such as herbicides, paints, solvents, and chemicals used in the laboratory.	They can explode and cause injury to a person.
7	Corrosive	On items which contain corrosives such as bottles containing concentrated acids and car batteries, which can cause eroding or burning.	Can cause large body wound, burn or destroy various things, such as clothes and furniture.
8	Flammable	On items that contain flammable chemicals which catch fire easily such as sprits, pesticides, colour-removing agents, polishes, petrol and diesel.	Can cause fire accidents
9	Toxic or poison or danger	On items containing toxic chemicals, such as toilet cleaning detergent	Can cause death in case one touches the items with that sign or the content enter the body through drinking or inhaling.
10	Irritant	On items with chemicals or drugs that can cause irritation or itching, such as toxic toilet cleaning detergents, pesticides and wood polishing chemicals.	They can cause face and throat irritations. Also they can cause skin rashes, dizziness or difficulty in breathing.
11	High voltage	On electric poles and stations with high voltage	A person can get an electric shock and death may occur.
12	Harmful	On items, drugs or chemicals that can cause harm or have health effects: examples are chemicals for stain removal, furniture polish and insecticides.	A person can get an electric shork and death may occur.
13	Strong radiation	Posted where radioactive materials are handled or where radiation-Producing equipment is used such as an X-ray room.	Can cause dangerous effects such as skin damage, blindness and various types of cancers.
14	Biohazard	On materials containing biohazards, for examples dangerous diseases causing microorganisms; these include containers for biohazard sample storage and waste disposal.	Can cause disease infections
15	Slippery floor	On slippery or wet floor	A person may slip, fall down and get injured.
16	Danger	In dangerous places, such as areas with ongoing road works.	Accidents can occur.
17	Hand wash station	Hand-washing facilities as in hospitals and restaurants	Can result into diseases infection
18	Eye protection required	Area that require eye protection, such as area with strong radiation.	A person can be affected in the eyes.
19	Eye and face protection required	Areas or materials such as explosive chemicals that can affect the face and eyes.	Effects can occur in the eyes and face.
20	Exit door	On exit doors, particularly on emergency doors as in hospital buildings.	Accidents can occur.

EXERCISE

Answer the following questions:

1. What is the environment?

2. Mention major types of safety signs

3. List down any two examples of emergence signs

4. Describe the function of different colours used in warning signs.

5. Mention the places where the warning signs are used.

EXERCISE 

Answer the following questions:

1. Give the meaning of safety signs.

2. Why are there different safety signs in the environment?

3. Why are texts included in some safety signs?

4. Mention major types of safety signs.

DIFERENTIATING THE USES OF WARNING SIGNS IN DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENT

a. Uses of warning signs in different environment

Mention warning signs in different environment

1. Prohibition signs
2. Emergence sign
3. Warning signs
4. Mandatory signs

Uses of safety signs in the environment:

Safety signs are used in different places and on items available in our environment. The following are some of the uses of safety signs:

a. Indicating danger

There are items or places marked safety signs to caution people the possible dangers in case they do not take precautions. For example, some safety signs indicate the risks of X-ray radiation, explosive chemicals and a high voltage transmission line. These signs require a person to take precautions as he or she approaches such environments.

b. Prevention of diseases

Safety signs are used to indicate ways in which a person can be protected from diseases, or health effects by adhering to the giving safety signs. For example, safety signs on bio-hazardous items such as waste dustbins in hospitals warn us against touching. Therefore, this sign protects one from the diseases caused by biohazards.

c. Prevention of accidents

Some safety signs can help to prevent accidents. For example, a fuel tanker has a warning sign for highly flammable materials. Therefore, this sign is used to prevent possible fire accident.

d. Warning and instructions

Some safety signs alert and provide instructions on how to use items or do something carefully. For example, easily broken items are marked with instructions such as “handle with care” to help carry them safely. Some chemicals such as insecticides or herbicides are marked as dangerous or toxic. The signs on those chemicals require the user to wear protective equipment to use them safely. Such protective items include gloves, goggles, special clothing or overalls, boots and helmets. The flammable safety sign is placed on bottles containing pesticides and perfumes. Therefore it is advised to stay away from fire sources when using such items.

Explosive a substance that is able or likely to cause an explosion

Pesticide a substance or chemical used to control or kill organism that affect plants, animals or products.

X-ray radiation is an electromagnetic radiation of high energy and very short wavelength which is able to pass through materials that are opaque to light.

Answer all questions in sections A and B

SECTION A

Choose the most correct answer and write its letter in the box provided.

1. The types of safety signs are ____________

1. Prohibition, warming, mandatory and emergency signs
2. Emergency, personal and danger signs
3. Mandatory, prohibition and entry signs
4. Hospital, warning, road and aerial signs

2. What is the colour used for mandatory signs?

a) yellow b) Red c) Blue d) Green

3. What does the following sign represent?

a) Toxic b) Flammable c) Corrosive d) Harmful

4. One of the following words is not displayed on pesticide containers:

a) Flammable b) Toxic or danger c) Unsafe water d) Irritant

5. What precaution should you take to protect your eyes when using dangerous items?

a) Wear a mask b) Use a face cloth c) Wear a hat d) Wear goggles

SECTION B

6. List four uses of safety signs.

7. List five items or equipment with danger or toxic signs.

8. Explain five precautions that you will take when using drugs or chemicals having a toxic sign.

9. Explain the importance of safety signs.

10. Explain the possible effects which can occur when using chemicals with the

CHAPTER 1: HEALTH PRINCIPLES – SCIENCE STANDARD FOUR NOTES

CLICK HERE TO GET NOTES PDF