What is Health?
How do you define health? Is it a state
of complete physical, mental and social well-being? Is it merely the
absence of disease or infirmity? Or is health a resource for everyday
life, rather than the objective of living; a positive concept,
emphasising social and personal resources as well as physical
capabilities?
Good health is harder to define than bad health
(which can be equated with the presence of disease), because it must
convey a concept more positive than mere absence of disease, and there
is a variable area between health and disease. Health is clearly a
complex, multidimensional concept. Health is, ultimately, poorly defined
and difficult to measure, despite impressive efforts by
epidemiologists, vital statisticians, social scientists and political
economists. Each individual's health is shaped by many factors,
including medical care, social circumstances, and behavioural choices.
Health Care
While
it is true to say that health care is the prevention, treatment and
management of illness, and the preservation of mental and physical
well-being, through the services offered by the medical, nursing and
allied health professions, health-related behaviour is influenced by our
own values, which are determined by upbringing, by example, by
experience, by the company one keeps, by the persuasive power of
advertising (often a force of behaviour that can harm health), and by
effective health education. Healthy individuals are able to mobilise all
their physical, mental, and spiritual resources to improve their
chances of survival, to live happy and fulfilling lives, and to be of
benefit to their dependants and society.
Achieving health, and
remaining healthy, is an active process. Natural health is based on
prevention, and on keeping our bodies and minds in good shape. Health
lies in balancing these aspects within the body through a regimen
consisting of diet, exercise, and regulation of the emotions. The last
of these is too often ignored when health advice is dispensed, but can
have a pronounced effect on physical well-being.
Diet
Every
day, or so it seems, new research shows that some aspect of lifestyle -
physical activity, diet, alcohol consumption, and so on - affects
health and longevity. Physical fitness is good bodily health, and is the
result of regular exercise, proper diet and nutrition, and proper rest
for physical recovery. The field of nutrition also studies foods and
dietary supplements that improve performance, promote health, and cure
or prevent disease, such as fibrous foods to reduce the risk of colon
cancer, or supplements with vitamin C to strengthen teeth and gums and
to improve the immune system. When exercising, it becomes even more
important to have a good diet to ensure that the body has the correct
ratio of macronutrients whilst providing ample micronutrients; this is
to aid the body in the recovery process following strenuous exercise.
No comments:
Post a Comment