Everything about Health totally explained
The definition was updated in the 1986 WHO "Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion" to say health is a "resource for everyday life, not the objective of living", and "health is a positive concept emphasizing social and personal resources, as well as physical capacities.".
Aspects of Health
"
Mens sana in corpore sano" (Juvenal)
Physical Health
Physical fitness is good bodily health, and is the result of regular
exercise, proper
diet and
nutrition, and proper
rest for physical recovery.
Height
A strong indicator of the health of populations is
height, which is generally increased by improving nutrition and health care, and is also influenced by the standard of living and quality of life.
Genetics is also a major factor in people's height. The study of human growth, its regulators, and its implications is known as
Auxology.
Mental health
Merriam-Webster defines mental health as "A state of emotional and psychological well-being in which an individual is able to use his or her cognitive and emotional capabilities, function in society, and meet the ordinary demands of everyday life."
According to the World Health Organization, there's no one "official" definition of mental health. Cultural differences, subjective assessments, and competing professional theories all affect how "mental health" is defined. In general, most experts agree that "mental health" and "
mental illness" are not opposites. In other words, the absence of a recognized mental disorder isn't necessarily an indicator of mental health.
One way to think about mental health is by looking at how effectively and successfully a person functions. Feeling capable and competent; being able to handle normal levels of stress, maintain satisfying relationships, and lead an independent life; and being able to "bounce back," or recover from difficult situations, are all signs of mental health.
Encompassing your emotional, social, and—most importantly—your mental well-being; All these aspects—emotional, physical, and social—must function together to achieve overall health.
Determinants of health
The
LaLonde report suggested that there are four general determinants of health including
human biology,
environment,
lifestyle, and
healthcare services. Thus, health is maintained and improved not only through the advancement and application of
health science, but also through the efforts and intelligent lifestyle choices of the individual and society.
A major environmental factor is water quality, especially for the health of infants and children in developing countries.
Health maintenance
Achieving health and remaining healthy is an active process. Effective strategies for staying healthy and improving one's health include the following elements:
Nutrition
Nutrition is the
science that studies how
what people eat affects their health and performance, such as foods or food components that cause diseases or deteriorate health (such as eating too many calories, which is a major contributing factor to
obesity,
diabetes, and
heart disease). The field of nutrition also studies foods and dietary supplements that improve performance, promote health, and cure or prevent disease, such as eating
fibrous foods to reduce the risk of colon cancer, or supplementing with vitamin C to strengthen teeth and gums and to improve the immune system.
Personal health depends partially on the social structure of one’s life. The maintenance of strong social relationships is linked to good health conditions, longevity, productivity, and a positive attitude. This is due to the fact that positive social interaction as viewed by the participant increases many chemical levels in the brain which are linked to personality and intelligence traits. Essentially this means that positive reinforcement from a third party make one more socially adept, in control, and relaxed physically and mentally, all of which are proven to effect the nervous system(UHF).
Sports nutrition
Sports nutrition focuses on how food and dietary supplements affect athletic performance (during events), improvement (from training), and recovery (after events and training). One goal of sports nutrition is to maintain glycogen levels and prevent
glycogen depletion. Another is to optimize energy levels and muscle tone. An athlete's strategy for winning an event may include a schedule for the entire season of what to eat, when to eat it, and in what precise quantities (before, during, after, and between workouts and events). Participants in endurance sports such as the
full-distance triathlon actually eat
during their races. Sports nutrition works hand-in-hand with
sports medicine.
Exercise
Exercise is the performance of movements in order to develop or maintain
physical fitness and overall health. It is often directed toward also honing athletic ability or skill. Frequent and regular physical exercise is an important component in the prevention of some of the
diseases of affluence such as
cancer,
heart disease,
cardiovascular disease,
Type 2 diabetes,
obesity and
back pain.
Exercises are generally grouped into three types depending on the overall effect they've on the human body:
Physical exercise is considered important for maintaining physical fitness including healthy weight; building and maintaining healthy bones, muscles, and joints; promoting physiological well-being; reducing surgical risks; and strengthening the immune system.
Proper nutrition is just as, if not more, important to health as exercise. When exercising it becomes even more important to have good diet to ensure the body has the correct ratio of macronutrients whilst providing ample micronutrients; this is to aid the body with the recovery process following strenuous exercise. When the body falls short of proper nutrition, it gets into starvation mode developed through evolution and depends onto fat content for survival. Research suggest that the production of thyroid hormones can be negatively affected by repeated bouts of dieting and calorie restriction. Proper rest and recovery is also as important to health as exercise, otherwise the body exists in a permanently injured state and won't improve or adapt adequately to the exercise.
The above two factors can be compromised by psychological compulsions (
eating disorders such as
exercise bulimia,
anorexia, and other
bulimias), misinformation, a lack of organization, or a lack of motivation. These all lead to a decreased state of health.
Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness can occur after any exercise, particularly if the body is in an unconditioned state relative to that exercise and the exercise involves repetitive
eccentric contractions.
Hygiene
Hygiene is the practice of keeping the body clean to prevent infection and illness, and the avoidance of contact with infectious agents. Hygiene practices include
bathing,
brushing and flossing teeth,
washing hands especially before eating, washing food before it's eaten, cleaning food preparation utensils and surfaces before and after preparing meals, and many others. This may help prevent infection and illness. By cleaning the body, dead skin cells are washed away with the germs, reducing their chance of entering the body.
Stress management
Prolonged psychological stress may negatively impact health, such as by weakening the immune system.
See negative effects of the fight-or-flight response. Stress management is the application of methods to either reduce stress or increase tolerance to stress. Certain
nootropics do both.
Exercising to improve physical fitness, especially cardiovascular fitness, boosts the immune system and increases stress tolerance.
Relaxation techniques are physical methods used to relieve stress. Examples include
sexual intercourse,
progressive relaxation, and
fractional relaxation. Psychological methods include
cognitive therapy,
meditation, and
positive thinking which work by reducing response to stress. Improving relevant skills and abilities builds confidence, which also reduces the stress reaction to situations where those skills are applicable. Reducing uncertainty, by increasing knowledge and experience related to stress-causing situations, has the same effect. Learning to cope with problems better, such as improving problem solving and time management skills, may also reduce stressful reaction to problems. Repeatedly facing an object of one's fears may also desensitize the fight-or-flight response with respect to that stimulus -- for example, facing bullies may reduce fear of bullies.
Health care
» Main article: Health care. See also Public health, below
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. According to the
World Health Organization, health care embraces all the goods and services designed to promote health, including “preventive, curative and palliative interventions, whether directed to individuals or to populations”. The organized provision of such services may constitute a
health care system. This can include a specific governmental organization such as the
National Health Service in the UK, or a cooperation across the National Health Service and Social Services as in
Shared Care.
Natural health
In
alternative medicine,
natural health is an eclectic self-care system of natural therapies concerned with building and restoring
health and
wellness via prevention and healthy lifestyles. Natural health includes breathing
Buteyko Method,
chiropractic,
naturopathy,
herbalism,
homeopathy,
massage therapy,
relaxation techniques (for example
Yoga,
Tai Chi),
accupuncture,
sauna,
aromatherapy,
ayurveda medicine, and
Kneipp therapy.
Workplace wellness programs
Workplace wellness programs are recognized by an increasingly large number of companies for their value in improving the health and well-being of their employees, and for increasing morale, loyalty, and productivity. Workplace wellness programs can include things like onsite fitness centers, health presentations, wellness newsletters, access to health coaching, tobacco cessation programs and training related to
nutrition,
weight and stress management. Other programs may include health risk assessments, health screenings and
body mass index monitoring. Mostly overseen or not mentioned is a group of determinants of health which could be called
coincidence,
hazard,
luck or bad luck. These factors are quite important determinants of health but difficult to calculate.
Public health
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organised efforts and informed choices of society, organisations, public and private, communities and individuals." It is concerned with threats to the overall health of a community based on
population health analysis. The population in question can be as small as a handful of people or as large as all the inhabitants of several continents (for instance, in the case of a
pandemic). Public health has many sub-fields, but is typically divided into the categories of
epidemiology,
biostatistics and health
services.
Environmental, social and behavioral health, and
occupational health, are also important fields in public health.
The focus of public health intervention is to prevent rather than treat a disease through surveillance of cases and the promotion of healthy behaviors. In addition to these activities, in many cases treating a disease can be vital to preventing it in others, such as during an outbreak of an
infectious disease.
Vaccination programs and distribution of
condoms are examples of public health measures.
Role of science in health
Health science is the branch of science focused on
health, and it includes many subdisciplines. There are two approaches to health science: the study and
research of the human body and health-related issues to understand how humans (and animals) function, and the application of that knowledge to improve health and to prevent and cure
diseases.
Where health knowledge comes from
Health research builds primarily on the basic sciences of
biology,
chemistry, and
physics as well as a variety of multidisciplinary fields (for example
medical sociology). Some of the other primarily research-oriented fields that make exceptionally significant contributions to health science are
biochemistry,
epidemiology, and
genetics.
Putting health knowledge to use
Applied health sciences also endeavor to better understand health, but in addition they try to directly improve it. Some of these are:
biomedical engineering,
biotechnology,
nursing,
nutrition,
pharmacology,
pharmacy,
public health (
see below),
psychology,
physical therapy, and
medicine. The provision of services to maintain or improve people's health is referred to as health care (see above).
Further Information
Get more info on 'Health'.
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