Health: Definition Of Health By Richard Smith

Naidoo and Wills(2001, p.47) “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’ - WHO (1946).” This definition falls into a holistic way of defining health, which believes that there are more areas to look at when thinking of health than just simply the absence of a disease. It considers the cause of why someone is ill and not just simply about ’fixing it’.

The definition of health is fluid, ever changing and carries different meanings across individuals, societies and cultures. Although it is difficult

Chapter one starts by telling the reader all the different kinds of health that we as humans experience. Ranging from physical health talking about the shape and size of the body to environmental health talking about the positive and negative impacts of where one might live. The chapter also expresses how if one chooses to start caring about their health it can lead to a longer, happier life. The choices people make when they are younger greatly impact their health later on in life.

Scenario: ABC Care Home is situated in London and caters to care needs of vulnerable people. The service users come from diverse ethnic and religious background and have varied physical and medical needs. (You may choose the category of service users you work with).

I put some of Florecnece’s knicks on her – it’s alright cos Flo don’t know what day it is, bless her! She also lost her meds again – couldn’t find them yesterday.

In modern society there is a general consensus that ‘good health’ is something that everyone wants to experience and that each individual knows what this involves. Because there are so many different definitions of health and ill health it can become a very complicated concept. Walsh (2011) states that “In sociological terms ‘health’ and ‘illness’ are contested concepts. This means that the general meaning of these words should not be taken for granted.

You make an interesting point when you state “ some culture think of illness as being normal”. The very concept of normality for the United States is seen through the navigation of the obesity epidemic, heart disease epidemic, and other non-communicable diseases. According the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2012) 69% of adults over the age of 20 are overweight and obese. While 20.5% of adolescents age 12-19 are obese, 17.7% of children ages 6-11 are obese (CDC, 2012).

At first glance, the definition of “health” as provided by the World Health Organization seems to be all encompassing. It states that health is dependent on complete well-being of mental, physical, and social faculties. However, with the study of different cultures using a public health perspective, we have learned that cultural aspects that affect disease vary immensely from population to population. While disease is a universal biological concept, social perceptions give an illness its cultural meaning and as we know, these perceptions heavily influence the recognition of the disease itself. If societal perceptions can give a disease a sense of cultural consciousness, then what can be said of their ability to mold a cultural normality. I

Many people in the United State do not have an understanding on what it means to be healthy or unhealthy. Some believe that there are healthy because they are not sick. After losing my grandfather to lung cancer, I developed a passion in educating and helping people improve their lifestyles. Although, my grandfather quit smoking 10 years prior to his death, I wish preventions and intervention were enforced earlier on. My grandfather grew up in the era when smoking was cool. No one was concerned about the harmful effects of smoking. Nonetheless, there is still hope to help others. I believe that everyone has the potential to improve

According to Floyd, Mimms and Yelding (2008) Webster’s Dictionary defines health as “the condition of being sound in body, mind and spirit… freedom from physical disease or pain.” This definition has very much taken the holistic view. Wellbeing is a term in which reflects on the positive emphasis on health and can be broken down into six aspects know as environmental, physical, social, emotional, mental and spiritual. To achieve a high balance of wellbeing it is vital that a person is able to balance and take care of each aspect effectively. Underdown (2007) implies that in 1948 the World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not just the absence of disease or infirmity.’ This definition took a holistic view as it mentions mental and social wellbeing and it was supported as it focused on a person being healthy rather than not being ill. However, this definition has been widely criticized. Seedhouse (1986) believed that for someone to be in perfect state of health is unachievable and unrealistic.

Naidoo & Wills (2000) defined health in two main ways: the positive approach, where health is viewed as a capacity or an asset, and the negative approach, which emphasises the absence of illness, diseases or disorders. “Health” as defined by the World

The paper discusses health and wellness as related to activities, the scopes of health and wellness, the factors that influence health and wellness in relation to sport, and how to acquire health and wellness and its importance. So I learned in this health class is about eating healthy and eating nutrition food like chicken and white rice great organic food ect .For example Heath and wellness are key components in my life. To me, so I m talk about me first then my family and so no health issues such as, illness, sickness or injury. Wellness is a synonym of health, however I would define it as living a happy, healthy lifestyle with little or no health issues. I feel the importance of health should be included in everyone daily lives.

Health and wellness are increasingly being used. Health actually is more to a medical and describes the mental and physical state of a person. It will reflect a lack of disease of a person. In the contrary, wellness is defined as the overall process of maintaining a state of good health of a person. Wellness involves conscious decisions on the part of the individual, while health simply describes a person's condition of the body. However, the combined phrase health and wellness showed the meaning of the state of complete physical, mental, emotional health and social wellbeing, and it is when a person is absence of disease.

There is one undeniable fact of life; if you are human, you will get sick. This last week of college has been a trying time for me. After the first two weeks of college having gone with out a hitch, I should have guessed something bad was coming. I managed to get sick, in fact, I have never felt so terrible in my life. My throat was swollen, to the point I could not swallow, my stomach felt as if it were reenacting World War I, and I was over all physically drained. Yet, regardless of how poorly I felt, the world moves on. Everything from, extracurricular activities, classes, my study plan, and life in general, continues to march on in sickness and in health.

Health and well-being is a high priority in current health and social care provision. The importance of promoting health and well-being is due to the dramatically increasing trend of morbidity and mortality from health problems, illness and chronic disease. Physiotherapists have potentially a significant role in the multidisciplinary health promotion arena. As physiotherapists can promote health in dynamic of ways and make contribution to the community. The promotion of health to enable individuals suffers from illness or has chronic conditions to improve their potential for healthy living.