Essay on Healthy Living

‘Health’ is a very broad notion, affected by a wide range of individual characteristics, behaviours and contextual factors.

In 1946 the World Health Organisation (WHO) defined health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. This definition integrates the main concepts of health and identifies that health can be viewed differently by individuals and groups (Bowden, 2006). Health and well-being are the result of a combination of physical, social, intellectual and emotional factors (Dunkley, 2000a).

As stated by the World Health Organization (WHO), ‘health’ is defined as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (WHO, 1948). The health and wellbeing of individuals is generally determined by their circumstances and environment, a phenomenon referred to as the social determinants of health. WHO describes the social determinants of health as:

Health is not limited to a physical illness that can be cured or alleviated but must encompass the entire individual. It includes spiritual, emotional, social, mental and physical aspects of the individual. All of these areas must be assessed and evaluated when caring or a patient and their families (Chitty, 2007, p. 303).

Your GP can assess whether you have incontinence, decide which type of incontinence you have, give general advice on controlling symptoms of incontinence, provide information on pelvic floor exercises and bladder retraining, and give treatment for incontinence with prescribed medicines. If lifestyle changes and treatments don't solve the problem, your GP can refer you to a continence adviser or specialist.

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’.

But over the past few decades, the definititon and concept of health has evolved to encompass more elements than just the physical well-being of a person. This is partly attributed to various researches and studies that have taken place around the world in the last 60 years. Already in 1948, the World Health Organization declared that health is “a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not

Healthy People 2020 discusses a number of special population’s that have barriers to care including; race, age sex, sexual identity, age, disability, socioeconomic, and location; this post will discuss race (ethnic) group.  There are a number of races mentioned in healthy people 2020, such as, Asian, American Indian, Alaskan, Latino and African American (Healthy People 2020, n.d.). Access to health care in an ethnic group is multifaceted from the lack of trust, lack of health care education, discrimination and cost of care including health insurance. According to Howard, Peace, & Howard (2014), African Americans have a greater risk of three preventable diseases, hypertension, renal failure and bacterial infections stating; “no other disease

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

By looking at what different people say about health, it is clear that each one look at it differently. Therefore, there are many ways to define health. When we look at health, all physical, intellectual, emotional and social aspects should be considered because they all affect our health equally. Health can be defined in many ways, positively, negatively and holistically. It depends on how the individuals look at their health and how concerned they are about it. Our state of healthiness will depend on many things such as where do we live, what job do we do, what do we eat, who are our friends and everything else related to our lifestyle. Our choice about our lifestyle can make a difference to our health. If we are interested enough in ourselves, we can improve our own health. Some people think, that it depends only on the health care we obtain; however, it doesn't only depend on this. It is connected to our lifestyle as well.

Health can define in many different ways. Dr Roslyn Franklin defines health as “A multilayered social and ecological phenomenon created in the context of community life. (Dr. Franklin. R, C 2016) The dimensions of health include physical, mental, emotional, social, spiritual and social health. During the first week our reflections included what we believed being healthy meant. I listed enjoying being the ideal weight for my height, participating in regular exercise and eating the right foods. This is how I defined being healthy. Through our PHP, nutrition, physical activity, relationships and

The World Health Organisation defined health: “State of complete physical and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity” (WHO, 1946 p.100). Many factors influence health such as family traits, behaviours, access to quality healthcare and environment (quality of air, bad/good water and housing conditions) (WHO, 1946). The holistic view of health combines the mind (mental), body (physical), emotional and spiritual elements to a person (Ewes & Simnett, 2003).

I consider health as a state of wellness. With this, I bear in mind that each person’s idea of wellness may differ from the next. For example, a diabetic may consider his diabetes being under control and healthy when his

As humans remain different in nature, so are their perceptions and response towards certain issues of their lives and well being. The concept of health assumes to be a typical example of this and hence, poses debate about what it is. “Health” is a word which means different things to different people (Ewles & Simnett, 2003). This essay intends to critically discuss the meaning of health by exploring different definitions and their contraindications.

(WHO, 1948) describes health as ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease of infirmity’? There are other dimensions of health such as physical health, mental health and emotional health which can be broken down and looked at individually.