Health is the general condition of a person in all aspects.

It is also a level
of functional and/or metabolic efficiency of an organism, often implicitly
human.

The Caduceus.
At the time of the creation of the World Health Organization (WHO), in
1948, health was defined as "a state of complete physical, mental, and
social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity".[1][2]
Only a handful of publications have focused specifically on the definition
of health and its evolution in the first 6 decades. Some of them highlight
its lack of operational value and the problem created by use of the word
"complete." Others declare the definition, which has not been modified
since 1948, "simply a bad one." [1]
In 1986, the WHO, in the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, said that
health is "a resource for everyday life, not the objective of living. Health is
a positive concept emphasizing social and personal resources, as well as
physical capacities." Classification systems such as the WHO Family of
International Classifications (WHO-FIC), which is composed of the
International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) and
the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) also define health.
Overall health is achieved through a combination of physical, mental, and
social well-being, which, together is commonly referred to as the Health
Triangle.

Contents
[hide]
• 1 Determinants of health
• 2 Maintaining health
○ 2.1 Observations of Daily Living
○ 2.2 Social Activity
○ 2.3 Hygiene
 ○ 2.4 Stress management
○ 2.5 Health care
 2.5.1 Workplace wellness programs
• 3 Public health
• 4 Role of science in health
○ 4.1 Sources
○ 4.2 Application
• 5 See also
• 6 Notes
• 7 References
• 8 External links

[edit] Determinants of health

See also: Social determinants of health
The LaLonde report suggests that there are four general determinants of
health including human biology, environment, lifestyle, and healthcare
services.[3] 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.
The Alameda County Study examines the relationship between lifestyle
and health. It has found that people can improve their health via exercise,
enough sleep, maintaining a healthy weight, limiting alcohol use, and
avoiding smoking.[4]
A major environmental factor affecting health is water quality, especially
for the health of infants and children in developing countries.[5]
Studies show that in developed countries, the lack of neighborhood
recreational space that includes the natural environment leads to lower
levels of neighborhood satisfaction and higher levels of obesity; therefore,
lower overall well being.[6] Therefore, the positive psychological benefits of
natural space in urban neighborhoods should be taken into account in
public policy and land use.
According to the World Health Organization, the main determinants of
health include the social and economic environment, the physical
environment and the person's individual characteristics and behaviors.[7]
Generally, the context in which an individual lives is of great importance
on his life quality and health status. The social and economic environment
are key factors in determining the health status of individuals given the
fact that higher education levels are linked with a higher standard of life
as well as a higher income. Generally, people who finish higher education
are more likely to get a better job and therefore are less prone to stress
by comparing to individuals with low education levels.
The physical environment is perhaps the most important factor that
should be considered when classifying the health status of an individual.
This includes factors such as clean water and air, safe houses,
communities and roads all contribute to good health.[7]
Genetics are also part of the system based on which the health of the
population can be established. Genetics are closely related to the habits
and behaviors individuals develop during their life, particularly in terms of
lifestyle choices. For instance, people who come from families whose
members had a more active lifestyle and followed healthier diets, non-
smoking and non-drinking are more likely to follow the same pattern in
their life. The example set by the family as well as the relationship with
friends and family can have a great impact on one's general health.
Nonetheless, genetics may play a role in the manner in which people cope
with stress.
Moreover, the World Health Organization lists a wide range of other
factors that can influence the well being of a person. According to WHO,
the gender, social support networks and health services in terms of both
quality and access to them are to be considered as health determinants.
Access to health care is one of the large issues of the nowadays society,
maybe even greater than the quality of the service. Individuals in
developing countries are more prone to suffer from different health
conditions because their access to the health care system is restricted
mostly from financial reasons.
Although many individuals are often criticized for not taking good care of
their health based on the presumption that the mirror's of one's
personality is one's health.[8], it is now accepted that there are many
factors that have a significant impact on one's health and which cannot be
controlled.

[edit] Maintaining health

Main article: Self care
Achieving and maintaining health is an ongoing process. Effective
strategies for staying healthy and improving one's health include the
following elements:
[edit] Observations of Daily Living
Personal health depends partially on one's active, passive, and assisted
observations about their health in their everyday life. The information
gleaned from such observations may be used to inform personal decisions
and actions (e.g., "I feel tired in the morning so I am going to try sleeping
on a different pillow"), as well as clinical decisions and treatment plans
(e.g., a patient who notices his or her shoes are tighter than usual may be
having exacerbation of left-sided heart failure, and may require diuretic
medication to reduce fluid overload) for patients who share their
observations with their health care providers.[9]
[edit] Social Activity
Main article: Social relation
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 because
positive social interaction as viewed by the participant increases many
chemical levels in the brain which are linked to personality and
intelligence traits.
Volunteering also can lead to a healthy life. To be a volunteer, while
gaining plenty of social benefits, people also take their mind off their own
troubles.[citation needed] Volunteering could even add years of life. According to
a university study,[citation needed] compared with people who did not volunteer,
senior citizens who volunteered showed a 67% reduced risk of dying
during a seven-year period.
[edit] Hygiene
Main article: 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 is 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.
[edit] Stress management
Main article: Stress management

This section does not cite any references or sources.

Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources.
Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2009)

Prolonged psychological stress may negatively impact health, and has

been cited as a factor in cognitive impairment with aging, depressive
illness, and expression of disease.[10]. Stress management is the
application of methods to either reduce stress or increase tolerance to
stress. Relaxation techniques are physical methods used to relieve stress.
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—e.g., facing bullies may
reduce fear of bullies.
[edit] Health care
Main article: Health care
Health care [11] 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.
[edit] Workplace wellness programs
Main article: Workplace wellness
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.[citation needed] 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.
Wellness programs may also be found in such places neighborhood
community centers and schools. These typically require participants to
have a greater degree of commitment to themselves, as they are
voluntary.[citation needed]

[edit] Public health

Main article: Public health

Postage stamp, New Zealand, 1933. Public health has been promoted -
and depicted - in a wide variety of ways.
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life
and promoting health through the organised efforts and informed choices
of society, organizations, public and private, communities and
individuals." (Winslow, 1920)[citation needed] 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 schedules and distribution of condoms are
examples of public health measures.
Unlike clinical professionals, public health is more focused on entire
populations rather than on individuals. Its aim is preventing from
happening or re-occurring health problems by implementing educational
programs, developing policies, administering services, and conducting
research.[12]
Public health also takes several actions to limit the health disparities
between different areas of the country, continent or world. The great issue
this system is trying to solve is the access of individuals to health care
which has always been restricted for those who did not dispose of the
necessary financial means. Other academic disciplines that are comprised
by this field include maternal and child health, health services
administration, global health, public health practice, public health policy
and nutrition.
The great positive impact of public health programs is widely admitted.
Because of the health policies and the actions public health professionals
develop, the 20th century has registered a decrease of the mortality rates
in infants and children and a constant increase in life expectancy. It is
estimated that the life expectancy for Americans has increased by thirty
years since 1900.[13]

[edit] Role of science in health

Main article: Health science
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.
[edit] Sources
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.
[edit] Application
Applied health sciences also endeavor to better understand health, but in
addition they try to directly improve it. Some of these are: health
education, biomedical engineering, biotechnology, nursing, nutrition,
pharmacology, pharmacy, public health (see above), social work,
psychology, physical therapy, and medicine. The provision of services to
maintain or improve people's health is referred to as health care (see
above). Irene

[edit] See also

Health and
fitness
portal

Book:Health

Books are collections of articles that

can be downloaded or ordered in
print.

[edit] Notes
1. ^ WHO.int, Preamble to the Constitution of the World Health Organization
as adopted by the International Health Conference, New York, 19–22 June
1946; signed on 22 July 1947 by the representatives of 61 States (Official
Records of the World Health Organization, no. 2, p. 100); and entered into
force on 7 April 1948.
2. ^ WHO.int Constitution of the World Health Organization- Basic
Documents, Forty-fifth edition, Supplement, October 2006.
3. ^ Lalonde, Marc. "A New Perspective on the Health of Canadians." Ottawa:
Minister of Supply and Services; 1974.
4. ^ Housman, Jeff (September/October 2005). "The Alameda County Study:
A Systematic, Chronological Review" (PDF). American Journal of Health
Education (Reston, VA: American Alliance for Health, Physical Education,
Recreation and Dance) 36 (5): 302–308. ERIC document number
EJ792845. ISSN 1055-6699.
http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/contentdelivery/servlet/ERICServlet
?accno=EJ792845. Retrieved 7 June 2010. "The linear model supported
previous findings, including regular exercise, limited alcohol consumption,
abstinence from smoking, sleeping 7-8 hours a night, and maintenance of
a healthy weight play an important role in promoting longevity and
delaying illness and death." Citing Wingard DL, Berkman LF, Brand RJ
(1982). "A multivariate analysis of health-related practices: a nine-year
mortality follow-up of the Alameda County Study". Am J Epidemiol 116 (5):
765–775. PMID 7148802.
5. ^ The UN World Water Development Report | Facts and Figures | Meeting
basic needs
6. ^ "Recreational Values of the Natural Environment in Relation to
Neighborhood Satisfaction, Physical Activity, Obesity and Wellbeing."
7. ^ a b "The determinants of health".
http://www.who.int/hia/evidence/doh/en/. Retrieved 2010-06-24.
8. ^ "Health". http://www.wingoodhealth.org. Retrieved 2010-06-24.
9. ^ Health in Everyday Living Robert Wood Johnson Foundation primer
 10.^ McEwen BS (2006). "Protective and damaging effects of stress
mediators: central role of the brain". Dialogues Clin Neurosci 8 (4): 367–
81. PMID 17290796.
11.^ "Health Care UK". National Health Service (NHS). March 11, 2010.
http://www.nhs.uk/. Retrieved March 11, 2010.
12.^ "What is Public Health?".
http://www.whatispublichealth.org/about/index.html. Retrieved 2010-06-
24.
13.^ "Impact of Public Health".
http://www.whatispublichealth.org/impact/index.html. Retrieved 2010-06-
24.

[edit] References
• BMJ.com, Jadad, AR and O'Grady L. How should health be defined?
BMJ 2008; 337:a2900
• WHO (1979) Health for all.
• WHO (1980) WHO Chr., 34(2)80
• WHO (1986) Concepts of Health Behavior Research, Reg. Health
Paper No.13, SEARO, New Delhi
• WHO (1978) Health for all.
• UNDP, Human Development Report 1999, Oxford University Press
• UNICEF (2001) State of world's children, 2001
• WHO (1979) Health for all.
• Evang, K. (1967); In health of mankind; Ciba foundation; 100th
symposium, Churchill, London
• Last, J.M (1983) A Dictionary of Epidemiology, Oxford University
Press
• Raska, K (1966), WHO Chr., 20, 315

[edit] External links

Look up health in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• World Health Organization

• National Health Service
• Health On the Net Foundation
• OECD Health Statistics
• Health and Medical Information from UCB Libraries GovPubs
• Health-EU Portal the official public health portal of the European
Union
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health"
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