Health and Diease

Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of
disease or infirmity.

Aspects of Health

Physical disease: These diseases involve temporary or permanent damage to the body and include all the
other categories except mental disease where there is no sign of physical damage to the brain. An example would
be leprosy.

Mental disorders

These disorders affect a person's mind, but may be accompanied by physical symptoms. Emotions, thoughts,
memories and personal and social behaviour can be affected.

Some mental diseases are caused by degeneration of brain tissue - for example, Alzheimer's - a progressive
deterioration in memory is followed by a general decline in all mental faculties (dementia). Other mental disorders
seem to be accompanied by changes in the blood flow to the brain - for example, Schizophrenia.

Social diseases

Social diseases are strongly associated with the social setting in which a person spends their life. For
example, poor housing or sanitation can greatly increase the risk of developing infectious diseases such
as tuberculosis. Another example is living in a polluted environment, this has adverse effects on the
respiratory system causing an increase in bronchitis. Last but not least, not having a good diet can lead
to an increase in developing deficiency diseases such as rickets (caused by a lack of vitamin D) or
becoming obese- which in turn increases the risk of developing disease or cardiovascular diseases.

Chronic Diseases

A chronic disease is one that last for a long period of time. For example, people who smoke cigarettes
may develop bronchitis which never really clears up (it is a disease that they have to live with day after
day) .