who definition of health is important to you? It's a question that continues to shape the minds and lives of millions as they try to lead a healthy lifestyle. The standard American Family Health Care definition of health is "The condition of being fit and healthy and having the ability to engage in the wide range of activities required for healthy living". This definition has been used since the dawn of the medical profession.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has also defined health as "the state of being able to undertake the activities necessary for survival, with the minimum risk of injury resulting in death". A variety of other definitions have also been applied over the years. The WHO recommends that people be educated and informed about their health so they can take measures to prevent the suffering caused by diseases. For example, a definition of good health may be determined by looking at the history of mortality rates and comparing them with the current status of health around the world. Different definitions of good health have varying levels of criteria for fitting a person into the good category.
What this definition has lost is the specificity of the term and therefore the possibility for defining and treating many different conditions under the umbrella of "good health". For example, there are definitions of chronic diseases such as heart disease and hypertension. The former is considered as a public health problem because it causes a high mortality rate. Chronic diseases cannot be cured, but the symptoms can be managed by medication and other treatments. Chronic disease is a complex illness and may require ongoing management even after the initial diagnosis.
Another example is with respect to mental wellness. An individual with a healthy level of well-being may be diagnosed as having a chronic disease if the disease requires ongoing treatment. Public health experts recommend that a person should have a happy, healthy and satisfying life if he or she is to attain a healthy definition of wellness. A person who has a high level of wellbeing would have more options available to him or her when it comes to choosing a lifestyle and healthy eating plan than someone who does not have as many positive attributes in his or her profile.
Older adults are often diagnosed with chronic diseases and require a more complex definition. This is because their chances of developing chronic diseases are higher than the general population. Health experts often prefer the definition of healthy as being in the normal range, but with respect to the ability of the person to adapt to his or her environment. The definition should also take into account the fact that the older adult may also be dealing with significant changes in his or her environment, such as changes in location or culture.
The fourth part of the WHO's definition of health is how a person got that label. This part emphasizes the role of social, cultural and psychological factors in creating a person's well-being. It also discusses what people must do to reach well-being. For an older adult, this may involve changing behaviors or attitudes that they have come to consider as unacceptable. A positive definition would include the fact that older adults can also deal with the changes in their environment as well as the steps they need to take to better adapt to their new roles as parents, leaders and citizens.
The fifth step in the process of defining wellness is to select from the several options provided by the WHO definition. It is important for experts working on the public health side to be aware of all the options they have to work on those definitions. This will ensure that all professionals who deal with those definitions are well informed about the best course of action for them to take. In addition, the professionals involved in the work of experts in the WHO's public health work on these health issues should have opportunities for input from different stakeholder groups.
An excellent source of information on this issue is WHO's "WHO's Toolkit for Healthy Living". This provides an overview of the work that the WHO defines as healthy life course, which it defines as a progression that involves knowledge, values, practices and systems that ensure the quality of life of the older adults and their communities. It is a framework created by the WHO as part of its contribution to improving the quality of life of the world's older adults. It is important for anyone who is planning on pursuing careers in the area of public health to familiarize themselves with the WHO's definitions and the tools that they use to support the progress of research and practice.
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