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. Overall health is achieved through a combination of physical, mental, and social well-being, which, together is commonly referred to as the Health Triangle.
There are four general determinants of health including human biology, environment, lifestyle, healthcare services. 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.
Maintaining health
Achieving and maintaining health is an ongoing process. Effective strategies for staying healthy and improving one's health include the following elements:
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.
Personal health depends partially on the social structure of one person`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.
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.
Stress management
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. 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.
Health care
Health care 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.
Public health
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)] 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. 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.
WHAT IS HEALTH EDUCATION?
• Health education is a social science that draws from the biological, environmental, psychological, physical and medical sciences to promote health and prevent disease, disability and premature death through education-driven voluntary behaviour change activities.
• Health education is the development of individual, group, institutional, community and systematic strategies to improve health knowledge, attitudes, skills and behaviour.
• The purpose of health education is to positively influence the health behaviour of individuals and communities as well as the living and working conditions that influence their health.
WHY IS HEALTH EDUCATION IMPORTANT?
• Health education improves the health status of individuals, families, communities, states, and the nation.
• Health education enhances the quality of life for all people.
• Health education reduces premature deaths.
• By focusing on prevention, health education reduces the costs (both financial and human) that individuals, employers, families, insurance companies, medical facilities, communities, the state and the nation would spend on medical treatment.
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