What is “Health?” Health is a broad term, and every person defines it differently. Does it just mean freedom from disease? Absence of pain? Do I have to be in amazing shape to consider myself healthy? Is health simply a physical state or is it more about mindset and behavior?
One thing most of us probably agree on is that life is easier when our health is better and more challenging when we are dealing with health problems.
Health affects our ability, and health may affect our wealth.
What are the most common issues affecting our health negatively? Quite a few things come to mind, loosely sorted from most avoidable to least avoidable and out of our control:
1. Lack of exercise
2. Poor nutrition
3. Self-inflicted injuries or diseases
4. Stress
5. Acquired illnesses
6. Environmental pollution
7. Accidents
8. Injuries inflicted by others
9. Congenital disabilities
10. Hereditary conditions
The world is a challenging place for our health, but there is a lot we can do about it. Allow me to generalize a bit as I explore each category, knowing full well that each person’s place of residence and economic situation may impose significant limitations on their control over aspects of their health that others take for granted.
Lack of Exercise
Exercise just means movement, lack of exercise means absence of movement. The amount of exercise we get is technically the easiest to control and the most critical to longer-term health, and exercise is generally free. Yet this is something many struggle with intensely, partly due to societal structures, and partly due to our own physical and mental inertia. I will dig deeply into this topic in future posts.
Poor Nutrition
One of my favorite topics is “Food as entertainment.” Issues around food choices appear to be largely psychological, and resolving them may require deep and painful self-examination. On the other hand, it is much easier to eat healthy than people think, and the long-term benefits are dramatic. I will address nutrition frequently on this blog.
Self-Inflicted Injuries or Diseases
This is a tough topic, and I do not have deep insight here. (Well, I indeed had one very significant event in my life that falls into this category, which I plan on writing about when the time is right.) Behaviors that put our health directly at risk (for example behaviors that result in contracting sexually transmitted diseases) or result in self-harm (including substance abuse or attempted suicide) are much too common and require highly personal treatment.
Stress
The topic of stress is another one that I feel passionate about. Stress and its detriment to one’s health deserves a lot of attention, and we have more control over it than we imagine. We may not be able to remove all sources of stress, but we have access to many tools to help counteract and manage stress.
Acquired illnesses
These are things like viral, bacterial or fungal infections. There is a lot we can do to avoid those: Good hygiene habits, staying away from people who we know to be ill, and keeping our immune system strong. Those actions only go so far though, and every person has a different level of susceptibility. I strongly believe good exercise and nutrition habits can be a big factor in preventing many of these illnesses.
Environmental pollution
This is a complex area, as we are exposed to so many artificial and natural compounds that may negatively affect our health. Many of them are right in our homes, where we should have control over them, but we often lack the awareness or ability to detect them. Then there are pollutants in our larger environment, in our air, water, and food supply. The challenge is that we often do not know what we are exposed to and therefore may not have a way to avoid those hazards, be it for economic or practical reasons.
Accidents
This could be anything from slipping on a rug at home or being involved in a car crash. I would include natural disasters in this category as well. Accidents are largely avoidable, and one could argue that an incident caused by our own or someone else’s negligence is not an accident, and could therefore fall into some of the other categories described here.
Injuries inflicted by others
This could be anything from getting injured through someone else’s negligence, which could also fall into the accident category, to being the victim of a violent crime. No prevention in the world could keep us fully protected from these types of injuries, unless we choose to isolate ourselves completely from all other members of society.
Congenital disabilities
A disability a person is born with; heartbreaking and not preventable by the person suffering the consequences.
Hereditary conditions
Also not preventable by the person with the affliction, and the condition may not make itself know until much later in life.
Conclusion
Now that we have categorized the issues potentially affecting out health, we can start thinking about steps to prevent them by limiting our risk and, if we are already afflicted by any of them, learn how to minimize their effect on our abilities. I will get into a lot more detail on some of these categories in the future. For now, read through this list and think about which categories are relevant to your life.