Can You Tell Me What ‘Health’ Means?
Grab a pen and a blank sheet of paper.
Now write down everything that is more important to you than your health.
Once you’re done, read on…
Did you do it?
Probably not a lot written down, right? Perhaps your page is blank.
Clearly health is one of our most important assets…if not the most important! Most of us place a high value on health. And we desire more health.
What IS Health?
Take a moment to think about it. It’s a simple and reasonable question. ‘What is health? What does health mean?’ Considering how important health is, why do we struggle and “umm and ahhh” so much when asked this seemingly simple question?
Is ‘health’ just feeling good?
Considering it is so important to us, you’d think there should be no difficulty in easily explaining exactly what ‘health’ is. The reality is, however, that most people do not understand what health is and really have no idea how to actually define it!
Most of us, (including many healthcare professionals), mistakenly understand ‘health’ to mean ‘the absence of symptoms‘…or in other words “feeling good”. And while it is true that the healthiest amongst us tend to feel good, there are many of us who may be feeling okay but are far from being truly healthy.
Is it possible to have cancer for years and have no symptoms?
What about those with tooth decay yet their mouth feels fine?
What about the person that is feeling fantastic today but will suffer a serious heart attack tomorrow?
How a person is feeling has NEVER been scientifically validated as a measure of that person’s health status. So we cannot use the absence of symptoms (or “feeling good”) as a valid definition of ‘health’.
Let’s agree to define health as ‘a state in which every cell in the body is functioning properly‘.
If all of your cells are healthy…you’re healthy! If some of your cells are sick…you’re sick! When each individual cell that makes up your body’s ecosystem is functioning properly you will naturally express health. Simple as that!
Conclusion
Knowing the true definition of health arms you with the ability to determine if the choices you make are moving you towards or away from health. All you need to do is ask yourself this important question, “Does this make my cells function better or worse?”
Do you agree with this definition of health?
