YOUR HEALTH IS YOUR WEALTH

You are Welcome to my blog on health issues. As we all know health is wealth. If you don't have good health, you cannot create a wealth, therefore, take wrath attention to your health.

In this issues, we will be discussion different ways by which our health needs to be taken care of on this platform.

First, what is health?

Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living organism. In humans, it is the ability of individuals or communities to adapt and self-manage when facing physical, mental or social challenges. (Huber et al; 2011) The World Health Organization (WHO, 2006) defined health in its broader sense in its 1948 constitution as "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

As  WHO defines it, if you don't have a good sense of yourself, i.e. you are not in good frame of mind, it would be hard for you to move forward in anything be it, academically, financially, business-wise, career wise, maritally, religiously just to name but a few.

Our health is very paramount to our day to day living.

Determinant of Health

The following are the determinants adapted from (WHO, 2011). Generally speaking, the context in which an individual lives is of great importance for both his health status and quality of their life. It is increasingly recognized that 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. According to the World Health Organization, the main determinants of health include the social and economic environment, the physical environment, and the person's individual characteristics and behaviors.

More specifically, key factors that have been found to influence whether people are healthy or unhealthy include the following:

·        Income and social status

·        Social support networks

·        Education and literacy

·        Employment/working conditions

·        Social environments

·        Physical environments

·        Personal health practices and coping skills

·        Healthy child development

·        Biology and genetics

·        Health care services

·        Gender

·        Culture

All the above factors directly or indirectly impact or influence ones health in the society.  If you are poor, it is likely that you will lack basic health amenities and this will affect the way you think and reason, vice versa.

Let's look at potentials issues in health.

There are different types of health problems common with many people across the world. Disease is one of the most common. According to GlobalIssues.org, approximately 36 million people die each year from non-communicable (not contagious) disease including cardiovascular disease cancer, diabetes, and chronic lung disease (Shah, 2014, Moffett 2014). As for communicable diseases, both viral and bacterial, AIDS/HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria are the most common also causing millions of deaths every year (Shah, 2014).

Another health issue that causes death or contributes to other health problems is malnutrition majorly among children. One of the groups malnutrition affects most is young children. Approximately 7.5 million children under the age of 5 die from malnutrition, and it is usually brought on by not having the money to find or make food (Shah, 2014).

Bodily injuries are also a common health issue worldwide. These injuries, including broken bones, fractures, and burns can reduce a person’s quality of life or can cause fatalities including infections that resulted from the injury or the severity injury in general (Moffett, 2013).

Some contributing factors to poor health are lifestyle choices. These include smoking cigarettes, which according to LIVESTRONG.com kills 443,000 people each year (Moffett, 2013). It also can include a poor diet, whether it is overeating or an overly constrictive diet. Inactivity can also contribute to health issues and also a lack of sleep, excessive alcohol consumption, and neglect of oral hygiene (Moffett, 2013).

There are also genetic disorders that are inherited by the person and can vary in how much they affect the person and when they surface.

The one health issue that is the most unfortunate because the majority of these health issues are preventable is that approximately 1 billion people lack access to health care systems (Shah, 2014).

It is easy to say that the most common and harmful health issue is that a lot of people do not have access to quality remedies.(UNO, 2014)

Maintaining Your Health

Maintaining ones health is very paramount to the success of anything an individual wants to embark upon. To achieve this, the following measures need to be met.

1. Diet: You need to take good diet and maintaining good health dietary. By taking good variety of animal based and plant based food for improvement in your health. Such nutrients give you energy and keep your body running. Nutrients help build and strengthen bones, muscles, and tendons and also regulate body processes (i.e. blood pressure). The food guide pyramid is a pyramid-shaped guide of healthy foods divided into sections. Each section shows the recommended intake for each food group (i.e. Protein, Fat, Carbohydrates, and Sugars). Making healthy food choices is important because it can lower your risk of heart disease, developing some types of cancer, and it will contribute to maintaining a healthy weight (Healthy Living, 2014).

2. Exercise: Physical exercise enhances or maintains physical fitness and overall health and wellness. It strengthens muscles and improves the cardiovascular system.

3. Good Sleep: You need to rest your brain after a day job. Many people don't sleep and this affect their health. So cultivate the habit of taking your nap after a day job and don't over stress yourself. Sleep helps in the formation of growth and development in young ones.

Children between 0-3 months need at least 14-17 hours of sleep;  4- 11 months need at least 12-15 hours of sleep, Toddlers (1-2years) need 11-14 hours, pre-school kids (3-5years) need at least 10-13 hours of sleep, school age kids (6-13 years) need 9-11 hours of sleep, Teenagers (14-17 years) need 8-10 hours of sleep, Adults (18-64 years) need at least 7-9hours of sleep, while the older people (65+) need 7-8 hours of sleep. With the aforementioned put in place daily, your health is very sure and you will be in good health.

From the above, we will noticed that ones’ health is very paramount for his sustainability in life. Once your health has been tampered with, it will be difficult to live a fruitful life. I pray our health will not be tamper with. So, make sure you walk in the direction of the above guide to maintain health’s life style and good living.

References

1.     Huber M, Knottnerus JA, Green, L., van der Horst H, Jadad AR, Kromhout D, Smid H. BMJ 2011; 343 (d4163) http://savenhshomeopathy.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Huber-Definition-Health-BMJ-21.pdf.

2.     Moffett, Tamara. “Top Ten Reasons for Poor Health.” Livestrong. 16 Aug. 2014. Web. 26 Feb. 2014. <http://www.livestrong.com/article/456668-top-ten-reasons-for-poor-health/>.

3.     Shah, Anup. “Health Issues.” Global Issues. 05 Jan. 2014. Web. 26 Feb. 2014. <http://www.globalissues.org/issue/587/health-issues>.

4.     United Nations Global Issues". Un.org. Retrieved 2014-03-01.

5.     World Health Organization. WHO definition of Health, Preamble to the Constitution of the World Health Organization as adopted by the International Health Conference, New York, 19–22 June 1946; signed on 22 July 1946 by the representatives of 61 States (Official Records of the World Health Organization, no. 2, p. 100) and entered into force on 7 April 1948. In Grad, Frank P. (2002). "The Preamble of the Constitution of the World Health Organization". Bulletin of the World Health Organization 80 (12): 982.

6.     World Health Organization. 2006. Constitution of the World Health Organization –Basic Documents, Forty-fifth edition, Supplement, October 2006