My theme for 2012 will be "What is health"? Today is the start.
Health is more than just physical fitness.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has this as its official definition: "Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."
In a more recent statement the WHO said that health is "a resource for everyday life, not the objective of living. Health is a positive concept emphasising social and personal resources, as well as physical capacities."
I find it useful to analyse what "health" is, by examining its main components, while keeping in mind that these components are inter-related to a greater or lesser extent. In future posts as I find the time and give it some thought I plan to discuss each of these areas in some detail.
The components of health which I think are the main ones are
How often do we encounter someone with a good working knowledge in one area of health who seems to be blind in another area? The academic whose mind is highly developed and whose emotions are not. The spiritual guru in tune with God but who is obese and unfit physically. And so on, you all know someone whose life is unbalanced. Neglecting any one area of health can have consequences in other areas. My aim with this series is to encourage all of us to develop every area to the best of our ability.
I am not sure when my next piece of writing on "health" will appear; it is my project for the rest of this year.
Recent running:
Parkrun 5k 5 May Jill Pearson 26.28 pb
SFP 7.5k 5 May Jeni Greenland 39.27
SFP 5k 5 May Ewen Thompson 23.16
I have signed up for Parkrun and hope to get out to some of them this year. To be part of Parkrun, you only have to register once, in advance, and print off your bar-code which you must then take to each run. Everything is free. Full details are at the website, http://www.parkrun.com.au/ginninderra/home.
Health is more than just physical fitness.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has this as its official definition: "Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."
In a more recent statement the WHO said that health is "a resource for everyday life, not the objective of living. Health is a positive concept emphasising social and personal resources, as well as physical capacities."
I find it useful to analyse what "health" is, by examining its main components, while keeping in mind that these components are inter-related to a greater or lesser extent. In future posts as I find the time and give it some thought I plan to discuss each of these areas in some detail.
The components of health which I think are the main ones are
- Intellectual
- Emotional
- Physical
- Spiritual
- Relational
- Financial
- Volitional
- Vocational
How often do we encounter someone with a good working knowledge in one area of health who seems to be blind in another area? The academic whose mind is highly developed and whose emotions are not. The spiritual guru in tune with God but who is obese and unfit physically. And so on, you all know someone whose life is unbalanced. Neglecting any one area of health can have consequences in other areas. My aim with this series is to encourage all of us to develop every area to the best of our ability.
I am not sure when my next piece of writing on "health" will appear; it is my project for the rest of this year.
Recent running:
Parkrun 5k 5 May Jill Pearson 26.28 pb
SFP 7.5k 5 May Jeni Greenland 39.27
SFP 5k 5 May Ewen Thompson 23.16
I have signed up for Parkrun and hope to get out to some of them this year. To be part of Parkrun, you only have to register once, in advance, and print off your bar-code which you must then take to each run. Everything is free. Full details are at the website, http://www.parkrun.com.au/ginninderra/home.
