What is health?
How much control do we have of it? Are physical and mental health connected?
Dictionary Definition
health [ helth ]
1. general physical condition: the general condition of the body or mind, especially in terms of the presence or absence of illnesses, injuries, or impairments
2. overall condition of something: the general condition of something in terms of soundness, vitality, and proper functioning
3. drinking toast: a toast drunk to wish for somebody’s well-being and prosperity
Jullien’s Definition
Health is how we feel beyond the threshold of merely functioning.
Whenever we ask someone “How are you?” and they pause to think about their answer and they say with a smile “I’m good” or “I’m doing well,” on the surface they are healthy. Oftentimes we only measure health in regards to the physical body, but we know it runs deeper than that. When answering the question thoughtfully we’re thinking about ourselves holistically—mind, body, soul, relationships, etc.
When it comes to the physical body, we only have a little control of our health through eating and exercise. But even Lance Armstrong, perhaps the world’s best cyclist ever, developed cancer. Physically healthy people die of disease all of the time. Some children are even born with diseases like lukemia. While healthy eating and exercise do limit the risk of disease, I think they increase the energy output of the body moreso than anything and that’s a good enough reason to do them. For the most part, we don’t know how our bodies work—there are all of these involuntary functions that we don’t know about. That’s why physical checkups are important because we can’t fully check our own bodies. Given that, unhealthy things can be occurring in our bodies right now that we aren’t aware of.
In 2007, 22% of deaths are caused by cancer in the United States. Cancer is defined as a large, heterogeneous class of diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled growth. Then a small portion of deaths are caused by unintentional injuries. And then the rest of deaths are actually caused by things we can’t fully control. We can decrease the risk of getting some of them, but we can’t completely prevent them from occurring. They are natural.
Mentally, I think a lot of our health is determined by our expectations of life. Depression is a big issue globally and some people may be more genetically prone to depression than others, but in many cases depression begins with there is a perceived gap (or depression) between where I am and where I expected to be in life by this time or between where I am and where my peer group (or reference point) is. Acknowledging and focusing on that gap only widens it and then we tend to look for things to fill the empty gap such as alcohol, drugs, gambling, spending, eating, etc. And those eventually become addictions. Our choice comes in our expectations and reference points and it seems to me that the best way to preserve mental health is have no expectations and no reference points so that you can just be with out comparison and feeling behind. It’s good to have models of success in various areas of life, but use them as a teacher, not as a form of comparison.
Spiritual health has do with our relationship to our spiritual source in the same way that our relationship health has to do with our interactions with our parents, peers, colleagues, partners, kids, family members, and strangers. Is there anger? Frustration? Understanding? Compassion? Expectation? Love? Hate? Good communication? Friendship? Though we can’t control other people, with enough self-discipline we can control our reaction to people. Will I be loving and kind at the family reunion or aggressive and angry? We can choose who we are going to be in advance despite what happens during our interactions with others.
All in all, we tend to spend more time, energy, and money trying to control our physical health through eating, exercise, dieting, and medical support when in fact, our physical health is the thing we have the least control over. It’s understandable in a culture that is hung up on what the eye can see—the physical beauty and brawn of the body. In my life, my physical health has been helped by doing what I can to preserve my mental health, spiritual health, and relationship health. When those are good, my body feels good, and even if my body doesn’t feel good, I feel good. The mind and the soul are non-physical elements of our being and the affect the physical body in ways we can’t fully understand. Control what you can and release what you can’t.
Health is wealth!
