CHEERS TO YOUR HEALTH

The word “health” and its derivaties like “healthy” are loosely thrown around all over the fitness and nutrition industry and media.

But how do YOU define ‘health’

The World Health Organization has a simple definition as follows:

Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

Look at that statement for a moment. Can you think of any moment during any day of your life when you could truthfully say that you fit into this criteria?

I’d say all of those things almost never apply to any of us all at once…except perhaps during sex and after about 6-8 alcoholic beverages (with full intentions of having at least 2-3 more drinks after the first 8 rounds are done!)

This seems like an unrealistic criteria to be shooting for per se.

But as you will find with just about everything in life, its all relative.

It seems more realistic that health would have a much more personal and relative definition for each of us.

Health is relative to your age, the health of other people of your gender and age, how ‘healthy’ you were 5 years ago, and even how ‘healthy’ you were 5 days ago.

For example, I currently have tedonitits in my left tricep tendon, its not nearly as bad as it was 6 months ago.

I can lift approximately 70% of the weight I was lifting before I got the tendonitits, but compared to the guys I am working out with I am still strong.

The tendonitis doesn’t really stop me from doing anything in my life (besides lifting heavier weights)

So would I be considered healthy right now?

Could I say that most of my body is healthy besides my left tricep tendon?

In reality you could easily make the case that all areas of science, medicine, human biology, environmental biology, sociology, politics and economics all have an impact on your ‘health’.

Its up to you to define where you draw the line on what health means to you and what you can do about it.

So whats your definition of health?

John