What is Health 1 of 4

 
What is health? Setting the Groundwork.
Contributed by: Dr. Darrin Robertson, D.C. on 1/7/2007     www.Yourhub.com

Part 1 of a 4 Part Series
What is health to you? The common response to this question is "feeling good." As long as we do not have symptoms we perceive ourselves as being well. Most of us have been trained to think that if we don't have pain, we're healthy. If we do have pain, there must be something wrong. Structurally, approximately ten percent of your nervous system is dedicated towards the sense of feeling (pain, cold, and so on). The other ninety percent of your nervous system is dedicated towards all other functions of the body such as breathing, heart function, digestion and movement. There could be something occurring in the other ninety percent that you are unaware of; and if you are waiting to feel it, you never will.  Therefore, what we feel may mislead us in determining our level of wellness. One can have a life threatening disease for years and never have a symptom. If "feeling good" truly did equal health, why do millions of Americans die from heart attacks without knowing there was a problem? Americans make up about 4 % of the world's total population, yet we expend almost 50% of all the money spent on medical care in the world¹.  By spending half of the world's healthcare money, shouldn't we be one of the healthiest societies?  "The fact is that the US population does not have anywhere near the best health in the world. Of 13 countries in a recent comparison, the United States ranks an average of 12  (second from the bottom) for 16 available health indicators." This quote is taken directly from The Journal of the American Medical Association².

Rankings of the U.S. on the individual indicators are as follows:
     § 13th (last) for low-birth-weight percentages
     § 13th for neonatalmortality and infant mortality overall
     § 11th for post neonatalmortality
     § 13th for years of potential life lost (excluding external causes)
     § 11th for life expectancy at 1 year for females,12th for males
     § 10th for life expectancy at 15 years for females,12th for males
     § 10th for life expectancy at 40 years for females,9th for males
     § 7th for life expectancy at 65 years for females,7th for males
     § 3rd for life expectancy at 80 years for females,3rd for males
     § 10th for age-adjusted mortality

Health Defined                                                                                                                                                                                       Health is more than just the presence or absence of symptoms. Dorland's Medical Dictionary states that health is "...a state of optimal physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmities."  In order to truly understand optimum health, one must examine the physical, chemical and emotional components of well-being, also called the Triad of Health. Physically, our tissues, organs and glands should be properly functioning 100 % of the time. Chemically, we truly are what we eat, breathe and drink. Emotionally, our attitude and ability to handle stress directly affect our body's ability to stay healthy.
My primary purpose in writing this article is to provide the groundwork needed to explore the Triad of Health. Our current health care system is in a crisis. We cannot expect to find health in a drug, nor can we wait for symptoms to tell us that something is wrong - it may be too late. Over the next three weeks I will be discussing each aspect of health: the physical, chemical and emotional. My goal is to create a paradigm shift by helping others take charge of their personal well-being. Look for my next article on Sunday, January 14th.
 
[1] Newsweek. 2001; February 26.
[2] JAMA. 2000; 284:483-485.

Dr. Darrin Robertson, D.C. Copyright ã 2007