What the health?
- Elodie
- Jan. 20, 2023
What defines health? In fact, what is health?
The World Health Organization (if someone knows, it must be them) defines health in their constitution as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity". This definition goes back to 1948. What impresses me here, is that it seems like already almost 75 years ago, ¾ of a century, health was seen in its holistic concept encompassing body, mind and social well-being. Why is it then, that over the past years and decades, health has been predominantly understood as physical health solely? How did we lose that holistic perspective in health?
I am not sure I have an answer to that, but the good news is that the holistic perspective of health is slowly finding its way back into the medical world. Topics like mental health are openly discussed and acted upon recently, which is great. The stigma tagging on the concept of mental health is slowly being removed, and people dare to talk openly about it. This enables to arise broader awareness and gives people easy access to valuable (self-help) resources. Likewise, the importance of social health made an impression on most of us, when we had to stay days, weeks or months in isolation or lockdown during the pandemic years. Let alone also the difference that the company of a pet makes on lonely Netflix evenings or weekends.
Over 2 000 years ago, the Roman poet Virgil made a statement that one keeps coming across still today, namely "The greatest wealth is health". I am sure, not everyone would agree with him. People have their own understanding of health and dedicate different levels of importance to it (unfortunately, because health is indeed your greatest wealth!!). As children, we would not waste a thought to health or health concerns. However, as we grow older and the first health concerns come up here and there, we don't properly know how to handle our bodies, or minds respectively. As we learnt from our fast-paced society, we are looking for the "quick fix". People turn to pharmaceuticals, as medication is perceived as the easy-way-out. Swallow the pill, and consider the problem fixed. And then, once the ibuprofen or paracetamol don't bring the estimated effects, we become overwhelmed.
This is the moment, when ideally one realizes that western medicine, centered around physical health, is not the only treasure box of remedies. I certainly encourage everyone to do first and foremost regular health check-ups and get your symptoms clarified by a health professional. It is certainly the way to go and absolutely life-saving in many conditions. I am working in clinical research myself and do deeply believe in the power and wonders of western medicine and science. What I mean is, if you have the feeling that you are running from doctor to doctor and you are still not feeling any better, you need to think outside of the box. Then it is time, to take on that holistic view of health and look for alternative or additional options, that nurture not only your body, but also your mind and soul. How can we do this? Well, more blog posts will follow…