Becoming Healthy

Becoming healthy begins with health knowledge. When you have high-quality health knowledge then you will make quality health decisions. Where do you get this information you ask? Well, to read a magazine or talk with a family doctor is not enough. You must be able to use that knowledge. That is, you must be health literate. You must be self-directed, use a variety of sources to get current, credible , and applicable information. Secondly , you must use your critical thinking and problem solving skills. This is a step that I did not expect to be a major component, that is effective communicating. The ability to communicate effectively will create a climate of understanding and support for you and your peers (or whoever you communicate with about health) to learn about health. You have taken that step by reading this blog. Lastly, you must be responsible for your own health.

There is a group called Healthy People 2010. Their focus is to improve health of americans by helping individuals of all ages increase life expectancy and improve their quality of life. It also wants to eliminate health disparities among different segments of the population.

I think becoming healthy has become a world wide effort. How are you currently receiving your health knowledge?? Is it working for you?? Let me know how your journey to complete health is coming along!!!!

What does it really mean to be Healthy???

Because there are millions of people in the world, there can be many definitions for health. The text definition for health is an abstract idea for which is said to have many definitions. However, in efforts to provide a multifaceted definition, the World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. This definition is contained in the concept of Holistic Health. Holistic Health is merely a concept of health involving physical, mental, emotional, social, and environmental aspects of a person as well as the community that person lives in. Human potential is obviously missing from the definition. That is were the concept of wellness comes into play. Wellness is your potential and responsibility for health. Every person on this earth is responsible for his or her own health.

Becoming healthy is not as hard as it seems.

There are two ways to view the process of becoming healthy:

1. The first way to view the process is by developing healthy behaviors.
2. The second is through behavior change.

Recape: So far we've learned that health has many definitions. We also learned that there are two ways to view the process. The first way is to develop healthy behaviors, and the second is through behavior change.

Identifying what health really means to you is the key to your success on your journey to health. This is the first of many secrets to find. Join me on my journey to total health. Feel free leave your comments and questions on health. What is your definition of health??

-Monique