Exactly what does is mean for the child to become 100% healthy? This can be a question I love to ask my patients every single day. Surprisingly, we usually obtain a mixed bag of solutions.
For many, being healthy only denotes not sick. In other words, getting no outward signs and symptoms of illness like coughs, sneezes, fevers, etc. For other people, true health includes not just optimum physical well-being, but mental (emotional) and social well-being too.
So that is it? Could it be enough to define true health as simply feeling good within the moment or could parents be missing the larger picture of the child’s health by making use of this type of narrow definition?
Thankfully, we do not have to appear far to have an official answer. The Planet Health Organization has defined health as: “… a condition of complete physical, mental and social well-being and never just the lack of disease or infirmity.”
In other words, health isn’t just the lack of signs and symptoms, it’s a mixture of these 3 regions of health: physical, mental and social well-being. To put it simply, health is actually about how exactly well the body functions in general, not always your feelings.
Putting this idea of true health into practice could be summarized in a single word: prevention. Families that positively practice preventative health, have a tendency to reflect the WHO’s meaning of health much better than individuals who don’t.
However, families that end up scrambling in one health crisis to a different have to start thinking about some hard questions: Prior to sick, had you been doing everything easy to promote optimum health?
This could include, however is not restricted to, proper diet, plenty of exercise, regular positive social interactions along with other families and activities/games that stimulate creativity to mention a couple of. These aren’t new concepts, but they’re frequently overlooked, especially throughout the holiday several weeks.
