I love the  Mahatma Gandhi quote–  “It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver”.Anyone who has ever been sick will appreciate Gandhi’s sentiment. Your health is very precious. When you do not have good health, it is hard to thrive in any area of your life – you will crave feeling healthy again. One problem is that when people are well, they may take their health for granted and be complacent. 

You may have seen my video last week where I explained that I have a new mission in life… to help improve the health of 1 million people. A mission that came to me in a moment where I feared I might not live through the night… due to Covid pneumonia. In the 4 weeks that I was unwell with Covid and the several weeks of recovery that followed I worried that my health and life would not return to normal for me and that was scary. I was aware that my body and especially my brain and lungs were not working right. 

Over the last week I have been thinking about this new mission of mine and the fundamental question of what is health. 

The World Health Organization has defined health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”, since 1947.  This positive model of health recognizes health as being holistic and connected to other aspects of wellbeing. Sadly, much medical practice still follows an outdated model of treating disease, and neglects 2 wider goals 1. of preventing illness and 2. improving all aspects of wellbeing. 

Among the positive benefits of a positive model of health are: 

• Prevention of illness – did you know about 80% of chronic illness is preventable through lifestyle change? 

•  Increasing the number of years in good health –  “adding life to years”

• Extending lifespan – “adding years to life”

•  Improving mental and physical wellbeing

• Improve outcomes when illness strikes

• Reduce stress and other risk factors

•  Improve life satisfaction

• Reduce health care expenditure

• Improve the health and wellbeing of your loved ones

And so much more

So I have a few questions for you to ponder this week… 

• What is good health for you? What are the symptoms and signs?

• What is poor health for you? What are the symptoms and signs?

• What do you know you need to do to increase your chances of being healthy?

As I mentioned earlier about 80% of chronic illness is preventable – While you can not guarantee good health you can take steps to increase the odds. Have a healthy happy week ahead.