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Meaning of Health

Is there a True Meaning of Health

Morayo Uzaka
822 206 132
October 11th 2013
NURS 160: Practical Nursing Theory
Humber College Institute of Technology and Learning

Is There a True Meaning of Health?

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Meaning of Health
Health is a controversial topic because it has a specific meaning to each individual. What
may be healthy for me may not be healthy for someone else. Many things that can affect a
persons definition of health may relate to the determinants of health, which are education,
physical environment, gender, culture and many more. The most important determinant today
would be social and income status. The ability to identify a determinant that personally relates to
you and overcome it or learn how to work around it, will aid in improving an individuals health
practices. In order to become the true definition of a nurse, which is one who respects and
practices the best practice guidelines, one needs to understand the fact that your own definition
of health may not be someone elses definition. Health promotion and awareness will aid in
carrying out the nursing practices accordingly.
The term health has a specific and personal meaning to each individual. Health, to me,
can be defined as the state of well being physically, mentally, and emotionally. The state of well
being to me means that a person is okay, complete and at ease. The definition of health that best
fits my belief of health is by the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO states that health can
be defined as a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely the
absence of disease or infirmity. (World Health Organization, 2013) This definition relates to me
because I do not believe health is just about the physical state. The mental, social and physical
states are in correlation with each other in a way that when one state is not at ease, it affects the
other. Not being okay mentally can affect an individual physically by causing stress, which can
lead to a person being ill. When I say being okay, I mean the person is at ease, settled or
complete. I personally feel that even if a person has a disease, there is a certain way that they live
that makes them happy. They may not physically be complete but when they live their life happy,
care-free and relaxed, they are remaining healthy.

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Meaning of Health
Health beliefs can be defined as personal convictions that influence health behavior.
(Mosby, 2012) My health belief is what helps me stay healthy. My one golden rule is to make
sure that I am mentally, emotionally and spiritually stable so that my physical state will be
healthy. If I am not at ease mentally, emotionally or spiritually then I will not be okay physically.
In order to be okay in both my mental and emotional state, I have to live everyday like its my
last. I say this to myself so that I can work hard as to not let things bother me. When I get up set,
I tend to let my emotions get the best of me. When my mind is not at ease, I am not able to focus
on other things. All attention is put towards my mind. Being upset emotionally and drained
mentally tends to affect my eating habits, my mood and also my ability to take care of myself
physically. Not being okay physically can definitely cause emotion and mental stress but for me
personally, being unstable mentally and emotionally tends to affect my physical state more.
The two determinants of health that influence my health beliefs would be personal health
practices and the social environment. In order for me to remain healthy, I need to be able to guide
and stick to my health practices. For example, I should not allow my mental and emotional state
to affect my physical state. Being able to stick by the rule and acting on it will lead me to be
successful in my personal health practices. If I continue to practice and oblige by the method, it
will become a part of me and play a role in my ability to stay healthy. My second determinant of
health would be the social environment. The social environment has an effect on the way an
individual views being healthy. As human beings we have the natural behavior to conform to
what everyone else is doing. If society defines being healthy as one way then we naturally
want to follow that social norm. To one person, how society defines health may not be what they
consider healthy but they do not want the society to view them a certain way. This goes back to
me being able to stick to my own personal health practices. In a situation like this I am asking

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myself Who cares what society thinks? With a mentality like that, I will not let their perception
of health interfere with mine.
My religious belief, which is Christianity, has their health beliefs based on what the Bible
says. For instance, in regards to physical state, in the bible it says, the fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. (Psalms 19:9)
This bible verse leads to the common saying Cleanliness is next to Godliness. This statement is
normally referred to appearance in the sense that you should practice good hygiene and make
sure your environment is clean. To me personally, this statement does not just reflect the physical
state but it also reflects the mental and emotional state. In order to make your way to the
Kingdom of Heaven, you have to be clean in all aspects. To be clean in the mental state, one has
to practice freeing the mind. To be clean in the emotional state one has to not holding grudges
and must control their emotions.
My religion also follows the belief that too much of anything is too much. This rule is
important because it is considered that if you are being too excessive, it reflects selfishness.
Being selfish is a sin so it is something that we as Christians want to avoid. In regards to health,
this rule can be applied to food. The ones that oblige by this rule tend to remain healthy nutrition
wise because they do not eat too much of everything especially when it comes to unhealthy food.
There is a common saying, Your eyes are bigger than your mouth. Most of us love food,
especially I. I tend to eat until my stomach is in pain because the food looks and tastes amazing.
My religion promotes healthiness but it is not the beliefs that will make me healthy. Practicing
and acting on theses belief will keep me healthy.
There are a few strategies that I use to improve my health practices. The main strategy is

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Meaning of Health
to educate myself on how to be healthy. WHO mentions that in order to promote ones health,
they need to develop their personal skills, such as personal and social development (World
Health Organization, 2009) For my physical health, I try my best to eat much more appropriately.
To eat more appropriately, I follow the food pyramid to guide me in eating moderate sizes of
each food group. I try my best to remain consistent so that I am getting the right doses weekly.
The food pyramid is very important because it guides you in the amount of nutrition that is
important to the body. (Offerly Express, 2013). Another important practice I take part in to
promote my physical health would be exercising. I do not go to the gym on a regular a basis but I
take time out to do home exercises that focus on cardio and weight. Also, to remain healthy in
my mental and emotional state, I continuously try to relax my mind, and not let things bother me.
Culture and religion play a major role in a persons beliefs and health practices. I sat
down with classmate Rebecca Rohanlall, and realized the common definition of health for most
people is based on the physical aspect. That was one of the major differences between our true
meanings of being healthy. I believe that the mental, emotional and physical are all very
important but for Rebecca she was focusing more on the physical and trying to improve that by
eating healthier. The problem with that for Rebecca was the fact that her major health
determinant is income and social status. Her income played a major role in her access to healthy
food. Just like myself, Rebecca wants to remain healthy but she does not have the proper funds
to practice this. The healthiest foods seem to be the most expensive. Unfortunately for Rebecca,
the people in her household do not practice health promotion, meanwhile the people in my
household practice health promotion. If I am falling off track, in the sense that I have not been
carrying out my health practices, I have someone at home who is there to remind me and to
ensure I get back on track. Rebecca does not have that with the members of her family. Rebecca

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Meaning of Health
is now working towards overcoming that health determinant or barrier by making money. She
now has a job where she is making enough money to support herself financially. With this, she
will be able to remain healthy, based on her own definition of health.
Sitting down with Rebecca gave me the experience of having to learn about another
individuals personal health beliefs. This is very important because as a nurse, I will come in
contact with people who have different beliefs, culture and values than I have. As a nurse I have
to exercise respect for what my client or colleague believes. An example of doing this would be
having a client who is diagnosed with cancer. My responsibility is to provide care for this client;
in order to this, I would tell the client that he or she will undergo chemotherapy. The client may
tell me their culture does not believe in such practice and they would rather have a spiritual
doctor come and perform a ritual ceremony. As a professional nurse following the standard
practice and guidelines by the CNO, its not my place to see that clients culture as wrong.
When we know a culture, we often think we know what is right for the client, and thus may
impose our own values on the client by assuming our values are their values. (College Of
Nurses Ontario, 2013) Being culturally aware will aid in being a better nurse.
In conclusion, in regards to health we need to be aware that there are factors that affect
an individuals meaning of health. Although we may see our own beliefs and cultures as correct,
we cannot try to impose those beliefs on that individual. In order to be a nurse that obliges by the
guidelines, one needs to educate themselves on what our colleagues and clients believe and we
need to have respect. Those factors should not influence the care that you provide to a client. One
needs to remember, health promotion is about allowing an individual make decisions towards
their own health.

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References
College Of Nurses Ontario. (2013). Cuturally Sensitive Care. Retrieved from College of Nurses
Ontario: www.cno.org/Global/docs/prac/41040_CuturallySens.pdf
Mosby. (2012). Mosby's Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing and Health Proffessions, 9th Edition.
Offerly Express. (2013). You Can Use the Food Pyramid To Get Healthy. Tullamore, Ireland:
Johnston Press.
World Health Organization. (2009). Milestones in Health Promotion. World Health Organization.
World Health Organization. (2013). WHO definition of Health. Retrieved from www.who.int