What is Health?
Everybody wants good health, but what is health (or wellness), anyway?
According to the World Health Organization, which has not changed its definition since 1948, “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
Most people probably think of wellness in primarily physical terms—in which case good nutrition, hydration, clean air, exercise, and rest are the main issues. Some would add in a mental factor, as in the “mind-body connection,” and emphasize that true wellness is only possible when a person is healthy in both body and mind. But we would add that spiritual health is also essential.
In fact, we think that true wellness involves four arenas of life: body, mind, spirit, and social relationships. This is because we are all persons with bodies, minds, and spirits who live in the context of relationships—whether we are speaking of one-on-one friendships or our relationship to the entire human race.
Our basis for making this statement is our Judeo-Christian perspective. You will find many health-producing practices are promoted in the teachings of Moses and the Old Testament prophets and by Jesus and the writers of the New Testament. The Old Testament word for wellness is shalom, which is often translated “peace” even though its much broader meaning is “whole.” The New Testament word is soteria, which is often translated “salvation.” This word is best understood in the context of healing, health, and wellness.
Further, as one of our friends says, health is best understood as a verb, because it is dynamic, always changing as the sum of the relative healthiness of the factors just mentioned. So if you want to improve your health, you need to maintain or improve areas in which you are already “healthy” and be willing to make the changes that will take you toward better health in other areas.
Why? Because that line from the movie “The Princess Bride” is right: “If you haven’t got your health, then you haven’t got anything.”