Definition of Health

Hello, everyone I am the honorary professor Hsieh, Ming-Jer, at School of Nutrition and Health Science in Taipei Medical University, The topic I would like to share with you is Modern people’s health crisis and its coping strategies. As we all know, we need a very healthy body to carry on with our life. There is an old Chinese saying that life contains “eight strengths.(八力)” I think it is a very good metaphor. So, what’s “eight strengths”?

From starting adult life at 20 years old to the end of life at 100 years old, each strength represent for 10-years-experience The ages from 20 years old to 30 years old that most of you have experienced focus on your education background At your 30s, it relies on your ability. At your 40s, it relies on your experience. 50s, your financial ability 60s, your physical strength 70s, your charm 80s, your medical history and 90s, it depends on the date of departure. Each of the eight strengths is related to health. As long as you have a healthy body you can demonstrate the abilities you have learned in youthful days. So you can enrich your life experience.

Of course, the wealth you have created for the happiness of your life requires a healthy body to enjoy it. We all hope that our twilight years will end without pain and we can have a prolong life. With no exception, everyone requires a healthy body. So what is health? In Asia, our definition of health tends to be no illness or discomfort. This statement is a bit of superficial. Health can be defined through quantity indicator. Therefore, health also means an individual is able to keep his/her physical, body spirit, social capability and wisdom in a good status. Health also means good adaptability to the environment so a healthy person can enjoy daily activities without fatigue. A healthy person can handle various situations.

So these are some ideas to define a healthy person. We want to be healthy, however, there are times we are surrounded by the threats to our health for instance, poor lifestyle or bad habits these are the threats to damage our health. Sometimes we are blind to these hidden threats for instance, public nuisance, stress, insufficient exercise and too much air conditioning & heating as well as lack of mental activity. Threats to health in food, instant foods for example, though they are convenient it causes imbalance of nutrition in our diet. In addition, electromagnetic wave, pesticide and food additives are abused. These are the hidden threats that we overlooked easily. These threats can affect our health and longevity.

According to medical research, how long can human beings live? Human’s life cycle is at least 100 years old to 150 years old. However, let’s look at the average life span in Taiwan, the average life span for females is around 85 years old while the male is around 77 to 78 years old. So, it seems we are impossible to avoid sickness and die earlier. According to the statistics, more than 90% of people in Taiwan die from illness. Therefore, we must live healthy and do not wait until illness comes to us before responding to it. Treatment is always one step late. The best way is to prevent our body from illness and even try to maintain our body healthy all the time.

This is the key point to share with you today. Health can start from our attitude, habits, and behavior. It all starts with ourselves. Of course, other than ourselves, 15% of the factors that affect health are from genes and that is something that we can’t change. Another 10% are from the social conditions, including our occupation and social activities, 7% are physicla environments conditions, and medicine for treatment is less than 10%, at only around 8%. Medicine tends to be used for prevention. Health services are for stituaion like stroke or serious accidents. These matters probably account for 40%. Our health is mainly controlled by ourselves. As an old saying goes, our own health should be taken care of by ourselves.

There are around 60% of the factors that can be controlled by ourselves, but how can we do it? I often like to share with people that except our working hours, the content of our life every day is mostly the same. We can regulate it into “3-features method.” nutritients, maintenance, and mental health If we maintain these three features in health, our body will be in good shape as described in the profile If we lose the balance of these three aspects, our health might be deprived due to the imbalance.