Wednesday, March 14, 2007

What is health?

Being healthy involves far more than simply not being ill. If you feel you're in good health, your organs will be working properly and you will have the energy to live life to the full. This feeling of wellbeing affects your mind and your body.

The environment you live in, your diet and your lifestyles affect your health. Physical fitness is an important part of health, and this means that your heart, lungs, skeleton and muscles all work together smoothly to carry out your daily activities. Fitness involves strength, stamina and suppleness, and you need regular exercise to maintain all these conditions. Careful exercise develops a healthy heart and lungs, and gives you the strength and stamina that allow you to run, cycle and swim. A sensible diet and sufficient sleep also help you to keep healthy.

Air pollution is an environmental factor that can damage health. Exhaust fumes from motor vehicles contain substances that can cause asthma and other breathing problems. In hot climates, smog can also develop, trapping these air pollutants and making the health risk greater.

Many diseases are infections that are caused by bacteria or virus. Other illnesses are caused by failure of some of the body's organs or tissues. Sometimes part of the body wear out or are not replaced properly, but most health problems are caused when the body simply fails to maintain itself. Joints can wear out, causing arthritis, or the digestive system may not work as efficiently, causing various types of stomach upsets. Other diseases may be caused by a person's own lifestyle, for example lack of exercise or poor eating habits. Smoking is now known to be a contributory factor in many diseases.

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