Health and wellbeing is much more than simply an absence of illness. The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines health as:
“…a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity.”
Good health is an important part of wellbeing. Together health and well-being looks at a person's basic needs, their sense of purpose, how able they feel to achieve important personal goals and participate in society. People's sense of wellbeing is therefore improved by having supportive personal relationships, involvement in empowered communities, good health, financial security, rewarding employment and a healthy and attractive environment.
A healthy start in life matters
There is good evidence indicating that if you look after your health and the health of your children, you will feel better, feel mentally more alert and positive. Your children are more likely to do better at school, therefore have a greater chance at fulfilling their potential and of achieving stable relationships and economic security in life.
Maintaining a healthy life style
As you get older, regular physical activity can help you remain mobile, maintain a healthy weight and reduce the likelihood of falls. Regular physical activity and a healthy diet can also reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, some cancers, diabetes and high blood pressure.
Further information
Further information about adopting or maintaining a healthier lifestyle is available in the following areas - click on the topics to learn more. (All external links can be found on the right).
Stopping smoking
Improving diet and nutrition
Increasing physical activity
Supporting sensible drinking
Improving sexual health
Improving mental health
Stopping smoking
Stopping smoking
For a smoker, stopping is the most significant thing that can be done to improve their health as it significantly reduces the risk of developing a whole range of diseases and health complications. While giving up is not easy there are ways to increase your chances of success. Using the local NHS stop smoking support services together with stop smoking medicines such as patches or gum to manage your cravings you are up to four times more likely to succeed.
Improving diet and nutrition
Along side regular activity, eating a healthy well balanced diet is known to be beneficial in preventing the development of health problems such as coronary heart disease and some cancers. A healthy diet contains lots of fruit and vegetables; is based on starchy foods such as wholegrain bread, pasta and rice; and is low in fat (especially saturated fat), salt and sugar.
Increasing physical activity
Along side a healthy diet, being moderately active for at least 30 minutes on at least 5 days a week is known to be beneficial to both physical and mental health. Physically it reduces the risk of developing a range of chronic diseases and mentally it can reduce stress and help counter the impact of mild to moderate depression. For most people moderate activity includes walking however it can be any physical activity that makes you feel warmer and causes you to breath more quickly.
Supporting sensible drinking
Excessive or prolonged alcohol consumption is known to contribute to the development of health problems such as stroke, liver disease and some cancers. It is also believed to be a contributory factor towards domestic violence, injuries, road deaths, violent crime and suicides. Reducing the amount of alcohol would significantly increase the overall health and well-being of individuals and reduce the impact on services.
Improving sexual health
The past decade has seen a rapid deterioration in sexual health of the population in the UK, reflected in high levels of teenage pregnancy and growing levels of HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Chlamydia is one of the most common STIs affecting 1 in 10 of the national population aged 16-24 years. It is readily treated with a course of antibiotics. However, because people often do not have any symptoms, transmission of infection readily occurs and can result in long term problems e.g. pelvic inflammation and infertility. Risk factors for infection include young age, non-married status, concurrent sexual partners, high numbers of reported sexual partners and unprotected sexual intercourse.
It is estimated that at the end of 2005 63,500 adults aged 15-59 years were living with HIV in UK, of whom, 20,100 (32%) were unaware of their infection. The continued increase in HIV diagnoses is due to sustained levels of newly acquired infections in men who have sex with men (MSM) - due to an increased amount of HIV testing and further diagnoses among heterosexual men and women who acquired their infection in Africa.
Improving mental health
Mental health is central to all health and well-being and has a strong impact on physical health. Improving the mental health of the population has been identified as a priority in Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation (1999) and Choosing Health: Making Healthy Choices Easier (DH 2004).
Mental illness disproportionately affects certain (vulnerable) groups of the population and is therefore and issue to be addressed in tackling health inequalities.
Suicide is a significant issue and represents one of the few objective measures of the mental health status of a population. About 5000 people in England commit suicide every year - an average of 1 every 2 hours.