What Affects Health?

Health is a positive term that emphasises social and personal resources in addition to physical abilities.

Focusing on lifestyle issues and their connections to functional health, the Alameda County Study found that people can improve their health by exercising, getting adequate sleep, spending time in nature, maintaining a healthy body weight, limiting alcohol consumption, and not smoking. People with several chronic diseases or fatal illnesses might consider themselves healthy, proving that health and illness can coexist.

The environment is frequently mentioned as a significant influence impacting people’s health. The natural environment, the built environment, and the social environment are all included. Clean water and air, proper housing, and safe communities and roadways have all been discovered to contribute to excellent health, particularly in newborns and children. According to several research, a lack of local recreational places that include the natural environment leads to lower levels of personal satisfaction and obesity, both of which are associated to poor overall health and well-being. Increased time spent in natural areas has been linked to enhanced self-reported health, implying that the beneficial health effects of natural space in urban districts should be included in public policy and land use.

Individual and population health is also influenced by genetics, or inherited characteristics from parents. This might include both a genetic susceptibility to particular diseases and health disorders, as well as the habits and behaviours that people pick up through their ancestors’ lifestyle. For instance, genetics may influence how people cope with stress, whether mental, emotional, or physical. Obesity, for example, is a major problem in the United States, contributing to poor mental health and causing stress in many people’s lives. One problem is the argument regarding the relative strengths of genetics and other influences; interactions between genetics and the environment may be especially important.