Health, as defined by the World Health Organization, is a condition that “represents the quality of life that individuals experience”. A wide variety of definitions have also been used over the years for medical purposes. The National Health Service (NHS) defines health as, “exceeding the quality of the healthy”. The NHS goes further to state that health is “the sum of the essential aspects of health”.
A strong definition has also been used in defining health. According to this definition, health is associated with an individual’s capacity to enjoy his or her day to day life, free from physical discomforts, and with respect to his or her social environment. It is understood that an overall sense of health encompasses a person’s capacity to enjoy physical freedom and a balanced lifestyle, in addition to an enriched social environment. For some people, a healthy lifestyle comprises a balanced diet and regular exercise, which leads to an absence of chronic diseases such as obesity, hypertension, and diabetes. However, these definitions often depend on the particular culture and society.
The concept of health is more complex when it comes to its relation to the mental well being of an individual. Health is, from the perspective of modern medical research, the absence of any physical illness or the total absence of any mental illness. In practice, health is generally evaluated through the absence of any serious physical debilitation. Mental health, on the other hand, is evaluated through the absence of any mental disorders such as schizophrenia, depression, psychosis, or bipolar disorder. In many parts of the world, health and wellness are often defined as opposing concepts, although they may sometimes occur together.