Health is central to a person’s emotional, social, and physical well-being. Keeping healthy requires a commitment to eating right, exercising regularly, and connecting with others. However, it can be hard to stick with these behaviors if you don’t have the motivation or resources to do so. Having a specific health goal — such as having the energy to play with nieces and nephews or to carry your own groceries – can help motivate you to keep up with these healthy behaviors, even when it’s tough to do so.
A common definition of health is “the absence of disease and infirmity.” The World Health Organization (WHO) endorsed this definition as early as 1948. The WHO definition expanded previous conceptualizations of health, indicating that complete wellness is not just a state of absence but includes both mental and social dimensions.
For many people, especially those with disabilities, this definition of health may seem utopian and unattainable. While this viewpoint has been argued against by many authors, the WHO definition remains the most commonly used definition of health.
This perspective limits understanding of the origins of health and misses critical links between the health care system and other factors in a person’s life. For example, the health of a community has a profound impact on the functioning of its residents; the economic status of neighborhoods, schools’ safety and quality, access to healthy foods, and more all influence residents’ ability to function and contribute to the achievement of societal goals.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, this broader view of health has been brought to sharp focus as health is defined in terms of resilience to life circumstances that threaten physical, emotional, and social well-being. Whether the challenges are a changing climate, job loss, or a pandemic, maintaining health requires that we continually adapt and balance our own aspirations and needs with those of our communities.
A broader definition of health invites new ways to assess resiliency and the resources that support adaptation and helps us rethink the roles of public policy, funding, and research in promoting health. In addition, it will require a shift in how we think about and measure health outcomes. In clinical contexts, this shift will involve more extensive assessments of symptoms and biological metrics with sensitivity to detect change at the individual level. In comparative studies and population monitoring, surveys will need to be designed with the sensitivity to detect change across groups or over time.