Measuring Health

Running Head: MEASURING HEALTH
MEASURING HEALTH
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Author note:

1MEASURING HEALTH
Introduction:
Health is referred to as the physical, social, mental wellbeing of an individual and
being free from injury or any disease. Public health is referred to as the health of the whole
population and it is extremely necessary to measure for a disease-free demographic
population (Baum 2016). Regular health check-ups are important for every group or
individual, whether for a young adult (20-35 years), older adult (35-55) or elderly person (55
years and above). Older adults of age group 55 and above are more prone to any disease
because of their weak immune system, not only physically but emotionally also they suffer a
lot. Older adults are more vulnerable to disease and disability. Hence, regular check-ups are
essential for every individual, especially older person. Regular check-ups find the
complication early and chances for cure and treatment increases. It also helps in increasing
the life expectancy rate of an individual. It can be measured based on the age, family history,
health, sex, and daily routines such as diet, exercise, addiction of smoking or drinking.
The essay will focus on an individual named X (pseudonym). He is 65 years old and
belongs to an older adult group. He lives in a local community in England alone. He has two
sons, but none of them lives with him. He is suffering from the third stage of dementia which
is prevalent in older adults (Vernooij-Dassen et al. 2016). He cannot walk properly due to his
age and have to with the help of walking aid. Due to his loneliness, dementia, health issue, he
went into depression. He also has obesity and high blood pressure.
This essay will talk about the health complication of an individual such as depression
and dementia, risk factor involved, screening procedure and the treatment of the based on his
health issue.

2MEASURING HEALTH
Background:
According to Who.int. (2019) health can be defined as state of mental, physical and
social and physical health and not simply the lack of illness or disease. All the three states of
health, mental, social and physical are correlated with each other, and it is required to
maintain all of them regular check-ups, screening, and treatment to lead a healthy life.
Physical health is mentioned as the state of being from any injury or illness. It
includes healthy weight, healthy diet, sleep, personal, hygiene and dental health. It is
important for overall comfort. The patient has frailty, due to which he is unable to walk
properly without the help of walking aid. Loss of frailty is common in the older age group
and prevalence rate of mobility issue is highest among the people of the age group 65 and
above. Mental health is referred to as the psychological, social and emotional well-being. One
of the most important mental issues in England is depression. In England, every one in four
individual suffers from depression. The individual belongs to age group 65 and above are the
common victims of depression, especially women. The prevalence rate of depression in older
adults is 46,000 for women whereas it 22,000 in case of men, which reflects on the behaviour
of an individual (Roepke-Buehler et al 2015). The patient X, due to his family issue and
disabilities suffers from depression and dementia. Because of dementia, he forgets to take his
medicines which is hampering his mental as well as physical health. Patient X is also
suffering from a social health issue. Social health refers to the ability of an individual to make
social rapport with others. It also defines the ability to comfortably adapt to different new
situation. He does not socialize much with other people and hence, has no one with whom he
can share his feelings which is making his condition worse. As the patient is suffering from
all the three mental, social and physical health issue, it is essential to measure his health on
regular basis and provide the measures and screening based on his health condition to balance
a healthy life. Risk factors are the factors responsible for inducing a health issue either

3MEASURING HEALTH
mental, social or physical. In the case of patient X, the primary risk factor responsible for
dementia is his age (Livingston et al. 2017). The old age of a person gives rise to many health
issues such as cholesterol and high blood pressure which act as a risk factor for dementia
(Stokes et al. 2017). The patient is suffering from Insomnia, fatigue, loneliness which are
considered as the risk factor of depression and need proper treatment and care.
Body:
Measuring of health is important in the regular interval for a healthy daily life.
Physical health refers to the health of state free from any physical injury and illness Physical
illness should be maintained by measuring regular, otherwise, it can be fatal. It can occur to
any age group whether adults, older adults or older patient. For measuring the physical illness
in all age groups, it is important to visit a doctor on regular basis and do the regular check-
ups. Awareness about the risk factor responsible for different physical complication is also
important, along with that regular exercise, healthy diet, and enough sleep are also important
for balancing the physical health of an individual which should be done by every individual
of each group. In the case of patient X, he is also suffering from obesity and high blood
pressure. For obesity regular exercise, healthy diet, regular involvement in physical activity
and medicine should be suggested (Riebe et al. 2015).
Mental health is referred to as the state of mental fitness and regular checking is
necessary to maintain the state of mental well-being. It mainly includes mental disorders such
as depression, anxiety, sleeping disorder, drug addiction, and bipolar disorder. The risk factor
associated with the mental health issues is, inherited traits, being abused, use of alcohol and
drugs, traumatic experience, financial issue, and brain injury. To treat mental illness, regular
consultation with the counsellor and therapist is must and should not be neglected for all age
groups otherwise it can be fatal and can lead to suicide, as suicidal thought is common in the
patient suffering from depression (Bowes et al 2016). Patient X suffers from depression