Health and Society: Comparing Health Views and Literature Analysis

This report presents a student's reflection on the concept of health, encompassing their personal understanding and comparing it with established definitions found in scientific literature. The student defines health as encompassing physical, mental, and collective well-being, emphasizing its importance for daily activities. They discuss how their understanding was developed through research, basic knowledge, and family experiences, highlighting the influence of biology and the impact of diseases. The report then compares the student's views with literature, identifying similarities and differences regarding health determinants and resources, including factors like community, healthcare quality, and lifestyle choices such as alcohol consumption and drug abuse. The analysis incorporates statistical measures of health and concludes by emphasizing the importance of maintaining personal health through a healthy lifestyle and regular checkups. The report utilizes APA 7th referencing and provides a comprehensive overview of the student's evolving understanding of health.

Running head: HEALTH AND SOCIETY
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Health and Society
Students Name
Institutional Affiliation

HEALTH AND SOCIETY
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Health and Society
Scientists across the globe have come up with a couple of definitions for health.
However, the most appropriate description states that health is the absolute physical, mental, and
collective welfare and not solely the non-existence of infirmity. For an individual to carry out his
or her activities, health is the most critical aspect that necessitates the body to do them. An
unhealthy person may tend to feel weak, thus interfering with their daily chores.
My understanding of health, as per my definition above, was developed by thorough
research and basic knowledge that health is the wellbeing of the entire body of an individual.
However, a normal body can never be 100% healthy. An individual will somewhat have a
disease in their bodies only that they cannot notice them. Biology dictates that some disease-
causing organisms can live in the body, but the individual will not be affected while others affect
the individual. Bacteria in the intestines are of benefit to the body.
Since I began studying science, I have developed a deeper understanding of health. As I
continue learning, education is unfolding much information about health that I never knew. I
have learned how diseases attack our bodies and how they weaken our health and how the body
fights against disease-causing organisms to maintain the excellent health of the body
( Macpherson et al. 2015). Not only did I get to know about health through school but also the
family. Most are the times my parents took me to the hospital to have my health checked up.

HEALTH AND SOCIETY
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My view on health is almost the same as that in the attached link. However, the link
provides a deeper understanding of health. In my opinion for health, I was not aware of some
factors that a individual’s health and welfare rely on. As from the link, there are two broad
components, namely, resources and determinants (WHO 2015). Determinants are things that
influence health, whereas resources are actions done to improve the health of an individual.
My view of health and that in the link are similar in that many factors affect our health.
These factors may either be from the community or individual and also from quality and
timeliness we receive from health care that includes immunization and screening. Moreover, as
stated in the link, it is common knowledge that alcohol and abuse of drugs weaken an
individual's health. Alcohol consumption and drug abuse lie under behavioral factors that
influence the health of an individual (Marmot et al. 2012). Health is the most crucial factor that
is used to determine measures of health. It is by the use of health statistics that researchers can
figure out the life expectancy of a particular community. Moreover, these statistics help in
determining mortality, morbidity, and disability-adjusted life year as well as self-assessed health
status.
To conclude, personal health should be maintained at all costs. As discussed, it is clear
that good health means long life. Individuals are advised to adopt a healthy lifestyle and have
regular health checkups. Health experts have advised avoiding alcohol and drug abuse as they
weaken one's health.

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References
https://www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/ca0b4c1b-a675-472e-942d-06774c058d27/AH16-1-1-what-
is-health.pdf.aspx
Macpherson, A. J., & McCoy, K. D. (2015). Standardized animal models of host-microbial
mutualism. Mucosal immunology, 8(3), 476-486.
Marmot, M., & Bell, R. (2012). Fair society, healthy lives. Public health, 126, S4-S10.
World Health Organization. (2015). World report on aging and health. World Health
Organization.