How do you define a "healthy person"?

BusyRaeNOTBusty

Some people say you can't be "healthy" if you eat fast food, or processed food, drink diet soda or follow IIFYM. I want to know the definition of a "healthy person".

ubermensch13

This is a really tough question to answer because of the amount of variables that could define "healthy". Someone can be "unhealthy" by weight standards, but live to 100, or you can be a healthy athlete and have a heart condition that kills you are 40. I usually go by my annual physical. If my Dr says my numbers are in line with what they should be, I consider myself healthy.

TheRealParisLove

Someone who is naturally without disease or disability. So basically, if you can engage in normal day-to-day activities with little difficulty, then you would be considered healthy in my opinion.

I consider mental health as equally important as physical health.

It is hard to think about someone who is dependent on medications to get through the day as "healthy." If a person can manage their health through diet and exercise but refuse to and instead opt to take medications, I would not consider that person as being "healthy."

BusyRaeNOTBusty

Hrm. I didn't even think about sick vs. not-sick. I do however think there are lot of illnesses that come from either genetics or just bad luck. So lets take illness out of the question (if we can) and discuss the definition based on one not-sick person vs. another not-sick person. I also want to remove the diet. I want to be able to judge if a person is healthy or not without looking at their diary.

Factors to consider:

Blood cholesterol levels
blood pressure
resting heart rate
Some kind of measure of strength
Some kind of measure of cardio fitness

How about energy levels? Is your hair falling out at unnatural levels? How much sleep do you get? Stress levels? Mental health?

Am I missing anything?

quirkytizzy

Happy, self-aware, and doing everything they can day by day to continue those things.

ashleydmassey

I guess that would be the ultimate question that probably many professional experts would not all agree on.

Weight/BMI probably play a role but just as importantly, blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, and the rest of your blood chemistries play a role in your health. Those things usually are what demonstrate that your organs are properly functioning. Heart rate is probably an important key, because of cardiovascular health.

As far as disabilities go, that's a shaky one. Many disabilities exist because people do not assume the responsibility of all of the above. I can say that firsthand. I have fibromyalgia and degenerative arthritis in my spine, both knees, both hips, and elbows. I had gotten to the point, at 35 years old--just a few months ago, that I could not walk without holding on to furniture or walls. I couldn't stand upright very well at all. My husband was having to shave my legs for me and dress me. The pain was horrendous. This all peaked about four or five months ago. I lost a few pounds and gained confidence to start moving. Started very lightly on the treadmill. Now I'm jogging. I can shave my own legs and dress my own self again. I walk normal. The pain is minimal and usually only increases if I do allow myself to be sedentary too long. We really have more power over our abilities than we realize, until we put those powers to use.

Firefox7275

Some people say you can't be "healthy" if you eat fast food, or processed food, drink diet soda or follow IIFYM. I want to know the definition of a "healthy person".

If you want the official World Health Organisation definition
"Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."

In lifestyle healthcare we generally refer to 'apparently healthy' meaning someone who has nothing more than minor diagnosed health conditions, passed all the basic tests we might run (blood pressure, resting heart rate, weight, bodyfat, cholesterol, blood glucose etc) and verbal interview. Whist fitness tests may be completed, you don't nee to be fit to be healthy, to massively reduce your risk of a whole raft of diseases.

I've seen studies estimating that only about 20% of the UK public are 'apparently healthy' on joining a gym, that would certainly fit in with what I see in my work role. Many have symptoms that they don't associate with being in less than optimum health, from annual respiratory tract infections to minor skin disorders to joint niggles to stress.

You cannot know you are fully healthy if you don't have a full battery of tests run, people don't become diabetic or get cancer overnight there is a period before diagnosis where you might have no symptoms but 'signs' would show up on a full screening. If you don't meet or exceed the basic healthy lifestyle guidelines - smoking, alcohol, nutrition, physical activity - over a period of time there is every chance your body is changing at the tissue, cellular or molecular level such that there would be 'signs' on testing.

You may think 'a lot of illness' in the west comes from genetics or bad luck, the experts don't necessarily agree genetics is considered a risk factor only. Diseases like cancer, heart disease or type 1 diabetes in childhood or young adulthood is generally largely genetic or bad luck but this is rare, we are now starting to see type 2 diabetes in youngsters caused by poor lifestyle. Cancer or hypertension in the very elderly might be down to the accumulation of damage simply with time but actually this will often not be lethal or even cause much of a problem, cancers are very slow growing in the elderly and hypertension is often asymptomatic.

I was absolutely blown away by the statistics when I did my last degree, before that I thought as you did that there was far more bad luck and genetics than there is. Do you know some people with mild to moderate hayfever, asthma, eczema, stress/ anxiety and clinical depression can become virtually asymptomatic or need no medication simply with lifestyle modification? See below and imagine the numbers if we all engaged in healthy behaviours and maintained a healthy weight/ bodyfat consistently throughout our entire lives. And consider the effects on social wellbeing if people didn't waste money on junk food, alcohol and cigarettes, if the number of days absenteeism from work due to lifestyle health conditions was slashed, if we were able to reduce the burden of mental illness.

"Four health risk behaviors—lack of physical activity, poor nutrition, tobacco use, and excessive alcohol consumption—are responsible for much of the illness and death related to chronic diseases. Seven out of 10 deaths among Americans each year are from chronic diseases.1 Heart disease, cancer, and stroke account for more than 50% of all deaths each year.1

A new CDC report finds that people can live longer if they practice one or more healthy lifestyle behaviors— not smoking, eating a healthy diet, getting regular physical activity, and limiting alcohol consumption.2 Not smoking provides the most protection from dying early from all causes.

People who engaged in all four healthy behaviors were 66 percent less likely to die early from cancer, 65 percent less likely to die early from cardiovascular disease, and 57 percent less likely to die early from other causes compared to people who did not engage in any of the healthy behaviors.2"
http://www.cdc.gov/features/livelonger/

RobinC37

Factors to consider:

Blood cholesterol levels
blood pressure
resting heart rate
Some kind of measure of strength
Some kind of measure of cardio fitness

How about energy levels? Is your hair falling out at unnatural levels? How much sleep do you get? Stress levels? Mental health?

Am I missing anything?

This is generally how I judge health, but I would add one thing.

Poop. It's a great indicator of health (is there mucus in it? runny/hard? color? smell?) It might be gross, but I look at my and my dogs poop every single day and I can tell if I'm about to get sick or if my dog is adjusting well to a new kind of treat.

bearwith

Someone who sticks to their calories, does exercise regularly, drinks plenty of water, does not exceed their alcohol limits, eats little and often, does not eat after 6pm (unless they are exercising).

Common sense really but modern life is so busy, unless you have time how can you do all these things?

Also, sleep is important. I find that when I get up early and go to bed late, I eat more because there are more awake hours that make you demand another meal time.

ladyraven68

Hrm. I didn't even think about sick vs. not-sick. I do however think there are lot of illnesses that come from either genetics or just bad luck. So lets take illness out of the question (if we can) and discuss the definition based on one not-sick person vs. another not-sick person. I also want to remove the diet. I want to be able to judge if a person is healthy or not without looking at their diary.

Factors to consider:

Blood cholesterol levels
blood pressure
resting heart rate
Some kind of measure of strength
Some kind of measure of cardio fitness

How about energy levels? Is your hair falling out at unnatural levels? How much sleep do you get? Stress levels? Mental health?

Am I missing anything?

I think the measuring of heart rate, strength and cardio fitness are more of a measure of fitness than health.

Most people want to be fit AND healthy, but there are certainly healthy people who would not perform well in cardio tests or strength tests so would not be considered fit, just as there are fit people who have health issues.

celebrity328

I work in mental health so my answer might be different then most peoples !

I define a healthy person as someone who eats a well balanced diet, test results are in normal range, and weight is healthy for their body make up. Things like mobility/exercise, and mental health are also important IMO.

With my clients some may lack the ability to express concerns/basic needs so I look at things I can see for myself, such as feet/legs. Many people I work with have problems with their feet/legs and its usually a red flag that something is going on and they need to be seen by a doctor.

ladyraven68

, eats little and often, does not eat after 6pm

Why would this be part of a definition of a healthy person??

NatashaShen

eats little and often, does not eat after 6pm

Why would this be part of a definition of a healthy person??

Exactly. Am I there for "unhealthy" because I eat after 6 pm, but don't go to bed until 11 or 12?

Also, I'm very curious as to why OP wants to be able to judge if someone is "healthy". Is she a doctor? In that case, shouldn't she have gone to school to know?

Just by looking at me, I don't think its anyones business.

Camille0502

This is a really tough question to answer because of the amount of variables that could define "healthy". Someone can be "unhealthy" by weight standards, but live to 100, or you can be a healthy athlete and have a heart condition that kills you are 40. I usually go by my annual physical. If my Dr says my numbers are in line with what they should be, I consider myself healthy.

This is interesting to me because I used to work with a man who worked well into his eighties. He hated vegetables. I remember being on a business trip with him. He ordered a sandwich from the cafeteria (no vegetables, of course) - proceeded to open the sandwich and salt it!!!! I never in my life had seen someone salt a sandwich.

Unfortunately, I know that the genetic hand that I was dealt will not allow me to not eat vegetables or salt sandwiches - so I eat healthily.

BusyRaeNOTBusty

eats little and often, does not eat after 6pm

Why would this be part of a definition of a healthy person??

Exactly. Am I there for "unhealthy" because I eat after 6 pm, but don't go to bed until 11 or 12?

Also, I'm very curious as to why OP wants to be able to judge if someone is "healthy". Is she a doctor? In that case, shouldn't she have gone to school to know?

Just by looking at me, I don't think its anyones business.

It's just an interesting discussion, spurred by people who say "you can lose weight but you won't be healthy" in regards to people who eat processed food, people who don't do cardio, or eat fast food.

stargazer008

A positive mind and free of disease, nutritional inefficiencies, disorders, etc.

BusyRaeNOTBusty

Some people say you can't be "healthy" if you eat fast food, or processed food, drink diet soda or follow IIFYM. I want to know the definition of a "healthy person".

If you want the official World Health Organisation definition
"Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."

In lifestyle healthcare we generally refer to 'apparently healthy' meaning someone who has nothing more than minor diagnosed health conditions, passed all the basic tests we might run (blood pressure, resting heart rate, weight, bodyfat, cholesterol, blood glucose etc) and verbal interview. Whist fitness tests may be completed, you don't nee to be fit to be healthy, to massively reduce your risk of a whole raft of diseases.

I've seen studies estimating that only about 20% of the UK public are 'apparently healthy' on joining a gym, that would certainly fit in with what I see in my work role. Many have symptoms that they don't associate with being in less than optimum health, from annual respiratory tract infections to minor skin disorders to joint niggles to stress.

You cannot know you are fully healthy if you don't have a full battery of tests run, people don't become diabetic or get cancer overnight there is a period before diagnosis where you might have no symptoms but 'signs' would show up on a full screening. If you don't meet or exceed the basic healthy lifestyle guidelines - smoking, alcohol, nutrition, physical activity - over a period of time there is every chance your body is changing at the tissue, cellular or molecular level such that there would be 'signs' on testing.

You may think 'a lot of illness' in the west comes from genetics or bad luck, the experts don't necessarily agree genetics is considered a risk factor only. Diseases like cancer, heart disease or type 1 diabetes in childhood or young adulthood is generally largely genetic or bad luck but this is rare, we are now starting to see type 2 diabetes in youngsters caused by poor lifestyle. Cancer or hypertension in the very elderly might be down to the accumulation of damage simply with time but actually this will often not be lethal or even cause much of a problem, cancers are very slow growing in the elderly and hypertension is often asymptomatic.

I was absolutely blown away by the statistics when I did my last degree, before that I thought as you did that there was far more bad luck and genetics than there is. Do you know some people with mild to moderate hayfever, asthma, eczema, stress/ anxiety and clinical depression can become virtually asymptomatic or need no medication simply with lifestyle modification? See below and imagine the numbers if we all engaged in healthy behaviours and maintained a healthy weight/ bodyfat consistently throughout our entire lives. And consider the effects on social wellbeing if people didn't waste money on junk food, alcohol and cigarettes, if the number of days absenteeism from work due to lifestyle health conditions was slashed, if we were able to reduce the burden of mental illness.

"Four health risk behaviors—lack of physical activity, poor nutrition, tobacco use, and excessive alcohol consumption—are responsible for much of the illness and death related to chronic diseases. Seven out of 10 deaths among Americans each year are from chronic diseases.1 Heart disease, cancer, and stroke account for more than 50% of all deaths each year.1

A new CDC report finds that people can live longer if they practice one or more healthy lifestyle behaviors— not smoking, eating a healthy diet, getting regular physical activity, and limiting alcohol consumption.2 Not smoking provides the most protection from dying early from all causes.

People who engaged in all four healthy behaviors were 66 percent less likely to die early from cancer, 65 percent less likely to die early from cardiovascular disease, and 57 percent less likely to die early from other causes compared to people who did not engage in any of the healthy behaviors.2"
http://www.cdc.gov/features/livelonger/

Thanks for this. Very interesting.

Isadaisy12

Someone who doesn't get sick very often and eats right