How do you evaluate how healthy you are? What is the main factor you take into consideration?

Nicola

Death. ;) :eek:

How great you feel. If you are tired in the morning, you are not healthy.

How great you feel. If you are tired in the morning, you are not healthy.

What if you work nights?

To me, a health problem is any problem that seems to be caused by the condition of my body, including the emotional and mental systems. As opposed to problems caused by external factors such as weather, the economy, world politics, and behavior of friends.

As I get older, my biggest health problem is in my joints, which is typical for those of us in our sixties who managed (by luck more than anything) to avoid tobacco, obesity and cardiovascular trouble. I have a torn cartilage in one knee that limits me to two flights of stairs per day before it starts hurting. I have arthritis in many joints but I work out in the gym and keep them limber. I have residual problems from a bone I broke in my motorcycling days and I often have to take painkillers and muscle relaxants to sleep.

Second to that is respiratory problems. I get allergy-induced asthma for a month or so every spring and fall and take a variety of medications in order to breathe, many of which have bothersome side effects.

Sure I've got a few wrinkles, varicose veins, etc., but all my friends of my generation agree that those aren't what they mind about getting older. Contrary to Billy Crystal's slogan, feeling good is much more important than looking good. :)

The rest is all psychological. Regrets, not understanding why I did things, wondering why I didn't do other things.

To me, a health problem is any problem that seems to be caused by the condition of my body, including the emotional and mental systems. As opposed to problems caused by external factors such as weather, the economy, world politics, and behavior of friends.


Couldn't the external factors cause emotional and mental problems as well

as many other physical problems? Pollution, heavy metals in foods, stress

from traffic, children, world events, money and on and on could easily cause

problems in your body.


As I get older, my biggest health problem is in my joints, which is typical for those of us in our sixties who managed (by luck more than anything) to avoid tobacco, obesity and cardiovascular trouble. I have a torn cartilage in one knee that limits me to two flights of stairs per day before it starts hurting. I have arthritis in many joints but I work out in the gym and keep them limber. I have residual problems from a bone I broke in my motorcycling days and I often have to take painkillers and muscle relaxants to sleep.


Alone or combined with another dietary supplement called chondroitin, glucosamine has been studied extensively for treating osteoarthritis (OA), a condition that generally results from wear-and-tear on joints. In OA, deterioration of the cartilage, which cushions the joints, leads to pain, swelling, and loss of movement. Since glucosamine provides a major component of cartilage, it is believed that supplemental glucosamine may delay further degeneration. It may also actually help to repair deteriorating cartilage and it may promote the manufacture of synovial fluid—the jelly-like substance that cushions and lubricates the joints. In general, glucosamine has shown moderate ability to relieve the pain of OA, as well as to restore partial movement to affected joints. Chondroitin is believed to provide a different chemical important in the formation of cartilage, but its effects are not as well defined as glucosamine’s. Although glucosamine has been studied most for treating OA of large joints such as knees and hips, it has also showed some effectiveness for relieving arthritis in other joints such as the lower back and the jaw, which is also known as the temporomandibular joint (TMJ).

http://www.drugdigest.org/DD/DVH/HerbsWho/0,3923,4055%7CGlucosamine,00.html



The rest is all psychological. Regrets, not understanding why I did things, wondering why I didn't do other things.


Try to remember that you can't change the past only the future. So when

thinking of your past always refer to ways to improve yourself along with

the ways you hurt yourself so as to be more positive in you way of

thinking.:)

Couldn't the external factors cause emotional and mental problems as well as many other physical problems? Pollution, heavy metals in foods, stress from traffic, children, world events, money and on and on could easily cause problems in your body.Of course. But you asked me what my definition is and I told you. I consider my skin to be a boundary between me and the rest of the universe.Alone or combined with another dietary supplement called chondroitin, glucosamine has been studied extensively for treating osteoarthritis (OA). . . .I take glucosamine/chondroitin every day. Like many people we gave it to our dogs and thought it was working so we decided to try it on ourselves. I've seen very persuasive scientific arguments pointing out that it's just snake oil, because the chemicals that are supposedly beneficial are broken down by the digestion process and never have a chance to do their work. But I let my wife manage the family diet so I keep taking it. I'm sure it doesn't do any harm.Try to remember that you can't change the past only the future. So when thinking of your past always refer to ways to improve yourself along with the ways you hurt yourself so as to be more positive in you way of thinking.You will find that not to be such a useful way of analyzing your life when most of it is behind you. :)

You will find that not to be such a useful way of analyzing your life when most of it is behind you.


By seeing your mistakes in the past you should be able to avoid the same

ones in the future unless you forget about them or don't care.

Some interesting replies; thank you.

Cosmic, you say that "By seeing your mistakes in the past you should be able to avoid the same ones in the future unless you forget about them or don't care."


I do agree that it is good to think about the past in order to direct our present and future. However, I am wondering if this is the case with health evaluations? There are so many things that we cannot control, such as aging and unpreventable illness, that I wonder if (in these circumstances) thinking about the past when we evaluate our health could just make us feel rotten. For example, if we feel unhealthy because we are losing mobility due to age, it may be that thinking about our previous mobility will prevent us adjusting to natural changes with age. What do you think?

Best Wishes,

Nicola

Some interesting replies; thank you.

Cosmic, you say that "By seeing your mistakes in the past you should be able to avoid the same ones in the future unless you forget about them or don't care."


I do agree that it is good to think about the past in order to direct our present and future. However, I am wondering if this is the case with health evaluations? There are so many things that we cannot control, such as aging and unpreventable illness, that I wonder if (in these circumstances) thinking about the past when we evaluate our health could just make us feel rotten. For example, if we feel unhealthy because we are losing mobility due to age, it may be that thinking about our previous mobility will prevent us adjusting to natural changes with age. What do you think?



Let me give an example.

If I were to eat a certain food that causes an allergic reaction then I should remember what type of food it was or suffer all over again in the future if I don't remember.

If I took a certain medication to relieve gas in my body I do good to remember what type it was the next time I had gas.


If I worked with a bandsaw and needed to use protective glasses to insure my eyesight won't get hurt but forgot to put them on because I didn't remeber.

Good points, Cosmic! Sometimes I think so deep that I miss the obvious. However, I am still going to question whether a consideration of the past is always appropriate. It is undoubtedly important in assessing behaviours and actions, as well as making decisions, as your examples illustrate. Yet is it good to consider the past when we are evaluating our health status (i.e. deciding how healthy/unhealthy we are)?

Sorry if I annoy anyone with my specific questioning - I am just really interested in it, which is why I am studying it at Uni.

Thanks for the feedback Cosmic and everyone else who has been taking part in this discussion,

Nicola

Some interesting replies; thank you.

Cosmic, you say that "By seeing your mistakes in the past you should be able to avoid the same ones in the future unless you forget about them or don't care."


I do agree that it is good to think about the past in order to direct our present and future. However, I am wondering if this is the case with health evaluations? There are so many things that we cannot control, such as aging and unpreventable illness, that I wonder if (in these circumstances) thinking about the past when we evaluate our health could just make us feel rotten. For example, if we feel unhealthy because we are losing mobility due to age, it may be that thinking about our previous mobility will prevent us adjusting to natural changes with age. What do you think?

Best Wishes,

Nicola


At 75+ I just get on with life and make the most of what I've got. I learned a long time ago that brooding is unproductive. Like most other people, I have regrets about past actions, so when such thoughts come to mind I try to do a good deed of some kind. This helps me feel beter about myself.

Ageing is a natural process and it is pointless to do other than accept it. Why should nature make an exception just for me ? As far as the state of one's health is concerned, it is largely in the lap of the gods, or should I say genes ?
At the moment, I have too many projects in hand, to waste time brooding

I hope this doesn't come across as smugness, and I'm not offering it as a panacea; it's just my way of living.

whether a consideration of the past is always appropriate

Of course it isn't ALWAYS appropriate as with anything else. Things that

YOU need to remember in order to be healthy you will hopefuly remember

and those things that aren't necessary you will just forget.

I'm relatively happy most of the time, and I have no physical suffering...therefore I'm healthy.

I'm relatively happy most of the time, and I have no physical suffering...therefore I'm healthy.

But your dying! ;)

But your dying! ;)

Party pooper !

Party pooper !

:itold::scratchin:

:itold::scratchin:

That's typical of you. No respect for the elderly. You took away on of my sticks.

How do you evaluate how healthy you are? What is the main factor you take into consideration?

Nicola

Health is a multitude of things. In college we were taught there were 7 fundamental areas in which you could deem yourself healthy. Overall "wellness" is what they called it.


Physical Wellness
Psychological, Mental and Emotional
Career Health
Social
Financial Health
Spiritual Health
Personal Relationships/Family

get all these ducks in a row and you are a very healthy person.

That's typical of you. No respect for the elderly. You took away on of my sticks.

Hey, I needed one for myself!!! :D

Health is a multitude of things. In college we were taught there were 7 fundamental areas in which you could deem yourself healthy. Overall "wellness" is what they called it.


How about the well being of others?

How about the well being of others?

If you are talking in regards to your treatment of others it would fall under social wellness.

Hey, I needed one for myself!!! :D

You advertantly did me a favour ( notice th correct spelling ). I now have a young nurse with big boobs looking after me 24/7, ha ha.

Merry Christmas. I'll be having my dinner in bed.

The well-being of others is an interesting one - does the well-being of those close to us affect our well-being?

i say! nicola? hi!

/blush

The well-being of others is an interesting one - does the well-being of those close to us affect our well-being?

Of course, in several ways.

Note contagious air-borne diseases, for example, like the common cold. If others have it, chances are we will get it too.

Or if everyone else in the family is down with some sickness and you are the only one to take care of them and the household, this takes a toll on you.

And if we are in the company of constantly miserable people, we'll likely pick up their ways - because humans tend to mirror emotions.

But your dying! ;)

Why am I dying?

http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/5420/tribalgrimreaperje1.jpg

Why am I dying?

As soon as you are born you begin to die! Your life is a march to death and

nothing can prevent it.

I figure as long as nothing hurts and I can breathe well, I'm healthy.

Nice image, Gustav :)

dude that reaper is sick.......i dig...