Redefining Health Pt. 2: Finding personal meanings of "health"

In a post last week I agreed with Dr. Gilbert Welch that redefining "health" might help limit growth of health care costs. He thinks that by creating personal meanings of health individuals might resist unnecessary medical services and curb growing medical outlays. While my post argued that healthcare providers must also shoulder some of the cost-control burden, I'm convinced that patients and non-providers should take a more active role in regulating the health care system. Developing individual definitions of health might be a good place to start.

Since I'm interested in containing costs I decided to follow Dr. Welch's suggestion and develop a new personal definition of health. To begin I conducted a Google search of, "definition of health." The results offered a few useful links to dictionaries and other resources. One link provided a page dedicated to the World Health Organization's definition of health. According to the WHO, "health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."

Despite the length and academic tone of Miriam-Webster and WHO definitions, I found them inadequate for my personal meaning of "health." These bookish descriptions were overly wordy and impersonal. For my definition of health I sought something more applicable to my interests and activities. And since I like making to-do lists, I wanted a more prescriptive and clear. Here's what I came up with for a "health"-ful day: Get help finishing work then help someone else. Ride a bike then take a shower. Eat something green then brush teeth. Get some sleep. Repeat.

What's your definition of "health?" Add your comments below.

Photo credit: definitionofwellness.com