What is health?

As per World Health Organization, Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely an absence of disease or infirmity.

So going by this definition do you think you come under healthy category. Generally any change of health parameters from your normalcy, without any intervention can be a sign of change in your health status. Let’s find out different aspects of health and what are the common symptoms of good or low health status.

Physical health parameters:

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Physical health is the main component of our overall health prospective. People are generally categorized as healthy or unhealthy based on their physical health status.

Indicators of good physical health:

• Performing your day to day activities without any aches/ pains.
• A good night sleep- Sleeping as your set sleep pattern and waking up fresh indicates that you had a good sleep.
• You feel activated and energetic all through the day mostly.
• Falling in a healthy weight category with a normal waist circumference is the key. Its no longer just about a normal BMI anymore, your waist circumference tells more about your metabolic status then being overweight.
• Feeling hungry at meals time and enjoy splash of color in your plate. Your diet includes right amount of fruits/ vegetables, dairy, carbohydrates and proteins.
• Hydrated skin and voluminous hair speaks about your health status.
• Your bowel and bladder movements are normal.

Signs that need attention:

• You get easily tired even after a regular day at work.
• Even after sleeping for good 7-8 hours, you wake up tired.
• Brittle nails, dull hair or itchy/ scaly skin indicates underlying illness.
• Sunken eyes, change in scleral color or dull wandering eyes tells a lot about your physical as well as mental health.
• You are loosing or gaining weight without much change in lifestyle.
• Constant aches and pains need attention.
• Sudden change in vision, hearing, skin color, or gait can be alarming.
• Any new growth, however small it may be, needs evaluation.

Mental health parameters:

Mental health is being increasingly discussed at many forums nowadays. People are getting more aware about their mental health status but we still have to look more about mental health status of self and people around us.

Indicators of good mental health:

• A good night sleep is indicator of many health parameters including mental health.
• You can deal with day today issues at home and at workplace without much anxiety or confusion.
• Enjoying company. It can be your family, friends, colleagues or even your pet.
• If reading, having a hobby or learning new things excite you then its a sign of good mental state.
• You can fix your future goals or love to plan about your family future, then its definitely a positive sign.

Signs that need attention:

• If you feel irritated or agitated at most times of the day, its a sign of deranged mental health.
• You can’t have a peaceful/ uninterrupted sleep without any specific reason.
• Blaming other people, or blaming circumstances for your every failure is an indicator that you need help.
• Lack of concentration, not enjoying pleasurable activities, hopelessness and state of confusion are the signs of unhealthy mental state.

Sexual health parameters:

Sexual health is as important as our physical or mental health. Its something we don’t talk often or sometimes we even can’t understand whether we are facing any issues. Healthy sexual life can have a positive impact on your overall health.

Indicators of good sexual health:

• Feeling positive and confident about your body.
• You enjoy sex life.
• Its not about the frequency or the intensity always, its about the satisfaction level.
• Enjoying flirty texts or having secret communication with your partner, are signs that you enjoy your sex life.
• You enjoy your partner’s company outside the bedroom as well.
• Masturation- Yes masturation is a sign that you are confident about your body and you have a healthy sex life, whether you are in a relationship or single.

Signs that need attention:

• Not talking to your partner about sex or not participating actively in the act.
• Physical presence but your mind is somewhere else during the sex.
• Doing sex only for your partner’s pleasure usually, is definitely not a healthy sign.
• You count your weekly/ monthly frequency and compare it with others/ stats. Again its not about the frequency but its about your satisfaction level.

Menstrual health parameters:

Menstrual health is an important part of every women’s life but it should be a part of healthy family life. It should also be important for girls parents/ partners not only for the woman alone.

Indicators of good menstrual health:

• Your periods are within normal range. Though there is a wide range of normalcy regarding periods. Length of normal period can vary from 21- 35 days.
• Also the flow can vary. Period can run anywhere between 3-7 days.
• Your periods don’t interfere much with your routine activities like going to school/ college or office.
• Period blood looks bright red with occasional clots along with dark colored blood at the start or end of cycle.
• Your vaginal discharge changes throughout the cycle.

Signs that need attention:

• Sudden change in your period pattern, may it be amount of flow, color of flow, duration of flow.
• Your periods affect your normal routine and force you to stop.
• Severe menstrual cramps or severe pms( mild pms is normal).
• Intermenstrual bleeding or postcoital bleeding.

Digestive health parameters:

Healthy gut is the foundation of healthy life. Gut health is related to physical and mental health. Your pee/ poop has some very important information about your overall health.

Indicators of good gut health:

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• You have regular bowel movements, your regular can be once a day or thrice a day but its generally constant.
• Bowel consistency is also constant and you don’t experience constipation or loose stools often.
• Feeling hungry at regular meal times.
• There are variety of food including fruits and vegetables in your daily diet.
• You are maintaining a constant weight as per your diet.

Signs that need attention:

• Regular change in frequency of bowel movements and consistency.
• Experiencing nausea, bloating, reaching, abdominal fullness at most times.
• Sudden weight gain or weight loss, without any intervention.
• Bad breath, oral ulcers and hemorrhoids also tell us about unhealthy gut.
• Too much sugar or carbs in diet also needs attention.
• Unhealthy mental status also impacts your gut and vice versa. There are studies showing that your gut health is related to your mental health status.

Social health parameters:

Our social health has been a long ignored topic. Negative social health can have negative impact on both our physical and mental health still it is not considered an important part of our health spectrum.

Indicators of good social health:

• You are generally happy and satisfied with your life.
• You gel well with people around you and enjoy company.
• Dealing comfortably with most life’s situations including conflicting ones, is an indicator of positive social health.
• You are your own self most times.
• People turn to you with their life’s problems.

Signs that need attention:

• Not feeling positive about life in general.
• Enacting and not being yourself while in company.
• You feel negative about most people and most situations.
• You can’t deal with even trivial issues of life.
• Avoiding people or social gatherings without any specific reason can be an alert.

Though we can divide our health spectrum but they all are interconnected. You can’t be healthy in one and ignore the other. Your mental health reflects on your physical health, your social health can hamper your mental health, your unhealthy gut can lead to depression and so is your unhealthy sex life. So take care of each part and don’t ignore any of the alarming signs. You have to achieve health in totalis to live healthy.