Maintaining health

Maintaining health


Main article: Self care

Achieving and maintaining health is an ongoing process. Effective strategies for staying healthy and improving one's health include the following elements:



Observations of Daily Living

Personal health depends partially on one's active, passive, and assisted observations about their health in their everyday life. The information gleaned from such observations may be used to inform personal decisions and actions (e.g., "I feel tired in the morning so I am going to try sleeping on a different pillow"), as well as clinical decisions and treatment plans (e.g., a patient who notices his or her shoes are tighter than usual may be having exacerbation of left-sided heart failure, and may require diuretic medication to reduce fluid overload) for patients who share their observations with their health care providers.[citation needed]



Social Activity

Main article: Social relation

Personal health depends partially on the social structure of one's life. The maintenance of strong social relationships is linked to good health conditions, longevity, productivity, and a positive attitude. This is due to the fact that positive social interaction as viewed by the participant increases many chemical levels in the brain which are linked to personality and intelligence traits.



Volunteering also can lead to a healthy life. To be a volunteer, while gaining plenty of social benefits, people also take their mind off their own troubles.[citation needed] Volunteering could even add years of life. According to a university study,[citation needed] compared with people who did not volunteer, senior citizens who volunteered showed a 67% reduced risk of dying during a seven-year period.



Hygiene

Main article: Hygiene

Hygiene is the practice of keeping the body clean to prevent infection and illness, and the avoidance of contact with infectious agents. Hygiene practices include bathing, brushing and flossing teeth, washing hands especially before eating, washing food before it is eaten, cleaning food preparation utensils and surfaces before and after preparing meals, and many others. This may help prevent infection and illness. By cleaning the body, dead skin cells are washed away with the germs, reducing their chance of entering the body.



Stress management

Main article: Stress management

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Prolonged psychological stress may negatively impact health, and has been cited as a factor in cognitive impairment with aging, depressive illness, and expression of disease.[10]. Stress management is the application of methods to either reduce stress or increase tolerance to stress. Relaxation techniques are physical methods used to relieve stress. Psychological methods include cognitive therapy, meditation, and positive thinking which work by reducing response to stress. Improving relevant skills and abilities builds confidence, which also reduces the stress reaction to situations where those skills are applicable.



Reducing uncertainty, by increasing knowledge and experience related to stress-causing situations, has the same effect. Learning to cope with problems better, such as improving problem solving and time management skills, may also reduce stressful reaction to problems. Repeatedly facing an object of one's fears may also desensitize the fight-or-flight response with respect to that stimulus—e.g., facing bullies may reduce fear of bullies.



Health care

Main article: Health care

Health care [11] is the prevention, treatment, and management of illness and the preservation of mental and physical well being through the services offered by the medical, nursing, and allied health professions.



Workplace wellness programs

Main article: Workplace wellness

Workplace wellness programs are recognized by an increasingly large number of companies for their value in improving the health and well-being of their employees, and for increasing morale, loyalty, and productivity.[citation needed] Workplace wellness programs can include things like onsite fitness centers, health presentations, wellness newsletters, access to health coaching, tobacco cessation programs and training related to nutrition, weight and stress management. Other programs may include health risk assessments, health screenings and body mass index monitoring.



Wellness programs may also be found in such places neighborhood community centers and schools. These typically require participants to have a greater degree of commitment to themselves, as they are voluntary.