Whenever the issue of health is brought up, normally every mind thinks of physical or medical conditions of a person. Basically in terms of living without much illnesses, eating good food or other nutritious edibles and getting every necessary medication when the need arises. Some may even refer to it as physiological and psychological wellbeing of an individual and it also entails creation of awareness for the maintenance of such good health conditions.
Health as the essence of life, for me, transcends all the aforementioned situations. It is not only restricted to physical wellbeing of a person rather it encompasses both physical, spiritual and Financial conditions of every individual on this earth. Talking about good health cannot be absolute if we fail to include all the vital aspects of human life which dominate his existence. And those aspects like finance, spirituality and of course good medical condition of a person, when put together is what could be referred to as ABSOLUTE HEALTH.
Therefore in this write up, I will be discussing these three relevant facets of human health as the essence of life
GOOD HEALTH (medical conditions)
When we talk of wellbeing of an individual in terms of medical conditions, we obviously refer to little or absence of any illness or sickness. Not showing any sign of illness is one of the way of knowing someone who is medically okay. It is a very important aspect of life as nothing is conceived doable if you are terribly down with sickness.
Reasons why people fail to maintain good health.
- Lack of information : it is even written in the scripture when God said "My people die for lack of knowledge". Adequate information on ways of keeping good health is very important in all ramifications. Very many people fall sick easily because they lack knowledge of health conditions, remedies and prevention of certain diseases. Take for instance malaria epidemic that has become the world leading killer disease. In my country Nigeria the widespread of malaria parasite is very much alarming and on the increase as many people are getting infected and very many people are dying from it. As it is now you cannot go to hospital for laboratory tests without being diagnosed of carrying or having malaria infection and other illnesses which are caused by malaria parasites. 90% of the Mass in this country are suffering from malaria. And this, to a great extent, is a reflection of the fact that information about preventive measures on malaria are not properly disseminated in this country
According to medical Wikipedia article on malaria, it is defined as a mosquito born infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by parasitic protozoan (a type of unicellular micro organism) of the genus Plasmodium. Also according to source, the disease is transmitted by a bite from an infected female anapheles mosquito, which introduces the organism from its saliva into a person's circulatory system. In the blood, the parasites travel to the liver to mature and reproduce. Also on the lung run the symptom of malaria such as headache, fever, shivering, joint pain, vomiting, hemolytic anemia, jaundice, hemoglobin in the urine, rectal damage and Convulsions.
According to the same source mosquito can breed in leftover or stagnant pool or water around our homes, workplaces or anywhere, especially when left open. Then my question is
"why are we nonchalant about this dirty water around us"
This is basically as a result of ignorance on the part of the Mass. Every individual should endeavour to get rid of any waste water in their vicinity, as such will reduce the rate of mosquito breading. The health advisors should endeavour to inform the Mass about some resourceful preventive measures of certain diseases as in the case of mosquito breeding ground. And seriously create the awareness of risks involved in having such waste or stagnant water around you. There is a saying that "prevention is better than cure". By preventing the means through which mosquito breed, we'll go a long way to preventing the spread of malaria in our society.
Recently mosquito net has been introduced to curb the spread of this malaria parasites. Many are unaware of such material especially those living in rural areas. The health organisations and personnels we have should try and locate this areas and spread the good news of mosquito net and also how to use it. If absolute spread of quality information on the preventive measures of certain diseases is done, the rate at which people fall sick will be greatly reduced.
- Negligence : Another outstanding problem which poses great threat to our health is absolute negligence of health recommendations. Very many people do not really take their health conditions seriously. Some are so lazy that despite the fact that there may be good health information spreading around especially on disease preventions, they would not adhere to it. There are always health seminars at various health centres and even on social media such radio stations, TV stations, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and many other Websites. All these information on different platforms are geared towards enhancing health conditions of individuals in our society through adequate preventive techniques and other measures. Unfortunately many people are taking all these efforts for granted and consequently spending a whole lot of money in the hospital for the treatment of illnesses which could have been prevented if they had heed to the advice of the health professionals. There are also teachings and information on good diet and fitness exercises which would enable one, when followed, grow in good health without much need of visiting the hospital. The issue is that people don't take it serious. They tend to do things their own way and land themselves in a very complicated health situation which cost them a lot of pain and resources and sometimes their lives.
- Self medication: it has been noted that self medication has proved more dangerous than illness itself regarding the way people with little or no knowledge of health problems take risks with medications that involve the modern medicine without proper medical advice. Due to improper health suggestions and misconception of medical advice, many people in Nigeria have resorted to self medication. A situation where one takes drugs or pills or any form of medication without any medical prescription from medical experts. This situation is becoming more serious and rampant in our society today. People are claiming that they know their sickness and know how best to treat themselves without any regard to the risks involved. There was a story of a girl who took aspirin because she was having slight fever. It was unfortunate that the girl didn't survive the medication. The drug didn't react well with her body system and she got swollen and different parts of her body began to burst. She died before she could be rushed to the hospital. So many of such incidents have been happening over the years and yet people are not taking caution. It behoves every living soul to seek the advice of health professionals when you are sick or experiencing any form of imbalance with your body system, before undergoing any form of medication. At least if not for anything, it is for your safety.
- Conservative : On the part of being conservative, some people especially those living in rural areas do not have any regard for our modern medicine or it's efficacy. They tend to cling to their old and traditional means of treating an illness even when it is no longer effective and more dangerous. I have seen a lot of people taking different herbal concoction for a small fever that can easily be cured by few malaria tablets. In my opinion some of our old methods of herbal treatment of some diseases are too risky. The concoctions we mix together for medication may not be what the body system really needs for the illness to go, as many diseases have similar symptoms. Since no laboratory test is done, many indulge in self diagnosis and take mixtures that may even worsen their health condition.
FINANCIAL HEALTH.
Many are of the opinion that money is the root of all evil. I seriously do not buy such an idea. As a matter of fact I see money as one of the basic necessity of life without which your good health is endangered. Money has become a vital instrument in the hands of some good people for implementation and facilitation of good economic growth thereby making the lives of people much more enjoyable and worth living. So if money isn't a very important aspect of human health, then what is money?
One of the renowned Nollywood actors, late Mr Samloco Efe once said in one of his movies titled "Anunuebe" (strange bird) when addressing his wife, "my dear listen to me, l cannot stay in this village again and languish in this poverty forever, I must go to the city and make money because without money, no life"
I am not saying that wealth is the most important aspect of life, rather l am of opinion that wealth is indispensable when we talk of maintenance of good health. It is good to know that most of the health programmes in our society are possible through financial support of many health sectors in government and individuals as well. Therefore what I am saying in essence is that before one can say that he or she is entirely healthy, financial health must be involved. Then what is the challenge against our financial health?I think the answer to that is that very many of us are poor, in the sense that it is affecting us psychological, physically and spiritually. As a matter of fact it is the mother of most ill health situation we are experiencing in this country Nigeria. Then what are we to do to improve financial health since it is very crucial for the maintenance of overall good health.
TIPS
- Wealth is in the mind: There is a great book titled "think and grow rich" written by Napoleon Hill. Napoleon expounded the powerful effect of mind in creating wealth in this great book. He is of the opinion that riches and poverty are the creation of the mind. That our mindset determines the way we perceive wealth and acquire it. The rich have positive mindset towards money while most poor people harbour negative mindset. According to him the passion and positivity of mind about making money create the opportunity for you. Therefore for you to make or become rich you must first believe that you are very capable and passionately work towards actualizing that dream. Also Robert collier in his book. "secret of ages" said that nothing is considered feasible if it is not first approved by the mind. Therefore the mind is the root of all possibilities. To be able to achieve good financial health we must first change our mindset about money and know that wealth comes if we desire it.
- Financial Education : A quantum leap towards developing this financial mindset is what l regard as financial education. Robert kiyosaki in his book "Why 'A' students work for 'C' students and why 'B' students work for government" stressed the importance of financial education to every person willing to become and stay financially healthy for life. According to him, the idea of how to create wealth and ability to expand it through the acquisition of assets and forfeiting liabilities is the basis of becoming financially stable. In simple terms he defines assets as something that puts money into your pocket and liability as something that takes away money from your pocket. Therefore to be financially stable you need to know the difference between assets and liability and try as much as possible to acquire assets. A person without good financial education may not be able to control his /her wealth when it comes. That's why many of our sport celebrities and musicians and even lottery winners get broke after a short while.
The importance of financial health cannot be overemphasized, for instance imagine where you are the head of your family with your wife and four children and considering the precarious nature and poor economy of this country Nigeria. You are not able to take care of them financially, you find out that even without medical ill health, your family will not be happy. A times when a serious situation that demands money arises you will be devastated. So you see that without being financially healthy, your life may leave little or nothing to be desired. I urge you to take this aspect of life seriously if you really want to be entirely healthy.
SPIRITUAL HEALTH
Overall human health can never be complete if we fail to include the spiritual aspect. Which as a matter of fact should be taken more than serious as it is the only health condition that transcends to eternity. It is the only health condition that determines how our physical and Financial health come to an end. Being spiritually healthy brings to fulfillment the essence of of being medically and Financially healthy. It is written in the scripture when God said "seek first my Kingdom and its righteousness and every other thing would be added unto you" This statement for me literally means "seek first spiritual health and its perfection and every other financial and medical health would be added unto you" l wouldn't like to go deep into this aspect of life as everyone is entitled to their opinion and different religious beliefs.
Finally, I sincerely appreciate your reading this write up. It is important that we realize that health in entirety is all-embracing and therefore to attain maximum level of it; financial, physical and spiritual aspect of it must be put into consideration. One cannot be self-sufficient without others. As the popular saying goes that 'No man is an island' good health conditions cannot be achieved if one of these three principal aspects is not included. Stay with us as we unfold all health packages we have for you, for the greater glory of God and good of humanity.
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