HEALTH & MEDICINE

Health is important–obviously.

It’s probably the most important thing that each of us have to monitor in our everyday life, and yet our idea of health has changed over time.

Back in 1948, the World Health Organization defined this impalpable concept as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”

Nearly 40 years later, they elaborated, stating that it was rather, “A resource for everyday life, not the objective of living.” This important clarification suggested that health was an amalgamation of factors that supported one’s ability to function in communities and society at-large. Being healthy no longer meant that one was just mentally and physically capable, it meant that one was living a full life with meaning and purpose.

Now, more than 40 years after that, as we continue to fend o the ever-encroaching pandemic, it seems as though we are in need of a new defini- tion. One that encapsulates our new–and volatile–relationship with masks and vaccines, one that considers the global ramifications of an unhealthy society and one that understands how health can be the one thing that keeps us from the brink of precarity.

It may seem counterintuitive to throw a blanket definition on health, but it’s always something that can be improved on. It’s something we can aspire to. Health is a journey that never truly ends, and with that, please enjoy this special edition of the Arizona Daily Sun.