Definitions of Health

"Health" is one of those terms that most people find difficult to define even though they are confident of its meaning. Over time, many definitions have been offered, and it is worth knowing the main ones.

Some scholarly definitions

• "The condition of being sound in body, mind or spirit, especially freedom from physical disease or pain." - Webster
• "Soundness of body or mind; that condition in which its functions are duly and efficiently discharged." - Oxford New English Dictionary
• "A condition or quality of the human organism expressing the adequate functioning of the organism in given conditions, genetic and environmental."
• "A modus vivendi enabling imperfect men to achieve a rewarding and not too painful existence while they cope with an imperfect world."
• "A state of relative equilibrium of body form and function which results from its successful dynamic adjustment to forces tending to disturb it ... an active response of body forces working toward readjustment." - Perkins

The WHO definition

The most widely accepted definition is the one given by the World Health Organization (1948) in the preamble to its constitution:

In recent years this statement has been amplified to include "the ability to lead a socially and economically productive life" - recognising that true health also lets a person contribute to society.

Reading the definitions together

Notice how the earlier definitions (Webster, Oxford) focus mainly on the body and mind, while Perkins' definition introduces the idea of dynamic equilibrium - health as an active, ongoing adjustment to forces (germs, stress, injury, environment) that try to disturb the body, not a passive, unchanging state. This is an important shift: it explains why a person can face a stressful situation, an infection, or an injury and still be considered healthy, provided the body successfully readjusts and returns to balance. …