Personal Health
Health is a dynamic factor. A person cannot remain healthy throughout his life. A person's health is the total condition of his efforts towards physical, mental, and social well-being. There should be a continuous individual effort to achieve sound health because of its dynamic nature. An individual should take proper care regarding his personal cleanliness, exercise, diet, rest and sleep, habits, etc., to stay in a healthy state. In this light, we should know that personal health is a condition that is detrimental to our individual efforts for making our physical, mental and social health good. The following aspects must be considered for personal health:
1. Cleanliness: An individual must involve in the cleanliness of his/her various body parts externally. Eyes, ears, nose, skin, and tongue- all the sense organs must be cleaned thoroughly. (Healthy habits like taking a bath regularly, brushing teeth, trimming nail and hair regularly are some of the hygienic habits) These habits keep us away from infection, attack from scabies, inflammation, and other diseases.
2. Exercise: Likewise, (we must make a habit of doing exercise regularly. An ideal exercise is that which tones up all the muscles of our body. All the body parts and joints must be used while doing exercise. Running. Swimming, skipping, games, and sports are good sources of exercise. Exercise and sports help us make our body fit and develop social characters like coordination, teamwork, leadership, etc/ Exercise helps us make good coordination between body and mind. These days, people are practicing yoga to keep their physical and mental health good.
3. Rest and Sleep: Rest and sleep help us regain our lost stamina which is lost due to work, exercise, and mental stress. Our muscles, sense organs, and brains get exhausted due to our activities which need to rest for a while to regain stamina. A person needs about 8 hours of sleep to overcome fatigue and regain stamina.
4. Casual Habits: Every day, we must make a habit of spending time outdoors. Take fresh air in the morning for some time. Keep the ventilators open inside the room and the kitchen. Use safe drinking water to avoid water-borne diseases like diarrhea, dysentery, cholera, etc. Do not eat exposed food sold by roadside vendors. We must emphasize seasonal clothes as well. We must not put on clothes which have a tight-fitting. Tight-fitted clothes may affect the proper circulation of our bodies and block perspiration. We must protect our bodies from the cold by wearing heavy woolen clothes and allow free flow of the air during the summer season by wearing soft and thin cotton clothes.
5. Balanced Diet: Balanced diet is essential to perform all bodily functions. Different types of food provide different nutrients to our bodies. All the vital food nutrients like carbohydrates, protein, fat, mineral, and vitamin should be taken by an individual depending upon his physical and mental workload. Balanced nutrition helps to keep us away from malnutrition. It definitely provides energy and warmth, helps to fight infection, and regulates the body functions properly.
6. Sanitation: The use of a latrine to defecate is one of the sanitary habits. In our country, still many people are involved in open defecation, which invites many diseases in the form of epidemics. After using the latrine, we must wash our hands and feet with soap and water thoroughly. We must arrange a separate pair of slippers for latrine use. We should never enter a latrine without slippers. Similarly, before eating our meal, we should wash our hands with soap and water. Likewise, we must dispose of the solid and liquid wastes properly to avoid unnecessary infection.
7. Unhealthy Habits: Apart from all the above habits, we must never fall into the trap of tobacco, alcohol, and drugs. The intake of such unhealthy things can invite several disorders and incurable diseases which turn our life into hell; Tobacco intoxication leads to bronchitis, T.B., asthma, and even cancer. Alcohol intoxication leads to liver damage, digestive disorders, and nervous disorders. Drugs and narcotics can spoil the entire young generation. Drug intoxication leads to brain hemorrhage, madness, anxiety, depression, and death.
8. Personal Belongings: We must use our personal belongings like combs, handkerchiefs, towels, nail cutters, clothes, brushes, etc., to clean our bodies. We should never share these belongings with other individuals. If we share such materials, diseases like Hepatitis B, Typhoid, Jaundice, etc., may be transmitted. So, to maintain good physical health, we should neither use other's belongings nor let others use yours.
9. Reproductive and Sexual Health: Adolescence is marked with physical, mental, emotional, and social changes. The WHO has remarked adolescence at the age between 10-19. Adolescents should emphasize their reproductive and sexual health. They must clean their reproductive organs to keep them healthy. Boys and girls experience several changes during their adolescence, likincreasedin height and weight, development of internal systems, and bodily functions like digestion, circulation, respiration, and immunity more clearly. Boys find their voices turning hoarse. Development of pubic hair around genitals, wet dreams, the appearance of mustache, beard, and hair at armpits start. Girls find their voices turning sweet. An increase in the size of their buttocks and breast, the onset of menstruation, and the appearance of pubic hair around genitals start.
Boys and girls should emphasize the cleaning of their reproductive organs to keep them away from infection. They must drink a lot of water and turn their attention to games, sports, music, etc., to enhance their personal development and eliminate unnecessary indulgence. Girls during menstruation should give special emphasis to maintaining cleanliness. They must clean their vagina thoroughly every morning and evening and use sanitary pads or soft cotton cloth during menstruation. They must take enough iron-containing foodstuffs like green leafy vegetables and iron supplements to compensate for blood loss. They must not li heavy loads and travel long distances during menstruation.
Regular Health Check-Up
People become sick of either communicable diseases or non-communicable diseases. A communicable disease is transmitted from one person to another with the help of different media. A communicable disease is always caused by an agent, usually a micro-organism. Non-communicable diseases are not transmitted from one person to another but occur due to internal disorders, malnutrition, carelessness, and unhealthy habits. Whether it is communicable or non-communicable, the disease can be prevented. To prevent a disease, we must adopt good healthy habits and give importance to personal and environmental health.
Every time we may not know the development of a disease in our body. Sometimes, these diseases may be silently developing in our bodies. Such conditions can be identified with the help of regular health check-ups. Regular health check-up is a periodic activity in which a person visits health facilities to identify the medical condition of the body and be aware of the probable consequences. In particular, we cannot directly observe the internal organs and their functioning. We must monitor their functions and check the unusual growth or damage of such organs with the help of regular health check-ups.
Some aspects to be considered for regular health check-up can be highlighted with the help of the following points:
a) We must arrange a regular health check-up for internal organs like lungs, liver, kidneys, intestine, heart, etc. Many of such organs undergo partial damage, hemorrhage, or even cancer.
b) We must arrange regular health check-ups for our sensitive organs like ears and the nose. There may be the development of disorders, blockage, or accumulation of wastes in these organs.
c) We must be conscious of our height and weight. An ideal weight and height combination makes us physically strong and capable. Weight should be maintained by taking a balanced diet by our height.
d) We must arrange a regular health check-up for pre-natal and postnatal mothers as well as infants. This is to be done to reduce high infant and maternal mortality.
e) For the proper growth and development of the infants, immunization should be arranged. Immunization helps infants develop strong resistance to diseases and save them from several infections
f) Special arrangements have to be made for the older adults for their regular check-ups to prevent several types of diseases that emerge at the time of aging. They are affected by different problems like impaired
hearing, vision, appetite, digestion, immunity, and physical power.
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