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What is health?

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When we talk about health protection or health management, the question crops up: What actually is health?

Most of us perceive health as an absence of sickness. In its constitution of 1948, the World Health Organisation defined the term health more comprehensively: “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”8

The previous focus on purely physical aspects has been widened to include mental and social well-being. At the end of the First International Conference on Health Promotion held by the WHO in 1986, this expansion was fleshed out in the so-called Ottawa Charter. Seven basic conditions for health were defined:

Stable self-esteem.

A positive relationship with one’s own body.

Fulfilling friendships and social relationships.

A safe and healthy environment.

Meaningful work, as well as healthy and safe working conditions.

Knowledge about health and access to health care.

A present time that is worth living in, and the hope of a future worth living.

All these go far beyond physical well-being, and emphasise the significance of mental and social circumstances on an individual’s health.

The crucial change is the one in attitude: The focus is no longer on the prevention of disease, but on the maintenance of well-being.9

First Aid for the Artist's Soul

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