In order to strengthen and maintain the health of healthy people, that is, to manage it, information is needed both about the conditions for the formation of health (the nature of the implementation of the gene pool, the state of the environment, lifestyle, etc.), and the final result of the processes of their reflection (specific indicators of the health status of the individual or population).

Experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) in the 80s. XX century determined the approximate ratio of various factors to ensure the health of a modern person, identifying four groups of such factors as the main ones. Based on this, in 1994, the Interdepartmental Commission of the Security Council of the Russian Federation for the Protection of Public Health in the Federal Concepts “Protecting Public Health” and “Towards a Healthy Russia” defined this ratio in relation to our country as follows:

genetic factors - 15-20%;

environmental condition - 20-25%;

medical support - 10-15%;

conditions and lifestyle of people - 50-55%.

The magnitude of the contribution of individual factors of different nature to health indicators depends on the age, gender and individual typological characteristics of a person. The content of each health factor can be determined as follows (Table 11).

Let's take a closer look at each of these factors.

Table 11 - Factors affecting human health

Sphere of influence of factors
	Strengthening	Worsening
Genetic	Healthy heredity. Absence of morphofunctional prerequisites for the occurrence of the disease.	Hereditary diseases and disorders. Hereditary predisposition to diseases.
State of the environment Good living and working conditions, favorable climatic and natural conditions, environmentally friendly habitat. Harmful living and production conditions, unfavorable	Good living and working conditions, favorable climatic and natural conditions, environmentally friendly habitat.	Harmful living and production conditions, unfavorable climatic and natural conditions, violation of the environmental situation.
Medical support	Medical screening, high level of preventive measures, timely and comprehensive medical care.	Lack of constant medical monitoring of health dynamics, low level of primary prevention, poor quality medical care.
Conditions and lifestyle	Rational organization of life: sedentary lifestyle, adequate physical activity, social lifestyle.	Lack of a rational mode of life, migration processes, hypo- or hyperdynamia.

Genetic factors

The ontogenetic development of daughter organisms is predetermined by the hereditary program that they inherit with their parental chromosomes.

However, the chromosomes themselves and their structural elements - genes, can be subject to harmful influences, and, what is especially important, throughout the life of future parents. A girl is born with a certain set of eggs, which, as they mature, are successively prepared for fertilization. That is, in the end, everything that happens to a girl, girl, woman during her life before conception, to one degree or another, affects the quality of chromosomes and genes. The lifespan of a sperm is much shorter than that of an egg, but their life span is often enough to cause disturbances in their genetic apparatus. Thus, it becomes clear the responsibility that future parents bear to their offspring throughout their entire lives before conception.

Often, factors beyond their control also have an impact, which include unfavorable environmental conditions, complex socio-economic processes, uncontrolled use of pharmacological drugs, etc. The result is mutations leading to the occurrence of hereditary diseases or the appearance of a hereditary predisposition to them.

In the inherited preconditions of health, factors such as the type of morphofunctional constitution and characteristics of nervous and mental processes, the degree of predisposition to certain diseases are especially important.

A person’s life dominants and attitudes are largely determined by the human constitution. Such genetically determined characteristics include the dominant needs of a person, his abilities, interests, desires, predisposition to alcoholism and other bad habits, etc. Despite the significance of environmental and educational influences, the role of hereditary factors turns out to be decisive. This fully applies to various diseases.

This makes clear the need to take into account the hereditary characteristics of a person in determining the optimal lifestyle for him, the choice of profession, partners in social contacts, treatment, the most suitable type of stress, etc. Often society makes demands on a person that conflict with the conditions necessary for the realization programs embedded in genes. As a result, in human ontogenesis many contradictions constantly arise and are overcome between heredity and environment, between various systems of the body that determine its adaptation as an integral system, etc. In particular, this is of exceptional importance in choosing a profession, which is quite enough for our country relevant, since, for example, only about 3% of people employed in the national economy of the Russian Federation are satisfied with their chosen profession - apparently, the discrepancy between the inherited typology and the nature of the professional activity performed is not the least important here.

Heredity and environment act as etiological factors and play a role in the pathogenesis of any human disease, but the share of their participation in each disease is different, and the greater the share of one factor, the less the contribution of the other. From this point of view, all forms of pathology can be divided into four groups, between which there are no sharp boundaries.

The first group consists of hereditary diseases themselves, in which the etiological role is played by a pathological gene, the role of the environment is to modify only the manifestations of the disease. This group includes monogenically caused diseases (such as phenylketonuria, hemophilia), as well as chromosomal diseases. These diseases are transmitted from generation to generation through germ cells.

The second group is also hereditary diseases caused by a pathological mutation, but their manifestation requires specific environmental influences. In some cases, the “manifesting” effect of the environment is very obvious, and with the disappearance of the effect of the environmental factor, clinical manifestations become less pronounced. These are the manifestations of hemoglobin HbS deficiency in its heterozygous carriers with a reduced partial pressure of oxygen. In other cases (for example, with gout), long-term adverse environmental effects are necessary for the manifestation of a pathological gene.

The third group consists of an overwhelming number of common diseases, especially diseases of mature and old age (hypertension, gastric ulcer, most malignant tumors, etc.). The main etiological factor in their occurrence is the unfavorable influence of the environment, however, the implementation of the effect of the factor depends on the individual genetically determined predisposition of the body, and therefore these diseases are called multifactorial, or diseases with a hereditary predisposition.

It should be noted that different diseases with a hereditary predisposition are not the same in the relative role of heredity and environment. Among them, one could distinguish diseases with a weak, moderate and high degree of hereditary predisposition.

The fourth group of diseases are relatively few forms of pathology, in the occurrence of which environmental factors play an exceptional role. Usually this is an extreme environmental factor, against which the body has no means of defense (injuries, especially dangerous infections). Genetic factors in this case play a role in the course of the disease and influence its outcome.

Statistics show that in the structure of hereditary pathology, a predominant place belongs to diseases associated with lifestyle and the health of future parents and the mother during pregnancy.

Thus, there is no doubt about the significant role played by hereditary factors in ensuring human health. At the same time, in the overwhelming majority of cases, taking these factors into account through rationalizing a person’s lifestyle can make his life healthy and long-lasting. And, conversely, underestimation of a person’s typological characteristics leads to vulnerability and defenselessness in the face of unfavorable conditions and circumstances of life.

State of the environment

The biological characteristics of the body are the basis on which human health is based. The role of genetic factors is important in the formation of health. However, the genetic program received by a person ensures its development in the presence of certain environmental conditions.

“An organism without an external environment that supports its existence is impossible” - in this thought I.M. Sechenov laid down the inextricable unity of man and his environment.

Each organism is in diverse mutual relationships with environmental factors, both abiotic (geophysical, geochemical) and biotic (living organisms of the same and other species).

The environment is usually understood as an integral system of interconnected natural and anthropogenic objects and phenomena in which people’s work, life and recreation take place. This concept includes social, natural and artificially created physical, chemical and biological factors, that is, everything that directly or indirectly affects human life, health and activity.

Man, as a living system, is an integral part of the biosphere. The human impact on the biosphere is associated not so much with his biological activity as with his labor activity. It is known that technical systems have a chemical and physical impact on the biosphere through the following channels:

through the atmosphere (the use and release of various gases disrupts natural gas exchange);

through the hydrosphere (pollution of rivers, seas and oceans with chemicals and oil);

through the lithosphere (use of minerals, soil pollution with industrial waste, etc.).

It is obvious that the results of technical activities influence those parameters of the biosphere that provide the possibility of life on the planet. Human life, as well as human society as a whole, is impossible without the environment, without nature. A person, as a living organism, has an inherent metabolism with the environment, which is the main condition for the existence of any living organism.

The human body is largely connected with the other components of the biosphere - plants, insects, microorganisms, etc., that is, its complex organism is included in the general cycle of substances and obeys its laws.

A continuous flow of atmospheric oxygen, drinking water, and food is absolutely necessary for human existence and biological activity. The human body is subject to daily and seasonal rhythms, responds to seasonal changes in environmental temperature, intensity of solar radiation, etc.

At the same time, a person is part of a special social environment - society. Man is not only a biological being, but also a social one. The obvious social basis of human existence as an element of the social structure is the leading one, mediating its biological modes of existence and the performance of physiological functions.

The doctrine of the social essence of man shows that it is necessary to plan the creation of such social conditions for his development in which all his essential forces could unfold. In strategic terms, in optimizing living conditions and stabilizing human health, the most important thing is the development and introduction of a scientifically based general program for the development of biogeocenoses in an urbanized environment and improving the democratic form of social order.

Medical support

It is with this factor that most people pin their hopes for health, but the share of responsibility of this factor turns out to be unexpectedly low. The Great Medical Encyclopedia gives the following definition of medicine: “Medicine is a system of scientific knowledge and practical activities, the purpose of which is to strengthen, prolong the life of people, prevent and treat human diseases.”

As civilization developed and diseases became more widespread, medicine began to specialize more and more in the treatment of diseases and pay less attention to health. Treatment itself often reduces health due to the side effects of medications, that is, curative medicine does not always improve health.

There are three levels in medical morbidity prevention:

First-level prevention is aimed at the entire contingent of children and adults; its goal is to improve their health throughout their entire life cycle. The basis of primary prevention is the experience of developing means of prevention, developing recommendations for a healthy lifestyle, folk traditions and methods of maintaining health, etc.;

Second-level medical prevention deals with identifying indicators of people’s constitutional predisposition and risk factors for many diseases, predicting the risk of diseases based on a combination of hereditary characteristics, life history and environmental factors. That is, this type of prevention is focused not on the treatment of specific diseases, but on their secondary prevention;

third-level prevention, or disease prevention, has as its main goal the prevention of relapses of diseases in patients on a population-wide scale.

The experience accumulated by medicine in the study of diseases, as well as the economic analysis of the costs of diagnosing and treating diseases, have convincingly demonstrated the relatively low social and economic effectiveness of disease prevention (level III prevention) for improving the level of health of both children and adults.

Obviously, the most effective should be primary and secondary prevention, which involve working with healthy people or people just starting to get sick. However, in medicine, almost all efforts are focused on tertiary prevention. Primary prevention involves close cooperation between the doctor and the population. However, the healthcare system itself does not provide the necessary time for this, so the doctor does not meet with the population on prevention issues, and all contact with the patient is spent almost entirely on examination, examination and treatment. As for hygienists, who are closest to implementing the ideas of primary prevention, they are primarily concerned with providing a healthy living environment, rather than human health.

The ideology of an individual approach to issues of prevention and health promotion underlies the medical concept of universal medical examination. However, the technology for its implementation in practice turned out to be untenable for the following reasons:

a lot of means are required to identify the largest possible number of diseases and subsequently combine them into dispensary observation groups;

the dominant orientation is not towards prognosis (prediction of the future), but towards diagnosis (statement of the present);

the leading activity belongs not to the population, but to doctors;

a narrowly medical approach to health improvement without taking into account the diversity of socio-psychological characteristics of the individual.

Valeological analysis of the causes of health requires a shift in focus from medical aspects to physiology, psychology, sociology, cultural studies, to the spiritual sphere, as well as specific modes and technologies of training, education and physical training.

The dependence of human health on genetic and environmental factors makes it necessary to determine the place of the family, school, government, physical education organizations and health authorities in fulfilling one of the main tasks of social policy - the formation of a healthy lifestyle.

Conditions and lifestyle

Thus, it becomes clear that the diseases of modern man are caused, first of all, by his lifestyle and everyday behavior. Currently, a healthy lifestyle is considered as the basis for disease prevention. This is confirmed, for example, by the fact that in the USA, a decrease in infant mortality rates by 80% and mortality of the entire population by 94%, an increase in average life expectancy by 85% is associated not with the success of medicine, but with the improvement of living and working conditions and the rationalization of the life of the population. At the same time, in our country, 78% of men and 52% of women lead an unhealthy lifestyle.

In defining the concept of a healthy lifestyle, it is necessary to take into account two main factors - the genetic nature of a given person and its compliance with specific living conditions.

A healthy lifestyle is a way of life that corresponds to the genetically determined typological characteristics of a given person, specific living conditions and is aimed at the formation, preservation and strengthening of health and the full performance by a person of his socio-biological functions.

In the above definition of a healthy lifestyle, the emphasis is on the individualization of the concept itself, that is, there should be as many healthy lifestyles as there are people. In determining a healthy lifestyle for each person, it is necessary to take into account both his typological characteristics (type of higher nervous activity, morphofunctional type, predominant mechanism of autonomic regulation, etc.), as well as age, gender and the social environment in which he lives (family position, profession, traditions, working conditions, material support, life, etc.). An important place in the initial premises should be occupied by the personal and motivational characteristics of a given person, his life guidelines, which in themselves can be a serious incentive to a healthy lifestyle and to the formation of its content and characteristics.

The formation of a healthy lifestyle is based on a number of key provisions:

An active carrier of a healthy lifestyle is a specific person as the subject and object of his life activity and social status.

In implementing a healthy lifestyle, a person acts in the unity of his biological and social principles.

The formation of a healthy lifestyle is based on a person’s personal and motivational attitude towards the embodiment of his social, physical, intellectual and mental capabilities and abilities.

A healthy lifestyle is the most effective means and method of ensuring health, primary prevention of diseases and satisfying vital health needs.

Quite often, unfortunately, the possibility of preserving and strengthening health through the use of some remedy that has miraculous properties is considered and proposed (physical activity of one kind or another, nutritional supplements, psychotraining, cleansing the body, etc.). It is obvious that the desire to achieve health through any one means is fundamentally wrong, since any of the proposed “panaceas” is not able to cover the whole variety of functional systems that form the human body, and the connections of man himself with nature - all that ultimately determines the harmony of his life and health.

According to E. N. Weiner, the structure of a healthy lifestyle should include the following factors: optimal motor mode, rational nutrition, rational lifestyle, psychophysiological regulation, psychosexual and sexual culture, immunity training and hardening, absence of bad habits and valeological education.

The new paradigm of health is clearly and constructively defined by academician N. M. Amosov: “To become healthy, you need your own efforts, constant and significant. Nothing can replace them."

A healthy lifestyle as a system consists of three main interconnected and interchangeable elements, three cultures: the culture of nutrition, the culture of movement and the culture of emotions.

Food culture. In a healthy lifestyle, nutrition is decisive and system-forming, as it has a positive effect on physical activity and emotional stability. With proper nutrition, food best matches the natural technologies for assimilation of nutrients developed during evolution.

Movement culture. Aerobic physical exercise (walking, jogging, swimming, skiing, gardening, etc.) in natural conditions has a healing effect. They include sun and air baths, cleansing and hardening water procedures.

Culture of emotions. Negative emotions (envy, anger, fear, etc.) have enormous destructive power, while positive emotions (laughter, joy, gratitude, etc.) maintain health and promote success.

Creating a healthy lifestyle is an extremely long process and can last a lifetime. Feedback from the changes occurring in the body as a result of following a healthy lifestyle does not work immediately; the positive effect of switching to a rational lifestyle is sometimes delayed for years. Therefore, unfortunately, quite often people only “try” the transition itself, but without getting quick results, they return to their previous lifestyle. There is nothing surprising. Since a healthy lifestyle involves giving up many pleasant conditions of life that have become habitual (overeating, comfort, alcohol, etc.) and, conversely, constant and regular heavy loads for a person who is not adapted to them and strict regulation of lifestyle. During the first period of transition to a healthy lifestyle, it is especially important to support a person in his aspirations, provide him with the necessary consultations, point out positive changes in his health, functional indicators, etc.

Currently, there is a paradox: despite an absolutely positive attitude towards the factors of a healthy lifestyle, especially in relation to nutrition and physical activity, in reality only 10%-15% of respondents use them. This is not due to a lack of valeological literacy, but due to low personal activity and behavioral passivity.

Thus, a healthy lifestyle should be purposefully and constantly developed throughout a person’s life, and not depend on circumstances and life situations.

The effectiveness of a healthy lifestyle for a given person can be determined by a number of biosocial criteria, including:

assessment of morphofunctional health indicators: level of physical development, level of physical fitness, level of human adaptive capabilities;

assessment of the state of immunity: the number of colds and infectious diseases during a certain period;

assessment of adaptation to socio-economic living conditions (taking into account the effectiveness of professional activity, successful activity and its “physiological value” and psychophysiological characteristics); activity in fulfilling family and household responsibilities; breadth and manifestation of social and personal interests;

assessment of the level of valeological literacy, including the degree of formation of an attitude toward a healthy lifestyle (psychological aspect); level of valeological knowledge (pedagogical aspect); level of mastery of practical knowledge and skills related to maintaining and promoting health (medical-physiological and psychological-pedagogical aspects); the ability to independently build an individual health and healthy lifestyle program.

All elements of nature are interconnected. A person, who is also part of it, is influenced by various factors, including harmful ones. Their exposure has a negative impact on health. The digestive system is most often affected. The rhythm of life in which we live simply does not allow us to eat right. In addition to harmful foods, there are many other factors that have a negative impact on the human body.

Conventionally, all harmful factors affecting human health can be divided into those whose impact is inevitable, and those that can be excluded from your life.

Alcohol and overeating. Very often, after the holidays, usually accompanied by feasts with the consumption of large amounts of heavy food and alcoholic drinks, we do not feel particularly good.

Such dietary errors, of course, have a negative impact on the digestive system. Overeating and alcohol delay the breakdown of fat deposits, which is reflected in the figure. As a result of alcohol, as well as its breakdown products, entering the intestines, due to disruption of the microflora, we develop additional problems, such as abdominal pain.

Fatty, spicy food eaten the day before is poorly digested by the stomach, which leads to a feeling of heaviness, discomfort, frustration and nausea. If you constantly violate the principles of proper nutrition, you will inevitably develop health problems over time.

Smoking. Smoking is also a common negative factor. This bad habit disrupts not only the functioning of the respiratory system, larynx and pulmonary system, but also causes diseases of the stomach (gastritis, ulcers), intestines, and negatively affects the cardiovascular system, liver and kidneys. The poison from nicotine poisons our entire body, which weakens the immune system and makes us more prone to various diseases than non-smokers.

Carcinogenic substances and heavy metals gradually accumulate in the body of a heavy smoker, causing irreversible changes in all organs and systems. It is known that very often people suffering from tobacco addiction die from stroke, myocardial infarction and lung cancer.

Sedentary lifestyle. In the modern world, many suffer from the consequences of physical inactivity. But movement has always been the key to good health. Regular sports activities stimulate all body systems, including the digestive system. A physically active person practically does not experience flatulence, constipation and similar problems associated with congestion and putrefactive processes in the intestines.

Coffee mania. Many people are used to drinking a cup of coffee in the morning. This helps to cheer up and quickly get into a working mood. Coffee does not pose a danger to the body only if a person limits himself to one cup per day. By overusing it, we put a strain on the heart and endanger our health.

Treatment abuse. Regular use of medications, which can even cause addiction, causes great harm to the body. Painkillers, enzymes that help the stomach digest heavy food are in every home medicine cabinet, but one could completely do without them if a person monitored what and in what quantities he eats, how he chews everything, and what kind of lifestyle he leads. All body systems are in close relationship with each other.

Medicines destroy the microflora of the stomach and intestines and have a negative effect on the mucous membranes. The circle closes, and we again reach for pills.

All these factors, harmful to human health, affect the body, gradually worsening its condition. But many people are not interested in how they could maintain health and prolong their lives, and do so absolutely in vain... If you want to lead a healthy lifestyle, the factors affecting your health must be taken into account by you! Don't be indifferent to yourself, lead a healthy lifestyle!

It is human nature to take care of one's own health. Some people do this with great effort, others with insufficient effort. And some people don’t take care of themselves at all. Be that as it may, taking care of your health is a completely natural and necessary conscious human desire.

This conscious desire, in fact, along with the ability to think and speak, distinguishes us from representatives of the animal world. At the same time, it is important to be, as they say, in the trend, that is, sometimes listen to advice from various sources.

In this case, it is extremely important to separate useful advice from useless ones, from myths. We bring to your attention ten persistent myths about human health that have become a habit, which not only have little basis in reality, but also prevent healthy people from maintaining their health intact for longer.

There is no need to count with apothecary precision the number of glasses of water you drink per day. Studies have repeatedly proven that when a person feels thirsty, it is enough to drink one glass of water on time in order to remain completely healthy.

Foods that contain liquid (for example, soups), vegetables, tea, juices, coffee - all this also helps us replenish the necessary supply of fluid in the body throughout the day. And at the same time, there is no need to force yourself to choke on water, following unwritten rules.

A healthy person does not need a lot of water so often: then, for example, when he leads an active lifestyle, lives in a country with a hot climate, and eats only solid food during the day. By the way, one of the signs of a lack of fluid in the body is the dark yellow color of urine.

Lovers of omelettes and scrambled eggs - you should relax and stop feeling guilty in front of your body every time you break eggs into a frying pan. Two eggs a day in no way can negatively affect the heart of a healthy person.

Yes, of course, egg yolk contains cholesterol. However, its amount is so small compared to the cholesterol we absorb throughout the day from some other foods that for most of us it poses no threat.

Moreover: in addition to cholesterol, eggs contain quite healthy nutrients, a number of vitamins and even omega-3 unsaturated fatty acids, which objectively reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases.

Several years ago, publications began to appear in various media on the topic of the terrible harm of using antiperspirants. Allegedly, their use by female representatives can cause breast cancer in them.

The idea, which was immediately picked up by the most “yellow” Internet publications, was this: the chemicals contained in antiperspirants and deodorants are absorbed deep into the body when applied to the armpits. Absorbed into the tissue of the mammary glands, these substances allegedly contribute to the formation of a cancerous tumor.

The excitement was such that scientists actually joined the study (in particular, representatives of the National Cancer Institute, USA). As a result, it was proven that the use of antiperspirants and deodorants by women in no way increases the risk of developing breast cancer.

The influence of habits on human health

Since childhood, many of us have been afraid of frost by our parents and grandparents; Despite our protests, we wrapped ourselves in warm scarves, put on warm knitted hats, and limited our time outside in winter to a minimum.

But is cold really that dangerous for a healthy person? Can a long stay (not in underwear, of course) outside in the cold reduce our immunity, making us more susceptible to various types of colds?

In fact, as various studies show, everything happens exactly the opposite: for a healthy person, spending a few hours in the cold is a good help for the immune system in its fight against viruses. Thus, there is a much greater chance of catching a cold indoors than outside in winter.

Almost every person in his life has more than once encountered advertising (on TV, in other media) urging us to improve our health with the help of nutrients that are not in our regular diet.

Of course, if a doctor prescribes, for example, vitamin B 6 to a pregnant woman in order to reduce the risk of having a child with some congenital malformation, then it is necessary to take them.

But a healthy person usually does not need artificial vitamin supplements. A healthy person only needs a healthy diet that includes fruits, vegetables, whole grain cereals, nuts, healthy fats and oils. This will help maintain the health of the body without any vitamins.

In the fight against extra pounds, a person who is carried away by this difficult process often listens to completely useless advice that does not have any scientific basis.

There is a false belief that people who are losing weight should not deny themselves breakfast. They say this will help them control their hunger without overeating at lunch or dinner. But what should those who simply don’t like to eat in the morning (and there are many of them!) do? As one study by scientists from Cornell University (USA) shows, this assertion is unfounded.

People who don't like to eat breakfast generally don't overeat at lunch or dinner. Moreover, without this meal, they consume an average of 400 fewer calories per day. Conclusion: if you can’t live without breakfast, have breakfast. But a healthy person can even lose a couple of kilos without this meal.

Many people have a deep belief that green snot is an urgent and clear signal about the need to start taking antibiotics. In fact, green nasal discharge does not always indicate a condition that can only be treated with antibiotics.

In fact, green snot, which clearly contains purulent discharge, can clearly indicate the need to take antibiotics. Another condition that requires antibiotics is a confirmed bacterial infection. And the key word here is confirmed!

It is, of course, impossible to determine the presence of such an infection by sight, although studies do prove a higher likelihood of a bacterial infection precisely in the presence of green discharge. However, green snot can also occur with a common cold; and infectious diseases may also be present in the case of clear nasal discharge.

Factors whose impact on our health has been overestimated

Sugar makes kids hyperactive

Is your child sad for no reason? Buy your child his favorite sweet treat and he'll probably jump for joy. Does this mean the sugar made him hyperactive? No more than a gift in the form of, say, a new smartphone can increase your hyperactivity.

Of course, repeated studies confirm the fact that sugar is clearly not an essential product for a child’s body. However, the presence of sweets in a child’s diet is not capable of ruining his activity at school by affecting his attentiveness (and this is precisely what hyperactivity is blamed for!).

The persistence of this myth is largely to blame for the parents themselves, who, having once heard about the effect of sugar on children’s hyperactivity, now involuntarily expect their child to demonstrate this condition after he (or she) eats something sweet. And some, not seeing one, begin to invent it for themselves.

A toilet seat in a public toilet is a source of infection

A topic such as toilet cleanliness is still considered sensitive by many. To be honest, you are much less likely to catch some kind of infection if you sit down, say, on a toilet seat in a shopping center than when you press the flush button.

Indeed, as research shows, a toilet seat in a decent public toilet is treated much more thoroughly when cleaning the room with cleaning agents than, for example, the same flush button or door handle.

The likelihood of “coming into contact” with some kind of E. coli or norovirus, which will lead to an intestinal infection, is just higher when opening the toilet door. That is why, after visiting the toilet, when you have already washed your hands, it is recommended to throw a piece of toilet paper over the handle to open the door.

Crackling your knuckles in polite company is, of course, ugly. And if you do this extremely persistently, perhaps there is a chance of getting a slap on the neck from some particularly nervous person! But this, in fact, is the only harm that this activity can pose to your health.

Many people mistakenly believe that the clicking sound we hear during characteristic finger manipulations is produced by joints or even bones. If we are talking about a person who already has arthritis, then this is quite likely. In fact, the sound source may be different.

When a healthy person (without arthritis) crunches their fingers, it reduces the pressure in the interarticular fluid. In this case, gas is released, which forms bubbles that burst with a sound that is so familiar to many (and sometimes annoying!). This does not mean that you can “crunch” from morning to evening. But several times a day to stretch your fingers is perfectly acceptable.

The site provides reference information for informational purposes only. Diagnosis and treatment of diseases must be carried out under the supervision of a specialist. All drugs have contraindications. Consultation with a specialist is required!

Everyone wants good health, because it ensures the harmonious development of the individual, determines the ability to work and is the main human need.

And, unfortunately, not everyone is familiar with the factors that determine health. People often shift responsibility onto others without taking care of themselves. By leading a bad person by the age of thirty, they put the body in a terrible state and only then think about medicine.

But doctors are not omnipotent. We create our own destiny, and everything is in our hands. This is what we will discuss in this article; we will consider the main factors that determine the health of the population.

Indicators that determine human health

First, let's talk about the components. There are:

• Somatic. Good health and vital functions of the body.
• Physical. Proper development and training of the body.
• Mental. A healthy spirit and a sober mind.
• Sexual. Level and culture of sexuality and childbearing activity.
• Moral. Compliance with morals, rules, norms and foundations in society.

Apparently, the term “health” is of a collective nature. Each individual must have an understanding of the human body, the work of organs and systems. Know the features of your psychological state, be able to adjust your physical and mental abilities.

Now let's talk about the criteria that correspond to each component:

• normal physical and genetic development;
• absence of defects, diseases and any deviations;
• healthy mental and mental state;
• the possibility of healthy reproduction and normal sexual development;
• correct behavior in society, compliance with norms and principles, understanding oneself as a person and an individual.

We have looked at the components and criteria, and now let’s talk about human health as a value and the factors that determine it.

Activity is encouraged from an early age.

There are:

1. Physical health.
2. Mental.
3. Moral.

A physically and spiritually healthy person lives in complete harmony. He is happy, receives moral satisfaction from his work, improves himself, and as a reward he gets longevity and youth.

Factors that determine human health

To be healthy and happy, you need to lead a healthy lifestyle. You need to desire this and strive for the task.

How to achieve this goal:

1. Maintain a certain level of physical activity.
2. Have emotional and psychological stability.
3. Temper yourself.
4. Eat properly.
5. Follow your daily routine (work, rest).
6. Forget about bad habits (alcohol, smoking, drugs).
7. Observe moral standards in society.

It is very important to lay the foundation for a child from early childhood, so that later, in the process of building his future, the “walls” are strong and durable.

A person is influenced by many phenomena. Let's look at the main factors that determine health:

1. Heredity.
2. A person’s attitude towards his own health and his lifestyle.
3. environment.
4. Level of medical care.

These were the key points.

Let's talk in more detail about each

Heredity plays a huge role. If your relatives are healthy and strong, long-lived, the same fate is in store for you. The main thing is to maintain your own health.

Lifestyle is what you are. That’s right, because proper nutrition, jogging, exercise, cold showers, hardening are your health. You need to be able to deny yourself for your own good. Let’s say your friends invite you to a nightclub, and tomorrow you have a hard day at work, of course, it’s better to stay at home and get some sleep than to plunge into work with a sore head, having inhaled nicotine. This applies to smoking, alcohol and drug use. Must have a head on your shoulders.

There are factors that determine human health that are beyond our control. This is the environment. Gas emissions from transport, consumption of goods and food from unscrupulous manufacturers, mutating old viruses (flu) and the emergence of new ones - all this negatively affects our health.

We also depend on the healthcare system that exists in the region in which we live. In many cases, medicine is paid, and not many people have the means to get help from a good, highly qualified specialist.

Thus, we have defined health as a value and examined the factors that determine it.

Health is a diamond that needs cutting. Let's consider two basic rules for building a healthy lifestyle:

• phasing;
• regularity.

It is very important in any training process, be it muscle development, hardening, posture straightening, mastering educational material or mastering a specialty, to do everything gradually.

And, of course, we do not forget about systematicity, so as not to lose the results, experience and skills.

So, we have looked at the main factors that determine health, and now let’s talk about processes that negatively affect a person’s lifestyle.

What makes your health worse?

Consider risk factors:

• Bad habits (smoking, alcohol, drugs, substance abuse).
• Poor nutrition (unbalanced food intake, overeating).
• Depressive and stressful state.
• Lack of physical activity.
• Sexual behavior that leads to sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancy.

These are factors that determine health risks. Let's talk about them in more detail.

Let's define the term

Risk factors are confirmed or tentatively possible conditions of the internal and external environment of the human body that are predisposing to any illness. They may not be the cause of the disease, but contribute to a greater likelihood of its occurrence, progression and unfavorable outcome.

What other risk factors exist?

Here are some examples:

• Biological. Bad heredity, congenital defects.
• Socio-economic.
• Environmental phenomena (poor ecology, climatic and geographical conditions).
• Violation of hygiene standards, ignorance of them.
• Non-compliance with regimes (sleep, nutrition, work and rest, educational process).
• Unfavorable climate in the family and in the team.
• Poor physical activity and many others.

Having studied examples of risk, a person can only purposefully, persistently, and conscientiously work to reduce them and strengthen factors that protect health.

Let's take a closer look at physical health. Not only ability to work, but also life activity in general depends on it.

Physical health. Factors that determine physical health

This is a state of the human body, the characteristic features of which help to adapt to any circumstances, when all organs and systems function normally.

It should be noted that maintaining a healthy lifestyle is not just about playing sports, following a regimen and eating right. This is a certain attitude that a person adheres to. He is engaged in self-improvement, spiritual development, and increases the cultural level. Everything together makes his life better.

Lifestyle is the first main factor. Prudent behavior of a person aimed at maintaining his health should include:

• compliance with the optimal regime of work, sleep and rest;
• mandatory presence of daily physical activity, but within normal limits, no less, no more;
• complete cessation of bad habits;
• only proper and balanced nutrition;
• teaching positive thinking.

It is necessary to understand that it is the factor of a healthy lifestyle that makes it possible to function normally, to perform all social tasks, as well as labor, in the family and household sphere. It directly affects how long an individual will live.

According to scientists, 50% of a person’s physical health depends on his lifestyle. Let's move on to discuss the next question.

Environment

What factors determine human health when it comes to the environment? Depending on its impact, three groups are distinguished:

1. Physical. These are air humidity, pressure, solar radiation, etc.
2. Biological. They can be useful and harmful. This includes viruses, fungi, plants and even pets, bacteria.
3. Chemical. Any chemical elements and compounds that are found everywhere: in the soil, in the walls of buildings, in food, in clothing. And also the electronics surrounding a person.

In total, all these factors amount to about 20%, which is not a small figure. Only 10% of the population's health is determined by the level of medical care, 20% by hereditary factors, and 50% by lifestyle.

As you can see, there are a great many factors that determine the state of human health. Therefore, it is extremely important not only to eliminate emerging symptoms of diseases and fight infections. It is necessary to influence all factors that determine health.

It is extremely difficult for one person to change environmental conditions, but everyone can improve the microclimate of their home, carefully choose food, drink clean water, and use less substances that negatively affect the environment.

And finally, let's talk about the factors that determine the level of population health.

Circumstances that shape people's lifestyles

Let's consider the most important indicators that affect the level of health:

1. Living conditions.
2. Habits that are harmful to the body.
3. Relationships between family members, microclimate, as well as loss of family values, divorces, abortions.
4. Crimes committed, robberies, murders and suicides.
5. A change in lifestyle, for example, moving from a village to a city.
6. Clashes that occur due to belonging to different religions and traditions.

Now let’s look at the impact of other phenomena on the health of the population.

Negative impact of technogenic factors

These include:

1. Decreased performance of relatively healthy people, as well as
2. The occurrence of genetic disorders leading to the appearance of hereditary diseases that will affect future generations.
3. An increase in chronic and infectious diseases among the working population, due to which people do not go to work.
4. Decreased health of children living in contaminated areas.
5. Weak immunity in most of the population.
6. Increasing number of cancer patients.
7. Reduced life expectancy in people living in areas with high levels of environmental pollution.

Thus, it is clear that there are many risk factors. This also includes industrial and transport emissions into the atmosphere, dirty runoff into groundwater, landfills, vapors and poisons of which then again enter the human environment with precipitation.

One can note the negative impact of the media on public health. News on television, periodicals, and radio programs filled with negative material excite people. Thus, they cause depression and stress, break the conservative consciousness and are a powerful factor causing harm to health.

The quality of the water used is of utmost importance for humanity. It can serve as a source of spread of terrible infectious diseases.

Soil also has a negative impact on human health. Since it accumulates pollution from industrial enterprises coming from the atmosphere, various pesticides, and fertilizers. It can also harbor pathogens of some helminth infections and numerous infectious diseases. This poses a great danger to people.

And even the biological components of the landscape can cause harm to the population. These are poisonous plants and the bites of poisonous animals. Carriers of infectious diseases (insects, animals) are also extremely dangerous.

It is impossible not to mention natural disasters that kill more than 50 thousand people every year. These are earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, avalanches, hurricanes.

And in conclusion of our article, we can conclude that many literate people do not adhere to the correct lifestyle, relying on higher powers (maybe it will blow away).

You need to rest. Sleep is very important, it protects our nervous system. A person who sleeps little gets up in the morning irritated, frustrated and angry, often with a headache. Each individual has their own sleep norm, but on average it should last at least 8 hours.

Two hours before a night's rest, you should stop eating and mental activity. The room should be ventilated, you need to open the window at night. Under no circumstances should you sleep in outerwear. You should not cover your head and bury your face in the pillow, this interferes with the breathing process. Try to fall asleep at the same time, your body will get used to it and there will be no problems falling asleep.

But you shouldn’t risk your health, you only have one life, and you need to live it efficiently and happily so that your healthy descendants can enjoy this priceless gift.

Each person leads his own way of life. Some people are used to going to bed early and getting up early, while others, on the contrary, like to sit up past midnight and sleep longer in the morning. Some people lead an active life and like to go hiking, while others prefer watching television programs. There are theatergoers who never miss a single premiere, and there are people who visit the theater once every few years. Some people love to read and collect large libraries at home, while others have almost no books. Everything we do bears the imprint of our lifestyle.

The formation of a lifestyle can happen somehow imperceptibly, gradually. We can adopt it from the people around us or build our own. But everything we do during our lives affects us in one way or another. The way we work and sleep, eat and take care of our bodies, develop our intellect and manage our emotions affects the state of various components of our health.

The choice of lifestyle, along with other factors, determines whether a person will be healthy or, conversely, will be plagued by illnesses. It is a healthy lifestyle that consists of all the conditions necessary for normal physical development, personal and intellectual growth, a comfortable emotional state, and helps maintain health.

A healthy lifestyle does not require any special preparation, since it is designed for the average person.

Anyone can

• Healthy food,
• adhere to the rules and regulations of hygiene,
• create comfortable conditions for yourself at work and at home,
• do physical labor,
• develop intellectually and spiritually,
• be a moral person.

Any person can adhere to the norms of communication, the rules of good manners, listen carefully to the opinions of other people, and restrain their emotions during conflicts.

All this means that a person leads a healthy lifestyle, which helps to improve her health.

A healthy lifestyle helps us achieve our goals, successfully implement our plans, and cope with difficulties.

What is the integrity of health?

According to the World Health Organization, health is “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”

Physical health factors

But in everyday understanding, health is simply the absence of disease.

Many people are primarily interested in the physical component of health, but it is not the only one, although it is very important.

From the point of view of the physical component of health, a person is a biological being with certain anatomical and physiological characteristics. But at the same time, she is a person—a representative of society who freely and responsibly determines her place among other people. Therefore, we can highlight other components of health.

There is a social component to health. It is connected with the fact that a certain person lives among other people, studies, works, communicates. She behaves in a certain way, foresees the possible consequences of her actions, and takes responsibility for their results.

There are mental and spiritual components of health. The mental component of health includes the ability to adequately assess and perceive one’s feelings and sensations, and to consciously manage one’s emotions. Being a balanced person, a person is able to withstand stress and find safe outlets for negative emotions. She has an intellect that allows him to understand the world and navigate it correctly, achieve his goals, study and work successfully, and develop his spiritual potential.

It is the spiritual component of health that allows a person to determine his attitude towards all components of health, to unite them together, and to ensure the integrity of his personality.

The spiritual development of a person determines the purpose of existence, ideals and life values.

A spiritually developed person lives according to moral and ethical principles.
So, human health is determined by various components that are interconnected, and each of them makes its own contribution to health. This is the integrity of health.

Factors influencing human health

A factor is the reason for any change. When they talk about health factors, they mean those reasons that can change the state of health, that is, influence it.

Our health is determined by heredity, that is, our parents pass on to us the characteristics of their body (for example, the color of skin, hair, eyes), including those that determine health.

But to a greater extent, health depends on the person himself, on his lifestyle and habits.

In addition, our health is determined by the healthcare system that exists in our country.

Health can also be influenced by socioeconomic and environmental factors.

Each of the health factors can have both positive and negative effects on a person.

We invite you to watch the video “What factors influence human health? School of Health"