Health is the normal and sound state of the body. This is a great source of peace and happiness.
Health refers to a state of sound mind and physically fit body free from any disorder, sickness or ailment. In simple words, health refers to the physical, emotional and psychological well-being of a person.
Hygiene refers to the good practices that prevent diseases and leads to good health, especially through cleanliness, proper sewage disposal, and supply of safe drinking water. It refers to all those activities that are done for improving and preserving, maintaining sound health.
The proverb says that health is wealth. It is truly said that of all things in the world health is the most valuable that one can possess. Money is no doubt a pleasant thing. However, it can give no pleasure to a man of ruined health. As body and mind are closely connected, the mind cannot be sound and cheerful without sound health.
Value and benefits of Good Health: Life is a great struggle, and health is the best weapon to be successful in the battle of life. A healthy man can enjoy life in every way. An unhealthy man lives a most miserable life. He may have intelligence, merit and wealth, but he cannot put them to use and reap their benefits.
Hygiene Habits for Good Health.
Pure water is another source of good health. A great deal of sickness is caused by using impure water. People in villages often bathe, and wash clothes and cattle in tanks. If this water is used for drinking purposes, it may bring disastrous diseases. To make water pure it should be boiled, so that it may not do any harm.
Balanced and Nutritious food: Wholesome food keeps our health good. A part of the food we take serves as fire to keep the body warm; another part forms flesh to give us strength. Pure milk is the most nutritious food. Vegetables and many other things that we generally take are nutritious food. A mixed diet is the best food for us. Stale and rotten food is dangerous for health. Meals should be taken at fixed times. Over-eating causes many diseases. Special care is necessary about food when any epidemic prevails.
Cleanliness is necessary for good health. It is the most important hygiene habit. Dirt spreads diseases, because germs thrive in it. They move about with the dust in the air, so a dirty man is easily attacked with diseases. The man, who has a clean body and puts on clean clothes, is free from dirt and dust, and no disease can attack him easily. Daily bathing is a good habit. It keeps our body clean. We should keep our clothes, beddings, food, utensils, and all other things neat and clean. No dirt should be allowed to gather near our houses. We should also keep our teeth and nails clean. We should remember that cleanliness is next to godliness.
Eye care: We should take great care of our eyes. Both inadequate light and excess of light are harmful to our eyes. Eyes become fatigued by study and require some rest. Bathing the eyes with cold water at night is a good hygiene habit.
Other Measures for Good Health.
Regular physical exercise is necessary to keep good health. Walking in the open air every morning and evening strengthens the muscles of the limbs and quickens the circulation of blood. A game every day before sunset is very advantageous. A man, taking regular exercise, will be much better fitted for the duties of life than a languid bookworm will.
Pure air: The first requisite is pure air. To secure good health we must have a sufficient supply of fresh air. For this we should keep the environment clean.
Proper sleep: Many people sleep too much. This renders them indolent. On the other hand, a zealous student goes to the opposite extreme. Both of these practices injure health. ‘Early to bed and early to rise’ is the best course.
Life free from illness and ailment and living a reasonably long lifespan are indicative of a healthy life. Availability of pre and post natal health care facilities in order to reduce infant mortality and post delivery deaths among mothers, old age health care, adequate nutrition and safety of individual are important measures of a healthy and reasonably long life.
India has done reasonably well in some of the health indicators like decline in death rate from 25.1 per thousand in 1951 to 8.1 per thousand in 1999 and infant mortality from 148 per thousand to 70 during the same period. Similarly, it also succeeded in increasing life expectancy at birth from 37.1
years to 62.3 years for males and 36.2 to 65.3 years for females from 1951 to 1999. Though, these are great achievements, a lot needs to be done.
It has also done reasonably well in bringing down birth rate from 40.8 to 26.1 during the same years, but it still is much higher than many developed countries The situation is more alarming when seen in the context of gender specific and rural and urban health indicators. India has recorded declining female sex ratio. The findings of 2001 Census of India
are very disturbing particularly in case of child sex ratio between 0-6 age groups. The other significant features of the report are, with the exception of Kerala, the child sex ratio has declined in all the states and it is the most alarming in the developed state of Haryana and Punjab where it is below
800 female children per thousand male children. What factors are
responsible for it? Is it the social attitude or scientific methods of sexdetermination?
Freedom from hunger, poverty, ignorance, illiteracy and any
other forms of domination is the key to human development. You have already studied the concepts, indicators and approaches to human development and methods of calculating the index in your book, "Fundamentals of Human Geography." In this chapter, let us try to understand the applicability of these concepts.