What Is Optimal Health?

Optimal health is not the same thing as the mere absence of disease. Why settle for less than what is possible?

Traditionally, health has been defined as the lack of diagnosable pathology or symptoms—essentially, not being sick. This view is value-neutral and focuses on biological function and statistical normality, where health is simply the ability to perform typical physiological functions efficiently.

Optimal Health Is so Much More!

Optimal health is a broader, more dynamic concept. It includes not only the absence of disease but also the presence of positive attributes such as physical, mental, and social well-being, resilience, adaptability, and a sense of purpose or meaning in life.

The World Health Organization’s definition reflects this, describing health as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity"

Key Components of Optimal Health

• Positive Well-being: Involves happiness, life satisfaction, fulfilling relationships, and a sense of meaning or purpose.
• Resilience and Adaptability: The ability to recover from stress, adapt to challenges, and maintain homeostasis.
• Functional Capacity: Encompasses not just freedom from disabling disease, but also strength, mobility, sensory function, and psychological health.
• Holistic Integration: Optimal health is an emergent state arising from complex interactions between biological, psychological, social, and environmental factors.

What's your strategy for achieving optimal health?

References

1. López-Otín, C., & Kroemer, G. (2020). Hallmarks of Health. Cell, 184, 33-63.
2. Spijk, P. (2014). On human health. Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, 18, 245 - 251.
3. Sturmberg, J., Picard, M., Aron, D., Bennett, J., Bircher, J., DeHaven, M., Gijzel, S., Heng, H., Marcum, J., Martin, C.,Miles, A., Peterson, C., Rohleder, N., Walker, C., Rikkert, M., & Melis, R. (2019). Health and Disease—EmergentStates Resulting From Adaptive Social and Biological Network Interactions. Frontiers in Medicine, 6.
4. McClintock, M., Dale, W., Laumann, E., & Waite, L. (2016). Empirical redefinition of comprehensive health and well-being in the older adults of the United States. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113, E3071 -E3080.
5. Larsen, L. (2021). Not merely the absence of disease: A genealogy of the WHO’s positive health definition. Historyof the Human Sciences, 35, 111 - 131.

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