UNIT 1

HEALTH AWARENESS AND ROLE

AND IMPORTANCE OF YOGA

Dr. Rajesh Agrawal

Associate Professor, MBICEM
 Definition of Health
 “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and
social well-being and not merely the absence of disease
or infirmity”.
- WHO, 1946
 "The extent to which an individual or group is able to
realize aspirations and satisfy needs, and to change or
cope with the environment. Health is a resource for
everyday life, not the objective of living; it is a positive
concept, emphasizing social and personal resources, as
well as physical capacities"
- WHO’s revised definition of health in 1984
 DEFINITION OF HEALTH
 Following three types of definition of health can also
be used:
‘Health is the absence of any disease or
impairment’.
‘Health is a state that allows the individual to
adequately cope with all demands of daily life
(implying also the absence of disease and
impairment)’.
‘Health is a state of balance, an equilibrium that an
individual has established within himself and
between himself and his social and physical
environment’.
 CONCEPT OF HEALTH
 Ancient Indian history during Vedic period reveals the practice
of comprehensive concept of health.
It emphasized on health promotion and health maintenance
through practice of good environmental sanitation and
personal rules and regulations.
Health also included physical, mental, social and spiritual
aspects of life.
 Health is considered as a fundamental human right.

 It is also considered a social goal to be achieved by all to lead

economically productive and useful life.
 This goal is popularly known as "Health For All" (HFA)
which was adopted by WHO in 1977 and accepted by all the
member countries.
 CHANGING CONCEPTS OF HEALTH
 Biomedical Concept: The human body is considered as a
machine and disease is due to breakdown of this machine.
Individual is considered healthy only if he does not have any
disease.
 Ecological Concept: Health is viewed as a harmonious
relationship between man and his environment, and disease as
maladjustment of the man to his environment.
 Psychological Concept: Health gets affected by various other
factors such as social, psychological, cultural, economical and
political.
 Holistic Concept: human being is considered as a whole person
comprising of body, mind and soul. He lives under the influence
of various factors in his environment or community. These
factors influence and determine total health of body, mind and
soul.
 Determinants of Health
 According to the World Health Organization, “the
main determinants of health include the social and
economic environment, the physical environment, and
the person's individual characteristics and
behaviours”.

 Many factors, such as socio-economic status,

productivity, the health service system, environmental
conditions and genetic endowment, influence the
health of persons, families and communities. These
factors are frequently referred to as the determinants
of health.
 Determinants of Health
The factors within the individual and the factors within
the society are as follows:
i) Heredity (Biological)
ii) Environment
iii) Life style
iv) Personal Health Practices
v) Socio-economic conditions
vi) Health Welfare Services
vii) Healthy Child Development
viii) Gender
ix) Culture
x) Other factors such as food, agriculture, education,
industry, social welfare, rural development etc.
 Essentials of Good Health
Requisites of good health could be identified at
following three levels:
i) Individual and Family Level
ii) Community Level
iii) State Level
 Essentials of Good Health
i) Individual and Family Level
The requirements of health at the individual and family level
include:
 Following of personal hygiene practice, care of body parts,
cleanliness
 Taking enough rest, sleep, exercises and recreation

 Well-balanced diet

 Regular health screening and immunization

 Reporting early when sick and taking regular treatment

 Avoidance of unhealthy practices – over-eating, smoking, drug

abuse etc.
 Good social relationship and working conditions in the family,
neighbourhood and community people and work place
 Essentials of Good Health
ii) Community Level

Requisites of health at the community level include:

 Proper housing and sanitation

 Safe water supply

 Clean air, proper light and sound

 Safe surroundings to avoid accidents

 Proper disposal of excreta, waste water and sewage

 Good placement of school, health centers, hospital, market and

recreation facilities
 Plantation and vegetation

 Good social relationship among the neighbourhood and

community participation
 Essentials of Good Health
iii) State Level
Requisite of optimum healthcare at the state level includes:
 Political will and desire to implement healthcare policies

 Desired healthcare delivery system

 Adequate and accessible infrastructure; health related services

include nutrition, environmental sanitation, education, right to
work etc.
 Desired manpower development

 Maintenance of health records, reports and health statistics

 Research & Evaluation of health care services and feedback

 Parameters of Health
 Diet: A balanced diet that provide nutrients to the body.
Nutrients help build, strengthen and regulate body processes.
It can lower your risk of diseases
 Physical Exercise: Engaging in sports or other fitness
related activities. It enhances or maintains physical fitness
and overall health and wellness.
 Sleep: Sleep regulates metabolism. Sleep deprivation
correlate with both increased susceptibility to illness and
slower recovery times from illness.
 Self-care strategies: Include personal actions for preventing
or minimizing the effects of a disease through integrative
care. It also include personal hygiene practices to prevent
infection and illness.
 Parameters of Health
 Occupational health: Jobs also present risks of disease,
illness and other long-term health problems. Most common
occupational diseases are pneumoconiosis (black lung
disease), asthma, skin diseases, including eczema, dermatitis,
urticaria, sunburn, and skin cancer.
 Healthy lifestyle management: healthy living ensures a
longer life span as well as a life free of disease and
complications. Overweight and obese people suffer from
many health complications such as diabetes, high blood
pressure, high cholesterol and even cancer.
 OBJECTIVES OF HEALTH AWARENESS
PROGRAMS
 To increase public awareness that disease are significant
public health problem.
 To increase public awareness of symptoms and signs of
disease.
 To improve the knowledge and attitudes of patients about
detection, treatment and control of disease.
 To promote the family and community educational
material essential for positive lifestyle habits.
 To create public awareness about the ill-effects of
alcohol, smoking and drugs, etc.
 OBJECTIVES OF HEALTH AWARENESS
PROGRAMS
These programs help local community:
 To increase knowledge, attitude and skills of all health
professionals regarding sign, symptoms and management
strategies for health hazards to improve disease control.
 To encourage health professionals to treat patients carefully.

 To develop resource and material for use of health professionals.

 To promote research all over the world to curb health hazards.

 To encourage continuing educational programmes on accurate

information on diagnosis and treatment of diseases.
 YOGA: MEANING & CONCEPT
 The word ‘Yoga' means "join together".
 Yoga is a method of learning that aims at balancing "Mind, Body
and Spirit".
 Yoga, combining lifestyles with potent infallible (always effective)
prescriptions for lasting mental peace.
 Yoga has technical systems to help calm the mind, maintain
resilience, harness physical and mental energies and to develop an
integrated personality.
 Yoga is a way of balancing the emotions and establishing the
harmony between the mind and body.
 Yoga brings together physical and mental disciplines to achieve a
peaceful body and mind,
 Yoga helps to manage stress and anxiety and keeps relaxed.

 It also helps in increasing flexibility, muscle strength and body

tone. It improves respiration, energy and vitality.
 ROLE OF YOGA IN HUMAN’S
HEALTH AND FITNESS
 1. Physical
 Flexibility: helps the body to become flexible, bringing
greater range of motion to muscles and joints.
 Strength: support the weight of own body in new ways,
including balancing on one leg (such as in Tree Pose) or
supporting with arms increases strength.
 Better Breathing: Yoga breathing exercises, called
Pranayama, focus the attention on the breath and improve
lung capacity and posture, and harmonize body and mind
which benefits the entire body.
 Disease Eliminator: Yoga has the power to prevent and
eliminate various chronic health conditions.
 ROLE OF YOGA IN HUMAN’S
HEALTH AND FITNESS
1. Physical
 Heart Disease: With less stress and blood pressure chances of
cardiovascular diseases are prevented.
 Diabetes: stimulates insulin production and reduces glucose to
prevent diabetes.
 Gastrointestinal: improves the gastrointestinal functions
effectively.
 Metabolism: helps to stay healthy by balancing metabolism
results by controlling hunger and weight.
 Pain Prevention: various instances of back pain, chronic pain,
neck pain can be lessened with yoga practice.
 Blood circulation: helps in improving circulation and eliminate
toxic waste substances from the body.
 ROLE OF YOGA IN HUMAN’S
HEALTH AND FITNESS
2. Psychological
 Mental Calmness: Concentrating so intently on what body is
doing has the effect of bringing calmness to the mind.
 Stress Reduction: Yoga controls breathing, which reduces
anxiety. It also clears all the negative feelings and thoughts from
mind leading to reduction of depression.
 Concentration: Yoga increases concentration and motivation in
quick time.
 Memory: Yoga stimulates better blood circulation especially to
the brain, leading to better memory.
 Body Awareness: It increase level of comfort in own body. This
can lead to improved posture and greater self-confidence.
 ROLE OF YOGA IN HUMAN’S
HEALTH AND FITNESS
3. Spiritual
 Inner Connection: can help to create a bond, a relation
between body and mind apart from all other benefits.
 Inner Peace: The inner peace generated increases and
improves our capability in making effective decisions
even at serious circumstances.
 Purpose of Life: Has numerous benefits,
psychologically and physically apart from allowing us to
attain inner. It helps to find the purpose of life and
secrets to healthy longer life.
 YOGA FOR PREVENTION OF
DISEASES
 has
curative abilities and can prevent disease by
promoting energy and health
 cancleanse the tissues through muscle stretching
and massaging of the internal organs and brings the
waste back into circulation so that the lungs,
intestines, kidneys, and skin are able to remove
toxins in a natural way.
 yogasanais recommended for the treatment of both
high and low blood pressure.
 increasesthe metabolism of the body and brings the
mind at rest.
 Surya is a complete body exercise. It keeps all
internal organs, stomach, intestines, pancreas, spleen,
heart and lungs, healthy and strong; muscles of
external body parts, chest, shoulders, hands, thighs,
legs becomes healthy and strong.
 professionalshave started using Yoga techniques in
patients with different mental and physical symptoms