It has been widely accepted that

When health is absent
Wisdom cannot reveal itself
Art cannot manifest
Science cannot develop
Strength cannot fight
Wealth becomes useless

Health is not only basic to leading a happy life for an individual but also necessary for all the productive activities of life. Health is not only freedom from sickness and disease but also freedom from anxiety and social and psychological tension. It is also defined as a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence of a disease or infirmity.

Scope Of Health Education: The scope of health education is very wide. In fact it touches all the dimensions of the human life, namely personal life, school life and community life. Health Education is combined and coordinated use of medical, social and educational measures for training and retraining the individual to the highest possible level of the functional activity.

Health Education includes following elements:
1. Food and its significance in the development of the body.
2. Significance of air, light, water in health development.
3. Physical exercises.
4. Recreation, rest and sleep etc.
5. Various ailment and diseases.
6. Emergency and first aid.
7. Domestic and community hygiene.
8. Mental Hygiene.
9. Sex Hygiene.
In a broad sense, health education is a process which enables people to find out their health needs leading on to program planning, utilizing the available resources, modifying their health behavior, breaking down the barriers, misconcepts, ignorance and prejudices regarding health after intelligent thoughtful consideration of the relevant health knowledge and enabling them to attain the optimum or the highest possible standard of the health , by their own efforts.

Health Education and Physical Education
Health education and physical education are complementary forces leading to the total development of an individual, family, community and nation. Health education employs the media for acquisition of knowledge about the living healthfully and the immediate participation in health practices. Physical education for these purposes employs the media of exercises, games, sports, dances, etc.
Health education represents the sum of all experiences in school and elsewhere that favorably influence habits, attitudes and knowledge related to individual and community health.
Health education is a comprehensive term while physical education carries a limited scope. Physical education can be called one of the aspects of health education. Health education is whole and the physical education a part. Physical education is the concern of physical instructors and directors of physical education. On the other hand, health education is the work of teachers of hygiene and physiology, medical offers, physical training and instructor.

Personal and Social Aspects of Health Education
There is very intimate relationship between personal aspects of health education and social aspects of the health education. Both are complementary and supplementary. Each influences the other and is influenced in turn. Man is a social being and his individuality has little significance apart from the society. Naturally therefore, personal and social aspects of health cannot altogether be separated. Nevertheless for making the subject more vivid, each aspect is dealt with separately to the extent it is possible to do so .

Personal Aspects of Health Education
Personal aspects of health education relate to issues like how to keep oneself in good health by paying attention to the following:
1. Cleanliness of the body, and of each of the organs.
2. Provision of necessary rest and sleep.
3. Provision of personal comfort through proper clothing, lighting, temperature, ventilation.
4. Maintenance of good postures.
5. Provision of recreation and relaxation through hobbies.
6. Provision of nutritious and balanced diet.
7. Provision of exercises.
8. Provision of diseases in general and infectious diseases in particular.
9. Provision of medical examination.
10. Learning elementary rules of first aid.

Social Aspects of Health Education
Broadly speaking following are the main aspects of health education:
1. Improving human relations in matters of health.
2. Developing a sense of civic responsibility.
3. Influencing and educating ignorant people.
4. Developing proper emotional environment.
5. Rendering health service to the community.

Factors affecting Health
There are number of factors that affect the health of a person which in turn affect the community. Given below are the four important factors necessary for good health:
1. Physical well-being: It refers to physical fitness of an individual at every stage of life. It results from eating the right kind of food in sufficient amount along with doing exercises to keep the body fit. A person should have adequate strength and stamina to carry out the daily activities. The person should feel the sense of well-being.
2. Mental well-being: It refers to the tensions, worries, emotions such as hatred and love, fear. An individual should be mentally strong and able to handle his emotions. A mentally depressed person develops physical troubles also.
3. Social well-being: A socially healthy person has many qualities like tolerance, helpfulness, and caring, pleasant and affectionate attitude. The social well-being of community depends upon the broad-mindedness, thoughtfulness and social security of its members. Social life influences the physical and mental life of the persons and vice-versa.
4. Spiritual well-being: Due to stress and strains of modern life, it is very important to consider this aspect of health also. Moral values, ethics and meditation are some ways to attain the spiritual well-being. Positive attitude and strong faith in one’s capabilities along with meditation or prayers help in gaining the inner strength.

By: Kaung | KMKBlog.com