Subhealth

                                             Written by   Peidean

Nowadays more and more people are becoming aware of subhealth. Sub-health also becomes a pop topic. But what is subhealth? Which factors may cause and contribute to sub-health? How can we know we are in sub-health state and how do we prevent or get rid of subhealth? This essay will discuss these issues.

With social progress and development of medical science, medical model has changed from traditional biological medical model to biological, psychological and social medical model. So, health not only means there is no diseases in body, but also includes welling-being state of psychological and social adaptation. That also means there are three kinds of pathogenies which can cause or contribute to diseases, namely biological, psychological and social factors. With respect to this point and according accurate statistical data, all of those people who are veritably healthy ( the first state ) and those who are suffering from diseases ( the second state ) are less than two-thirds of total population. And there are about more than thirty percent of people who are in middle state between disease and health, which is also called the third state by the world health organization (WHO), or subhealth. About ten years ago few people concerned subhealth or talked the topic. But in recently years more and more people start to take it seriously and more and more people are suffering from subhealth, especially city people, intellectuals or white collars who work in research or management positions.

Subhealth, also called grey state or a disorder of body and mind, is explained as a borderline state between health and disease, or called chronic fatigue syndrome. There are three kinds of subhealth, which are somatogenic, psychological and communication subhealth. But generally speaking, the symptoms of subhealth include lack of energy, being uninterested in anything or listlessness, depression, loneliness, slow reactions, insomnia, agitation, panic and poor memory. Other symptoms include dizziness, headache, short breath, sweating and palpitation. If you have these problems and are sent to a hospital where no abnormal are found by physical examination and all advanced medical instruments, you might be subhealthy. If you are subhealthy, you must take it seriously because subhealth can impair immunity and make people more likely to suffer from diseases. And subhealth might be a reflection of underlying disorders or diseases as well. In addition, subhealth makes people can not enjoy their wonderful life. But you don’t be anxious because subhealth will transform to health if it is managed properly. According to a recent survey subhealth is afflicting sixty percent of middle-aged and elderly. And females are more susceptible to subhealth than males.

Why are so many people suffering from subhealth? Many factors can contribute to subhealth. Firstly, fast-pace tempo of contemporary life and vehement social competition play a crucial role in subhealth. In order to have a perfect future, high social status and make more money, many people live under too much stress such as excessive workload, overloaded social information causing lasting excietment, the heavy burden of supporting their families. Secondly, unhealthy life style is closely related to subhealthy conditions. Experts think that healthy life style should make people keep physical fit and mental well-being, which includes balanced diet, such as salt restriction and low cholesterol or saturated fat diet, appropriate calorie intake, regular exercise , ideal weight, avoiding smoking and fresh vegetables and fruits which are rich in nutritional elements---vitamins and trace elements---that are important to the body. Thirdly, psychological fatigue is a very important factor contributing to subhealth. It is characterized by headache, poor memory, dizziness and depression. In general situation many people concern more about their intensity of physical strength, and seldom considerate their overloaded brainwork. However, they don’t know that long time brainwork and excitement will cause psychological fatigue. So experts emphasize that the combination of brainwork with physical strength is essential for avoiding psychological fatigue. Fourthly, the break of biological rhythm can also make people ready to have subhealth. Finally, there are many other factors that make people more likely to have subhealth, including malnutrition, high building, air conditioner, misuse drugs, noise and pollution and so on.

How do we prevent subhealth? Here are some suggestions. First of all, keeping good mood and optimistic attitude to life is necessary, such as keeping calm and peaceful life and relaxing ourselves from overloaded work and stress. In the next place, according to some medical experts, the key to preventing and recovering from subhealth is to form good life habits including healthy life style, alternation of work and rest regularly, taking part in open-air activities. In addition, it is very important to have balanced diet. Finally, learning to cope with and reduce stress will markedly play down the incidence of subhealth. And now some subhealth clinics have been established in some Chinese cities, which are devoted to psychiatric massage for patients in subhealth.

In a word, subhealth is not a disease but a physical and mental disorder or grey state between healthy and unhealthy conditions, mainly caused by too much work pressure, hurried pace of life. To overcome it, relax yourself and live in a healthy and active lifestyle.