What is Health?

The term "health" is often confused with "an absence of disease". This is incorrect. One can be without an active disease and still be in an unhealthful state. When I had my practice, someone would come in for a visit and state, "Doctor, I have not had a cold in five (or ten) years. I am very healthy". But were they? Upon asking questions, I would discover that they were not sleeping well at night, often had to get up during the night five or six times to urinate, had problems with depression, and hated their next door neighbor! Are these signs of good health? Good health is not simply and absence of disease but living a full and energetic life. The answers to the questions from the patients (above paragraph) are not indicative of any particular disease state, rather they are signs and symptoms of an unhealthy state. Healthy persons sleep soundly and well at night (they awaken refreshed and ready to start a new day), frequent night urination can be a sign of some underlying disease state (BPH, diabetes, etc.), depression can be caused by many conditions from physical illness to injury or emotional turmoil, and hating your neighbor-well heavens, is this the sign of ability to handle stresses? So true health includes many things. Not simply the absence of disease. This is the mindset I wish to get across to you.