Expressing Health Through Lifestyle Patterns

Abstract

Few concepts have received more attention from health professionals and the public during the last decade than health. This is largely due to the emergence of disease prevention and health promotion as global priorities. Unfortunately, the nature of health as a positive life process is poorly understood. Theoretical formulations of health often lack spec ificity and existing measures almost without exception reflect a narrow clinical perspective of health as the absence of disease. The purpose of this paper is to propose a system for classifying expressions of health of persons in their entirety and to suggest related indicators of high-level health.