EPISODE ONE TRANSCRIPT

Hi and welcome to the first episode of Healthful! My name is Siluni, a sophomore in high school who is passionate about everything health. In this episode, we’ll talk about what health is exactly. You might be thinking you know what health is. You might have been taught it's your wellness, well-being, and freedom of disease. But health is actually so much more than that. It’s about taking care of various aspects of your individual health, but it's just as much about contributing to the health of our communities. Many people maintain their physical and mental health and call themselves a healthy person. But that does not alone make you a healthy person. Firstly, there is more to your individual health than mental and physical health, and to truly become a healthy individual, you need to contribute to a healthy society. I’ll explain health in a way that is completely new to you, and in a way you haven’t thought of health before. So ask yourself, what is health to you, and what does it take to become a true healthy person?

Health has become a lot more valuable to all of us due to Covid. For many of us, health was only a concern when we got sick. Now, with the worldwide pandemic we are thinking of our health and the health of our loved ones constantly. Or maybe health was always meaningful to you. Some of us have disabilities or diseases, or our loved ones have suffered from sicknesses. This makes health more valuable to us, and we think of it more often. If you are healthy, you should think of that as a blessing, and maintain your good health. And we'll talk about what it even means to have good health in the first place.

I would argue that health is the most important part of your life. Everything you do, every part of your life relies on you having good health. There are several areas of your life: charity, love, wealth, learning, friendship, work, family, etc. None of these would be possible without your emotional, spiritual, mental, and physical health. Those are four key parts of your general health. To become a healthy person, you need to first make sure you are taking care of and paying attention to these four aspects of your health. If you are emotionally healthy, you will have control over your thoughts, feelings, and behavior. You’ll be able to deal with the challenges life throws at you. One way to become emotionally healthy or practice emotional health is to be aware of your emotions and reactions. Express your feelings appropriately, and think before you act. Your spiritual health is your faith, beliefs, values, and morals. For example, volunteering, belonging to a group and showing compassion. To practice spiritual health, ask yourself deep questions about who you are as a person, and try yoga, which is great for our spiritual health. Our mental health affects we think, feel, and act. It shows how we manage stress, and make decisions. An example of good mental helath is confidence and good self-esteem. To practice mental health you can connect with other people and talk about your feelings. Meditation is a great way to practice mindfulness as well. Lastly, physical health is the state of your physical body, such as nutrition, physical activity, and sleep. To practice physical health watch what you eat, stay active, and make sure you get enough sleep. You need to make sure you are practicing emotional, spiritual, mental, AND physical health in order to have a true balanced and healthy lifestyle. Emotional and spiritual health is just as important as physical and mental health. You need to focus on all of them to become a healthy person. 

Staying healthy should be a part of your everyday lifestyle. It not only protects you from diseases and illnesses, but it helps maintain your self-esteem and self-image. Living a healthy lifestyle means having a positive mindset, getting good nutrition, self-care, exercise, keeping good habits, getting enough sleep, making time for yourself, and surrounding yourself with good people. We’ll go over these in more detail in future episodes. But staying healthy as an individual is actually more than just your health, but also the health of society.  A healthy society can mean preventing injuries and reducing the death toll from disease, but it is so much more than that. It is about having access to safe neighborhoods, clean water, and healthy food. Affordable living, enough job opportunities, healthy relationships with neighbors, good education, and so much more. Health is not just physical, clinical, or medical health. It is about good relationships, becoming good human beings, caring for ourselves, and caring for others. This is too often overlooked when speaking of health. You can help make a healthy society by giving back to charities, and the homeless. You can tutor kids who are having trouble with school. You can simply get to know your neighbors, smile to others, and be friendly with everyone. I used to believe health is just your physical and mental health, but I now realize health is more than that. Continue your good habits, but also make time for yourself, surround yourself with good people, practice kindness, compassion, and giving to your community. Health is also so much about other people and maintaining a healthy society. All of these are just as important as exercising and eating healthy, if not more. 

Throughout this podcast, I will keep giving you useful ideas, information, go into more detail each episode, and educate you on all things health. We’ll get into qualities to develop to become a good person, racism, mental and physical helath, how to do proper self care, and so much more! Follow us on social media for episode spoilers, and well as check out our new website. As always, email us with any questions or suggestions.