Marsha Snyder, MD, MAPP, offers an engaging and informative approach to the value of creating positive health in our lives, and the lives of our loved ones and/or patients. Positive health is a path to excellence in health (physical-emotional-spiritual) as opposed to merely the absence of disease.
Positive Health comes from the scientific study of the contributors to a healthy and thriving life for oneself and others. Such contributors include:
- Positive Emotions
- Meaning and Purpose in Life
- Positive Relationships
- Healthy Diet
- Meaningful Exercise and Movement
- Resilience
Research has shown that an individual who is emotionally happy and socially fulfilled is not only likely to be a healthy person, but that his/her social and emotional fulfillment will contribute to a longer, healthier life.
Positive Health defines what it means to be healthy beyond the state of merely being free of disease. An individual with Positive Health has less frequent and briefer physical problems due to their increased physiological reserves, such as rapid wound healing, greater recuperative ability, and physical and emotional resilience. Therefore, Positive Health is excellent, thriving physical-emotional-spiritual health as opposed to merely the absence of disease or poor health.
Positive Health is produced by health assets, or individual factors that produce positive health. Examples of these include
- Positive Emotions
- Life Satisfaction
- Optimism
- Forgiveness
- Self-Regulation
- Vitality and Zest
- Meaning and Purpose In Life
- Helping Others
- Positive Relationships
- Spirituality