Health and Wealth
Man will spend his health getting wealth, then gladly pay all he has earned in getting his health back. A healthy fit body is what the real wealth of a person is. Only when one is healthy can he make money and be wealthy (Marmot,2017). Imagine the CEO of a big company that works all the time focusing on money. He has all the resources to access health care, but he is just bent on becoming even more prosperous. He has an unhealthy eating habit and rarely exercises, for he sits in the office all day long. One day he collapses on his office desk and passes on. People are surprised at his death because he looked very healthy. The cause of death is confirmed as a heart attack. Could he have prevented this from happening? To shed light on this, health and wealth might not always go together. The state of being healthy does not entirely mean physical fitness. Most probably, the CEO was struggling with one of the other factors aside from being physically fit. On wealth and health, health is the real wealth. This paper will highlight reasons as to why being in a healthy state does include not only physical fitness but also mental, emotional, and social stability.
Notably, there are a lot of factors that contribute to our health overall, and some are even beyond our control. A child inheriting the right genes fromtheirparent’s aides, but other factors impact whether one gets sick, and if they do, influence the probability that they will recover from the illness. Wealth is such a factor. With that, the famous quote that states that the ones who are wealthyhave a more significantshot of being healthy should be revised. A particular city inHawaii has the least number of cancer cases around the globe, yet it’s not even that wealthy, and when askedwhat their secret was, they disclosed that it’s all in the fish markets. Their wealth being the fish, has created wealth for them. So, should residents of other cities pack and go live in this town? It is quite unlikely that everyone can afford to live there and also in eating the fish might be a bit difficult. This is so because communities with lowincome are well known for lack of big stores on groceries that stock healthy food choices let alone the fish. Add that to the food budget that is limited and the fact that fresh fish is just but a luxury to the people living in poverty (Saplosky,2018).
It is not just grownupsthat go through stress when there is no money. A report from the American Academy of Pediatrics reveals that there are both immediate and long-term effects in the development, health as well as the behavior of a child when exposed to both stress and poverty. As a result of this, there is a difference in the brains of a child living in poverty in both their structure and functioning, making them a lot sensitive even if it is just in situations that are meek in stress or where they are less likely to acquire new information. Notably, children that go through severe stress episodes are at a higher level of possessing negative behavior as well as health outcomes as they grow up into adults and during the adolescent stage (Purnell,2015).
A person’s value sets the foundation of their life. He or she commands the choices that one makes and determines which direction their life takes. The values will influence one’s decision concerning every activity that they take part in. My core value is that a healthy body refers to the wellbeing of the body that is the mental, physical, social, and emotional. The key to happiness is good health. A healthy body is very positive when it comes to attitude as well as being free from any disease. Only when one is healthy, they can carry out things properly. All this can be achieved through regular exercise, drinking plenty of water, and having enoughrest, among others (Clay,2001).
Wealth and Education are going to impact health a lot. People are uneducated when it comes to matters of health that it is alarming. A lot of products being sold claimed that they contain low sodium, low fat, or non-fat. What consumers have no idea of is that when one of the ingredients is missing, it gets replaced by another. Some companies can list 0 grams for a specific ingredient, while in the real sense, it’s still present at 0.5%. So, a lot of individuals think that they are eating healthily. Also, people are not aware of the quality of nutritional differences. A lot of people neglect exercise, which is wrong. Exercises help one’s body with energy. Many times, the jobs belonging to people considered inferior are physically exhausting, so one cannot find time in exercising for health purposes. Money is also essential not only in the purchase of food but also for proper health care. Low-income families do not have these benefits, and if it happens, they can access them, then they are not that good (Strulik,2018).
The more money one has, the more resources they can access. These twostatements seem to go hand in hand. There are other factors that one can or cannot control, which will affect their overall wellbeing, including poverty, environmental factors, lack of education, lack of resources as well as genetics. Still, a lot of the health problems are as a result of the choices one makes. Money is a more significant issue for health problems in many countries across the globe today. Many nations are indeed relatively wealthy, but the underlying fact that health care is so expensive leaves many without it. Notably, some countries offer free health care to its citizens. Aside from being a healthy aspect, one is how one was brought up. In the older days, children would always be involved in physical activities with strong physical emphasis from their parents. Their enthusiasm and curiosity about health grew. Health is partly a result of someone’s genetics and behavior, and it also reflects other sociological factors as well as socioeconomics that is education, the job market, and the socio-economic status of a family. Despite all this, it’s a belief that we all have the potential to better ourselves. Through choosing healthierchoices and providing healthy alternatives, health despite wealth is possible.
References
Clay, R. A. (2001). Wealth secures health. Monitor on Psychology. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/monitor/oct01/wealthhealth.aspx
Gennuso, K. P., Jovaag, A., Catlin, B. B., Rodock, M., & Park, H. (2016). Peer reviewed: assessment of factors contributing to health outcomes in the eight states of the Mississippi Delta Region. Preventing chronic disease, 13.
Marmot, M. (2017). Social justice, epidemiology and health inequalities. European journal of epidemiology, 32(7), 537-546.
Purnell, J. Q. (2015). Financial health is public health. What It’s Worth: Strengthening the Financial Futures of Families, Communities, and the Nation. Retrieved from http://www.strongfinancialfuture.org/essays/financial-health-is-public-health/
Saplosky, R.M. (2018). The health-wealth gap. Scientific American, 319(5). Retrieved from http://ezproxy.umgc.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edb&AN=132271091&site=eds-live&scope=site
Strulik, H. (2018). The return to education in terms of wealth and health. The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, 12, 1-14.