Understanding your health

Health and hygiene are really important aspects of life and as teens we should be mature enough to know how to take care of ourselves. Even though many teens think that it’s cool and rebellious to stay dirty as it shows a care-free attitude, the fact is, a clean and healthy guy or girl is considered better than a dirty one. ‘Good health’ as defined by World Health Organization (W.H.O.), ‘is the state of complete physical and mental well being.’ According to this definition, a healthy person remains happy and cheerful and does not tire easily. However, there are some signs which point to health related problems or deficiencies in a person, as stated below: Somebody with hair that is dry and lacks luster may be suffering from protein deficiency. Yellow colouration of the sclera (white portion of eye) shows that the liver function is impaired. If the inner part of the lower eyelid is pale in color, this is an indicator of iron deficiency in the body and is a sign of anemia. Blackish discoloration of the lips and or teeth can be seen in chronic smokers. White stripes on nails are suggestive of deficiency of iron or even malfunctioning of kidney. Similarly, flattening of the nails like a spoon also suggests iron deficiency. Some people have swelling feet. This can be due to dysfunction of the heart/liver or kidney, either one of them or all of them. Long standing protein deficiency can also cause swelling feet. Similarly, swelling over the face particularly in the morning can occur due to malfunctioning of the kidneys and also due to deficiency of proteins in the body. A healthy face always glows. Somebody having a dull look or dark circles under the eye may be stressed or not sleeping adequately. Thus, it can be seen that there are so many signs visible to the eye which indicate some health related problem. If one is vigilant enough he or she can take care of themselves or even help a loved one by taking them to a doctor, so that the problem can be solved before it is aggravated. The writer is a grade 12 student at Green Hills Academy. arundhati94@yahoo.co.uk