Human health

• Health is the state of physical, mental and social wellbeing, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity
• The factors that affect health can be broadly divided into 3 groups:

  • Inherited factors
  • Environmental factors
  • Behavioural factors
• Inherited factors

  Mutations in your 30,000 or so genes can sometimes cause diseases/conditions that can affect health these are called deleterious mutations.
• Some mutations will definitely cause a condition: anaemia cancer etc
• Some will not necessarily cause a disease make you more likely to get a condition: obesity, alcoholism
• Environmental factors

  Features of the world around you can negatively impact your health

  • Air pollution (caused by cars, electricity) causes the death of 5-7 million people yearly
  • Water pollution (caused by agriculture, industries) causes the death of 8 million people yearly
• Some microorganisms(bacteria,fungi and viruses) also affect health, most do not
• The immune system makes antibodies to help recover from infection
• Vaccines help our immune system work more quickly
• Antibiotics (chemicals made by microorganisms that help kill bacteria and fungi) help when our immune system is overloaded
• Behavioural factors

  • Food- eat a healthy, balanced diet
  • Smoking- don't do it
  • Exercise - 1 hour every day to improve mood, reduce stress and help weight loss
  • Sleep- 7-8 hours a night, reduces stress, improves concentration and learning