Health can be defined negatively, as the absence of illness, functionally as the ability to cope with everyday activities, or positively, as fitness and well-being (Blaxter 1990). In any organism, health is a form of homeostasis. This is a state of balance, with inputs and outputs of energy and matter in equilibrium (allowing for growth). Health also implies good prospects for continued survival. In sentient creatures such as humans, health is a broader concept.

The World Health Organization defines health as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and does not consist only of the absence of disease or infirmity." This is a useful, but very idealistic and non-realistic definition. It classifies 70 to 95 percent of all people as unhealthy.

The most solid aspects of wellness that fit firmly in the realm of medicine are the environmental health, nutrition, disease prevention, and public health matters that can be investigated and assist in measuring well-being.

 In some societies, health involves managing the body state after the more basic needs of food; shelter and basic medical care have already been met. Many of the practices applied in the pursuit of wellness, in fact, are aimed at controlling the side effects of affluence, such as obesity and lack of exercise.

Lifestyle grew as a popular concept in the West starting in the late 19th century, just as the middle class began emerging in the industrialized world, and a time when a newly prosperous public had the time and the resources to pursue wellness and other forms of self-improvement. Many early consumer products, from corn flakes to mouth wash, derived from or exploited the emerging interest in wellness.

Lifestyle can include using scientifically-based tests and practices to maintain health, as in checking cholesterol, blood pressure, glucose, and other body indicators. Or it can include controversial practices, such as avoiding certain foods or taking certain vitamins or alternative medicines, self control and good look, Cosmetic Surgery and dentistry, stress management and preventing free Radicals and aging.

The subjective nature of "wellness" can be illustrated by the hypothetical example of an individual who avoids food additives and is selective in choosing foods to prolong health, but thinks nothing of getting in a car and driving hundreds of miles. Statistically, the known risk of mortality or morbidity from automobile usage is far greater than the risk of mortality or morbidity from food additives, but avoiding certain foods and food additives feels "healthy," whereas avoiding automobile use feels merely inconvenient. Now, and for the first time in the Middle East, we are opening a clinic which is interested in all things related to health and way of life.

Even when the techniques used are not scientifically proven, the pursuit of Lifestyle can enhance health by a placebo effect. Someone who feels "well" may lower stress and enhance their sense of well-being and good looking, achieving an enhanced psychological state with proven beneficial effects on various body systems, including blood pressure, gastrointestinal system functioning, and immune response. The field of psychoneuroimmunology explores these linkages in a scientific manner, and is also a part of medicine proper. However it is new, and still exploring the biology, and has little or no clear advice to offer other than to avoid unnecessary stress or that which is out of one's control or capacity.

Nutrition and Health
In the 18th Century, many sailors on long journeys died from scurvy: indeed some battleships lost more men through illness than through enemy action. The cause of this was not understood, until it was discovered that adding fresh limes to the ship’s supply of preserved food seemed to boost the sailor’s resistance to the illness, and fewer died. The existence of parts of food essential for survival had been discovered. Other so-called vitamins were discovered through the effect of their absence on people’s health, and increasingly the role of nutrition’s contribution to health was seen as equally important as exercise, hygiene, environment, and psychological wellbeing.

The connection between nutrition and health has weakened however. Good health became the norm in the developed world through increased understanding of communicable diseases, micro-organisms and how to fight them with antibiotics, and other health developments. A hidden epidemic gradually emerged in the post World War 2 years, where non-communicable endemic illnesses began to flourish, such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity.

These illnesses are increasingly recognized now as being sometimes caused by lifestyle issues, including poor nutrition and low levels of exercise. Despite this knowledge, the peak of the epidemic is still with us, and obesity related diseases are prevalent in the developed world.
 

Importance of Good Nutrition
Good nutrition is reflected not only in the growth and function of the body but also in its appearance. The eyes, skin, hair, and teeth indicate whether body nourishment is good or poor. A poorly nourished child will fail to grow properly; a poorly nourished adult will have a decreased resistance to infection and disease. A diet deficient in proteins causes a disease called kwashiorkor in children; a diet deficient in both protein and calories results in marasmus, with lethargy, abdominal enlargement, and wasting—the classical malnutrition syndrome. Poor nutrition may result from excesses in the diet as well as deficiencies; excess of certain vitamins or minerals can produce potentially lethal disease states, and excess of carbohydrates or fat can result in obesity.
As recently as the 1960s doctors told their patients that nutrition had little to do with their health. Now we know otherwise: "you are what you eat!" or deepest than that "you are what your body digest" .More specifically, in humans, the matter which comprises the cells of the body (except those cells produced before birth) is acquired from food in the stomach. Not all the food matter in the stomach can be used for the body; the matter that is left over as waste is removed.

Lifestyle and nutritional needs
Adequate nutrition contributes to three outcomes which are necessary for the organism’s normal functioning.
These are:

• Adequate energy levels

•  Maintaining proper body structures and processes, e.g. muscle function, immune protection, bone density and strength

•  Repair and development of all of the organism’s systems.

In the case of humans, ‘normal functioning’ is affected by a range of situations, which are often open to choice. A weightlifter, labourer, Inuit fisherman, Sumo wrestler, clerical worker, infant and bed-bound person will all have different definitions of ‘normal functioning’, they all have different body shapes and sizes, and their nutritional needs will vary also.

International variation in cancer rates
A recent research paper published in the "Lancet" discussed the variation in cancer rates that evidences the existence of lifestyle diseases.
"In many [Western] countries, peoples' diet changed substantially in the second half of the twentieth century, generally with increases in consumption of meat, dairy products, vegetable oils, fruit juice, and alcoholic beverages, and decreases in consumption of starchy staple foods such as bread, potatoes, rice, and maize flour. Other aspects of lifestyle also changed, notably, large reductions in physical activity and large increases in the prevalence of obesity."

"It was noted in the 1970s that people in many Western countries had diets high in animal products, fat, and sugar, and high rates of cancers of the colorectum, breast, prostate, endometrium, and lung; by contrast, individuals in developing countries usually had diets that were based on one or two starchy staple foods, with low intakes of animal products, fat, and sugar, and low rates of these cancers."

"These observations suggest that the diets [or lifestyle] of different populations might partly determine their rates of cancer, and the basis for this hypothesis was strengthened by results of studies showing that people who migrate from one country to another generally acquire the cancer rates of the new host country, suggesting that Environmental and Psychological [or lifestyle factors] rather than genetic factors are the key determinants of the international variation in cancer rates."
 

Lifestyle and Stress
The behavioral effects of an over-stressed lifestyle are easy to explain. When under pressure, some people are more likely to drink heavily or smoke, as a way of getting immediate chemical relief from stress.
Others may have so much work to do that they do not exercise or eat properly. They may cut down on sleep, or may worry so much that they sleep badly. They may get so carried away with work and meeting daily pressures that they do not take time to see the doctor or dentist when they need to. All of these are likely to harm health.

Lifestyle and Cosmetic Surgery
Considering the amount of time, money and effort some people spend on clothes, cosmetics and their looks in general; the pursuit of beauty is a lifestyle if anything is. One feminist aptly calls it "a deeply significant existential project"; not a bad definition of "lifestyle" actually. We take an enormous interest in the way our body looks: we paint and pierce it, we keep it in shape through exercise and diet, and we take it to the cosmetic surgeon if we're really dissatisfied with some specific part of it. People do go to considerable lengths and are willing to incur serious risks, to change the appearance of their bodies for what they take to be the better.
Concern about their looks guides people's lives. So in one important sense the pursuit of beauty is clearly a lifestyle. A lifestyle, a way of life is something you have chosen yourself. A lifestyle is a way of showing the world which things in life you deem important, what kind of life you want to live, what kind of person you want to be. This goes for men as well as for women. But the massive pressure on women to live up to some ideal standard of beauty, makes it particularly doubtful whether women's choices concerning appearance are anything but mere reflections of fashion, or worse still, of male-dominated power relations.

All lifestyles can give rise to misgivings. Who can ever be sure she is not according too much importance in life to something not really worth it? How can you know that you would not be happier or lead a more satisfying life if you had chosen something completely different? To take up a lifestyle is to forsake other lifestyles that are equally worthy of being chosen. That is one of the reasons NLS Clinic's description of the pursuit of beauty is such an appropriate definition of a lifestyle in general: it is "a deeply significant existential project"

Lifestyle and Cosmetic Dentistry
"Something in the way she smiles..." Everyone is familiar with the lyrics of George Harrison and The Beatles, but how many of us are afraid to put on our best face and greet the world with a smile?
An American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (AACD) survey conducted in 2004 revealed that virtually all Americans (99.7%) believe an attractive smile is an important social asset, yet only 50% of adults are satisfied with their own smile."

We go on to explain, "Many people still have the outdated notion that cosmetic dentistry is the exclusive purview of the rich and the famous, yet recent breakthroughs in cosmetic dentistry have made the possibility of achieving a great smile comfortable, affordable and accessible to almost anyone who wants to improve their image. In addition, cosmetic and restorative dentistry can improve a patient's overall health and emotional well being. " It can completely changes its Lifestyle.

The Anatomy of a Smile
We note that, what most people notice in a smile are: straightness, whiteness and color of teeth, cleanliness of teeth, missing teeth, and the sincerity and sparkle of the smile.
Respondents also noted what types of things make a smile unattractive, including: colored, yellow, or stained teeth, missing teeth, crooked teeth, decaying teeth and cavities, gaps and spaces in teeth, and dirty teeth.
"Maintaining a healthy and appealing smile is becoming more and more important in projecting an overall positive image, affecting so many aspects of people's lives ranging from career opportunities to personal relationships". "In fact, the AACD survey found that three-quarters (74%) of adults feel an unattractive smile can actually hurt a person's chances for career success and 96% of adults believe an attractive smile makes a person more appealing to members of the opposite sex."
"When You're Smiling the Whole World Smiles With You."
 

Anti-Aging enhance you Lifestyle
Several scientific theories attempt to explain the aging process, and provide insights into how we might retard it. Among the most popular is the Free Radical Theory of Aging, first promulgated by Denham Harmon. This concept has recently gained influence from an ingenious experiment comparing fruit flies with or without bioengineered adoptive antioxidant protection: the free radical-shielded flies lived up to 20% longer, and remained physically active far longer into old age. The implication for humans is that, via consumption of antioxidant-rich supplements or foods, aging can be delayed.

Indeed, lifestyle influences have been linked to a variety of disease processes that curtail longevity. Smoking, poor diet, alcohol consumption, illegal drug use, unsafe sex, reckless driving, exposure to environmental and occupational pollutants, and firearms hasten the demise of many people who should otherwise reach an advanced age. Therefore, a rational approach to life-extension is predicted on fundamental lifestyle intervention.

Cosmetic aspects of rejuvenation deserve attention here, too. Conscientious application of improved techniques of dermatology and plastic surgery (always used in conduction with appropriate lifestyle modification,) can create a meaningful anti-aging "makeover." Newer less invasive techniques such as laser surgery and natural skin treatments now enhance the repertoire of longevity specialists.
 

Anti-Aging Medicine has accelerated the pace of advancements in health promotion and prevention, and is the most important new model for Health Care for this new millennium.