What Does
Good Health
Mean to You?

For a long time, good health was defined simply as:

“the absence of disease or infirmity.”

If nothing was wrong, you were considered well.

Most of us still tend to think of health in narrow terms: eating well and exercising regularly. And while those are important pieces of the puzzle, they’re not the whole picture.

Health expands beyond just exercise and nutrition

Exercise and nutrition are important parts of health and well-being, but they’re only part of the picture. Rest and recovery, connection, time spent on things you enjoy, and taking part in things that feel meaningful are equally important.

Rest and recovery might come through sleep, yoga, a walk, or reading. Connection might come through time with family, friends, or people who share your interests. Purpose might come through your work, your role in the community, or your relationships. If you’d like to explore your own sense of purpose in more depth, read our article on purpose.

These aspects all contribute to how we feel day to day.

At Thrive, we believe you can’t be truly healthy in isolated or fragmented ways. You can eat well, train consistently, and still feel unfulfilled and disconnected. To feel at your best, your life needs to work as a whole.

More than the absence of illness

A broader definition describes health as:

“a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”World Health Organization

Finding a balance that works for you

That’s why we view exercise and nutrition as tools to enhance your life - not consume it. When your focus becomes too narrow, other areas of life can suffer.

Becoming consumed by exercise and eating well may leave you feeling anxious about social occasions, turning down plans with friends, cutting into family time, or leaving little room for anything else you enjoy.

And the reverse is also true: if you’re constantly stretched by work, family responsibilities or other commitments, you may find yourself skipping exercise or making poor food choices..

There will be periods when it makes sense to give one area more attention - perhaps because you’ve recently overlooked it.

But over the long term, sustainable health is about finding a balance. Doing enough of the right things for your well-being, without letting one area take over at the expense of others.

See your own bigger picture

If you’d like to get a clearer picture of how your current health and well-being habits are working for you, we’ve created an interactive wheel to help you rate and track your subjective well-being across a few key areas.

Complete your wheel below and download your wheel and answers. Use it to highlight what’s going well, identify what might need more attention, and choose where to focus next.