Health can be defined as a state of complete physical, mental, social, and spiritual well-being, which consists of maintaining the body as much as possible by following daily advice and preventive measures to reduce the possibility of diseases. 

Health was conceived as a capital, in other words as a state of resources. This definition placed a mechanical value on health. A continuum spanned from illness to optimal health. The organism could be conditioned, strengthened, trained, genetically transformed. Each organ was analyzed separately and its functioning compared to a standard. This belief legitimized abuses such as organ replacement, refusal to age, doping. It has enabled the development of therapies based on strengthening organic resources and medical specialties dedicated to an organ (cardiology, pneumology, neurology, etc.).

The health was also designed at this time as the absence of disease, the professionals should focus on symptoms and potential pathogens. Individuals must be attentive to the slightest abnormal bodily and mental sign. Any encounter with a pathogen should be avoided.

They also suggested that medicine would become all-powerful and could cure all illnesses and all sufferings. And in the craziest projections, to make certain humans reach immortality.

Recent knowledge shows to what extent health is the product of a complex interaction of a subject with its environment, of a genetic heritage with its ecological, social, and cultural environment (epigenetics ). This knowledge re-establishes a balance between therapy and prevention, between treatment and care, between biology and psychology, between genetic heritage and lifestyle, between the quantity of life and quality of life. They give a real place to non-drug interventions. They bring to light the ancient conceptions of health, the fruit of our behavior, our will, and our biology in interaction with our physical, social and cultural environment. In practice, this definition implies that intervention on the health of a human being cannot be done without his knowledge, without understanding where he comes from and how he lives. On the professional side, a multidisciplinary team will thus be advised to treat a health problem. On the patient side, the modern definition of health implies that the patient is no longer passive but an actor of his health, in other words, that he assumes a share of responsibility for the therapeutic and prevention choices. A good example is a rehabilitation and long-term process in which a patient suffering from a respiratory disease is chronic.

When the mind is full of joy, it helps a lot to make the body feel better and that the objects present seem more pleasant.