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I was taught in health class that "health" encompasses one's physical, mental and social wellness. That to be "healthy" one must excercise and eat well, manage stressors efficiently, and have social interactions with friends and family. For the most part, I believe these are strong components of one's overall health. Yet there is not one specific way for everyone as a whole to be healthy. The lifestyle for one person (in terms of eating or managing stress) may not be the best lifestyle for another. Certain stressors in an individual's life may affect that individual much differently than they affect their neighbor.

Thus it annoys me when Doctors, reporters and experts of all kind impart their knowledge on us in such a way as to imply that we must follow their new ways of life. A few years ago it was reported that the average individual should drink 8-10 glasses of water a day. It was thought that lack of water may trigger fatigue and that by increasing the amount one consumes, one could increase short-term memory and decrease one's risk for cancer. This may be true in some respects but it has now been discovered that the amount of water necessary for every individual can be widely variable. And the liquid intake for every person doesn't have to come from water (in fact about half of the liquid our bodies need in one day comes from the foods we eat).