Health is cultivated through action. What exactly are we managing in health management? How do we approach it, and what defines success? It is not an exaggeration to say that the vast majority of people's health management approaches are misguided.

For many people, health management involves a physical examination every year, and whether they are healthy mainly depends on how many arrows there are on their medical report. If there are many arrows, they are deemed unhealthy; if there are no arrows, they are considered healthy. As long as everyone in the family has normal indicators and meets the standards of the medical examination, health is deemed well-managed.

But upon reflection, this standard is not reliable. For many patients, there are numerous cases where individuals with normal exams suddenly develop heart attacks, strokes, or tumors. Meanwhile, those with abnormal indicators often show consistent results year after year without progression. Therefore, medical exam results and your long-term health outcomes are not directly related. Why is this so? Because our understanding of health is flawed.

Health: A Reverse Thinking Model

What kind of thinking is it that normal test results equate to health? It is the typical clinical diagnostic mindset. If you do not feel well enough to see a doctor, the hospital will conduct tests, search for abnormalities in the report, and if found, diagnose a specific condition. If none are found, further testing continues until abnormalities are detected. However, this thinking applied to health management fails. Why is that?

Because there are two key differences between disease management and health management.

Firstly, diseases have uniform and clear diagnostic criteria, whereas health does not.

What are the criteria for health? When the World Health Organisation (WHO) was founded in 1946, the concept of health, as stated in its charter, has not been surpassed. It says: "Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."

What does "complete" mean here? It is a translation of the English term "complete well-being", which does not mean perfect, but rather signifies full adaptation to and fulfillment of one’s needs. To put it simply, health means having a body and mind capable of meeting personal, familial, and societal demands.

Under this definition, it becomes clear that everyone's health is different, and it does not have a uniform standard. Your standard of health is completely different from that of your children or parents. What we pursue is precisely health tailored to each family member’s unique needs.

So, how can we make our health match our needs? This highlights the second difference between health management and disease management. Disease management is outcome-oriented; we know whether it is resolved or not. Health, however, is a dynamic equilibrium between one’s capacities and life demands, and it cannot be "fixed".

Thus, health management operates inversely to disease management. Disease management uses linear thinking: identifying problems to find solutions. Health management, however, is proactive — anticipating risks by understanding health determinants and their patterns, then tailoring strategies to individual needs. In essence, health management embodies preventive, systems-based thinking.

Through this analysis, what must we manage in health management? The answer is clear: scientifically addressing factors influencing familial health to ensure everyone’s physical and mental states meet their needs in daily life, work, and societal engagement.