Sub-health 21st Century Health New Concept

Author: Wang Yuxue
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-06-14
Features: To unravel the mysteries surrounding sub-health, Professor Wang Yuxue, the founder of the sub-health theory at Medical College of Qingdao University, provides answers in his book "Sub-health: A New Concept of Health in the 21st Century": 1. According to scientific surveys, the prevalence of sub-health in the Chinese population is approximately 58.18% (slightly lower than the previously mentioned 70%), while the prevalence of actual illness is 5.62% and that of healthy individuals is 20.18%. This is reliable data obtained through scientific investigation methods, which helps us objectively recognize the necessity of understanding sub-health and the importance of addressing and regulating sub-health conditions to improve quality of life. 2. The survey shows the top factors affecting sub-health are: high mental stress (61.76%), excessive mental workload (47.31%), tense interpersonal relationships (36.79%), excessive physical workload (32.97%), job dissatisfaction (30.08%), unemployment (26.30%), monotonous work (22.27%), and a strong desire to succeed at work (17.86%). Therefore, paying attention to these aspects, adjusting work rhythms appropriately, avoiding excessive mental or physical workload, cultivating interest in work, and correctly addressing unemployment can be beneficial for correcting sub-health conditions. 3. The survey reveals the most common unhealthy lifestyle factors affecting health are: smoking (72.80%), irregular sleep patterns (70.09%), improper diet (60.81%), alcoholism (58.59%), and lack of exercise (55.00%). Therefore, quitting smoking, moderate alcohol reduction, maintaining a balanced diet and regular lifestyle, and engaging in moderate exercise are important measures to reduce or correct sub-health conditions. 4. The survey identifies the top life events affecting health as: sudden injuries or natural disasters (62.25%), excessive family burdens (50.66%), widowhood (50.33%), relationship breakups (45.29%), marital conflicts (42.58%), marital breakdown (40.49%), divorce (38.69%), extramarital affairs (30.36%), conflicts between parents and children (26.49%), and exam failures (26.24%). Thus, maintaining healthy family relationships, correctly understanding and handling various emergencies and exam failures are also crucial for reversing sub-health conditions. 5. Notably, the survey found that among different occupational groups, the highest sub-health rates are observed in: white-collar workers (19.34%), university students (10.95%), primary and secondary school teachers (9.33%), middle school students (9.02%), workers (8.98%), military personnel (7.60%), technical engineers (7.14%), and business professionals (5.36%). These groups should pay particular attention to physical health. 6. The author details the methodology for conducting sub-health epidemiological surveys in the book. For example, the survey questionnaire, designed to investigate common sub-health symptoms, includes 103 items. The results show that the top 30 most frequently reported symptoms are: memory decline, health concerns, difficulty concentrating, fatigue, disturbed sleep, exhaustion, emotional instability, post-cognitive fatigue, reduced endurance, drowsiness, irritability, post-exercise fatigue, forgetfulness, weakness, irritability, insomnia, depression, anger, constant self-doubt, low mental efficiency, frequent colds, hypersomnia, limb fatigue, unpleasantness, dizziness, vertigo, depression, headaches, lower back and knee pain, and hair loss. Other common symptoms include neck and back pain, stomach bloating, exhaustion, indigestion, constipation, reduced sexual function, and facial brown spots. These symptoms are unrelated to diseases or not caused by diseases. 7. Comparing the top 30 sub-health symptoms between men and women, the first 15 items are identical with slight variations in ranking. The top 15 for men are: memory decline, health concerns, difficulty concentrating, fatigue, reduced endurance, post-cognitive fatigue, disturbed sleep, drowsiness, emotional instability, forgetfulness, weakness, irritability, post-exercise fatigue, and irritability. The top 15 for women are: memory decline, disturbed sleep, health concerns, fatigue, emotional instability, difficulty concentrating, irritability, fatigue, drowsiness, forgetfulness, post-cognitive fatigue, irritability, weakness, and reduced endurance. More than two-thirds of these items are related to psychological factors. 8. Analyzing sub-health symptoms across different age groups reveals distinct patterns. For instance, "memory decline" ranks third for those under 19 but is the top symptom for all other age groups, with its prevalence increasing with age. The related symptom "forgetfulness" also shows an upward trend with age. "Fatigue" ranks 14th for those under 19 but second for the 30-39, 40-49, and 50-59 age groups. "Reduced sexual function" ranks 35th for the 30-39 age group (10.78%), 21st for the 40-49 group (17.40%), and 6th for the 50-59 group (30.11%). It ranks 4th and 6th for the 60-69 and 70+ age groups, respectively. For those under 19, the top 15 symptoms are: difficulty concentrating, health concerns, memory decline, fatigue, disturbed sleep, emotional instability, post-cognitive fatigue, drowsiness, irritability, constant self-doubt, vertigo, low mental efficiency, hypersomnia, fatigue, and post-exercise fatigue. Notably, most of these symptoms are caused by psychological factors, highlighting the urgency of mental health education for adolescents. From the survey, it is evident that sub-health is a real and undeniable health phenomenon. The proposal of the sub-health theory not only helps the general public better understand their health status but also provides medical professionals with a new perspective. In clinical practice, when encountering such patients, healthcare providers can move beyond the conventional treatment framework and approach sub-health conditions through regulation. The author notes that sub-health is a dynamic intermediate state between health and illness—health-sub-health-illness—where sub-health transitions or overlaps with both upstream health and downstream illness. This transitional change is bidirectional, forming a dynamic health-sub-health-illness process where sub-health is more complex than either health or illness. The author suggests that healthy individuals should focus on prevention and health maintenance, patients with illness should receive treatment, while those in sub-health should be regulated. If sub-health overlaps with health, regulation and health maintenance are needed; if it overlaps with illness, regulation and treatment are required. Administering medicinal treatment to sub-health patients could be considered misdiagnosis and mistreatment. Thus, regulation should be the primary measure to correct sub-health. Currently, in China, there is a phenomenon where, for diseases, numerous pharmaceutical companies produce targeted medications. For the general public, food is the basic substance needed to sustain life. Beyond medicine and food, a variety of health supplements the market. Then, what specific population or condition do health supplements target? The proposal of the sub-health theory provides a clear answer: health supplements are developed for sub-health individuals, and their users are those in the health-sub-health transitional phase. In other words, for sub-health individuals, reasonably selecting health supplements is the best choice.