Sub-health: A New Concept of Health in the 21st Century

Author: Wang Yuxue
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-06-01
Features: To unravel the mysteries surrounding sub-health, Professor Wang Yuxue, the founder of sub-health theory, provides answers in his book "Sub-health: A New Concept of Health in the 21st Century":
1. In the surveyed population in China, the incidence of sub-health is approximately 58.18% (slightly different from the previously mentioned 70%), while the prevalence of actual illness is 5.62%, and the healthy population 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 correcting and regulating sub-health states to improve quality of life.
2. The survey shows the occupational factors affecting sub-health in descending order: high mental stress (61.76%), excessive mental labor (47.31%), tense interpersonal relationships (36.79%), excessive physical labor (32.97%), work dissatisfaction (30.08%), unemployment (26.30%), monotonous work (22.27%), and a strong desire to win in work (17.86%). Therefore, paying attention to these aspects, adjusting work rhythms in a timely manner, avoiding excessive mental or physical labor, cultivating interest in work, and correctly understanding unemployment are beneficial for correcting sub-health.
3. The survey reveals the unhealthy lifestyle factors affecting health in descending order: smoking (72.80%), irregular sleep patterns (70.09%), unbalanced diet (60.81%), excessive alcohol consumption (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.
4. The survey identifies life events affecting health in descending order: sudden injuries or natural disasters (62.25%), excessive family burdens (50.66%), widowhood (50.33%), breakup (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 failure (26.24%). Thus, maintaining good family relationships, correctly understanding and addressing various emergencies and exam failures are also crucial for reversing sub-health.
5. It is worth noting that the survey found the highest incidence of sub-health among different occupational groups in descending order: white-collar workers (19.34%), college 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%), business executives (5.36%), and doctors (3.60%). These groups should pay particular attention to physical health.
6. The author details the methodology for conducting epidemiological surveys on sub-health in the book, including the design of a questionnaire with 103 items to investigate common manifestations of sub-health. The results show that the top 30 most common symptoms are: memory decline, health concerns, difficulty concentrating, fatigue, frequent dreams, emotional instability, post-brain fatigue, reduced endurance, drowsiness, irritability, post-exercise fatigue, forgetfulness, weakness, excitability, insomnia, depression, anger, constant suspicion of illness, low thinking efficiency, frequent colds, hypersomnia, limb weakness, unpleasantness, dizziness, vertigo, depression, headaches, lower back and knee pain, and hair loss. Other common symptoms include back and shoulder pain, stomach bloating, exhaustion, indigestion, constipation, reduced sexual function, and facial hyperpigmentation. These symptoms are unrelated to diseases or not caused by diseases.
7. Comparing the top 30 sub-health symptoms between males and females, the first 15 items are identical, with only slight differences in ranking. The top 15 male symptoms are: memory decline, health concerns, difficulty concentrating, fatigue, emotional instability, forgetfulness, weakness, irritability, post-brain fatigue, drowsiness, post-exercise fatigue, excitability, reduced endurance. The top 15 female symptoms are: memory decline, frequent dreams, health concerns, fatigue, emotional instability, difficulty concentrating, irritability, fatigue, drowsiness, forgetfulness, post-brain fatigue, excitability, weakness, reduced endurance. Over two-thirds of these symptoms are related to psychological and mental factors.
8. From the perspective of different age groups, sub-health symptoms vary by age. For example, "memory decline" ranks third among those under 19 but ranks first in all other age groups, with its rate increasing gradually with age. The related symptom "forgetfulness" also shows an increasing incidence rate with age. "Fatigue" ranks 14th among those under 19 but ranks second in the 30-39, 40-49, and 50-59 age groups. "Reduced sexual function" ranks 35th in the 30-39 group (10.78%), 21st in the 40-49 group (17.40%), and 6th in the 50-59 group (30.11%). It ranks 4th in the 60-69 group and 6th in the group over 70. The top 15 symptoms among those under 19 are: difficulty concentrating, health concerns, memory decline, fatigue, frequent dreams, emotional instability, post-brain fatigue, drowsiness, irritability, constant suspicion of illness, vertigo, low thinking efficiency, hypersomnia, fatigue, and post-exercise fatigue. It is noteworthy that most of these symptoms are caused by psychological and mental factors, highlighting the urgency of mental health education for adolescents. From the survey, we can see that sub-health is an objective reality and a health phenomenon that cannot be ignored. The proposal of sub-health theory not only helps the general public understand their health status but also provides a new perspective for medical professionals. In the future, when encountering such "patients" in clinical practice, it is advisable to move beyond the framework of disease treatment and focus on sub-health regulation.
The author points out that sub-health is a dynamic intermediate state between health and disease, specifically the transition from health to sub-health to disease. Sub-health shares transitional or overlapping states with both upstream health and downstream diseases. This transition is bidirectional, forming a dynamic process of health-sub-health-disease, with sub-health at the midpoint and more complex than either health or disease. The author proposes that healthy individuals should focus on health preservation, patients with diseases should receive treatment, and those with sub-health should undergo regulation. If sub-health overlaps with health, regulation and health preservation are needed; if it overlaps with disease, regulation and treatment are required. Administering medication to sub-health patients can be considered misdiagnosis and mistreatment. Thus, regulation should be the primary measure for correcting sub-health.
Currently, in China, there is a phenomenon where numerous pharmaceutical factories produce various medications for targeted disease treatment, while for the general public, food is the basic substance needed to sustain life. Beyond medicine and food, we see a proliferation of health foods in the market. So, who or what state does health food target? The proposal of sub-health theory provides a clear answer: health foods are developed for sub-health individuals, and their target users are those in the sub-health state between health and disease. In other words, for sub-health individuals, reasonably selecting health foods is the best choice.