Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. Health can be promoted by encouraging healthful activities, such as regular physical exercise and adequate sleep, and by reducing or avoiding unhealthful activities or situations, such as smoking or excessive stress. Some factors affecting health are due to individual choices, such as whether to engage in a high-risk behavior, while others are due to structural causes, such as whether the society is arranged in a way that makes it easier or harder for people to get necessary healthcare services. Still, other factors are beyond both individual and group choices, such as genetic disorders.

ಒಂದು ಜೀವಿಯ ದೇಹ-ಮನಸ್ಸು ಸಂಪೂರ್ಣ ಸಮತೋಲನದಲ್ಲಿರುವ ಸ್ಥಿತಿಯನ್ನು ಆರೋಗ್ಯ ಎಂದು ಕರೆಯಬಹುದು. ವಿಶ್ವ ಆರೋಗ್ಯ ಸಂಸ್ಥೆಯ ೧೯೪೫ರ ಹೇಳಿಕೆಯ ಪ್ರಕಾರ

"ಆರೋಗ್ಯವೆಂದರೆ ಸಂಪೂರ್ಣ ದೈಹಿಕ, ಮಾನಸಿಕ ಮತ್ತು ಸಾಮಾಜಿಕ ಸುಸ್ಥಿತಿ - ಕೇವಲ ರೋಗ, ಭಾದೆಗಳ ಗೈರು ಹಾಜರಿಯಷ್ಟೇ ಅಲ್ಲ"