Health behavior
A person's action that affects health, including habits, risk-taking, preventive practices, and seeking or using health care.
Health: A state of physical, mental, and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease. Health behaviors are actions judged partly by their effects on this broader state.
Physical activity: Bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that increases energy expenditure. It is a common health behavior with effects on fitness and chronic disease risk.
Habit: A learned behavior that is triggered automatically by recurring contexts or cues. Automatic routines can sustain behaviors such as exercise, eating, or smoking.
Health outcome: A measurable consequence of health care, public health action, or other influences on health. An action is a behavior; illness, recovery, and mortality are outcomes that may follow.
Behavior: An organism's observable actions and responses to internal or external conditions. Health behavior is a subset of behavior distinguished by its effects on health.
Nutrition: The processes by which organisms obtain and use food and its nutrients. Food choices are health behaviors that shape growth, metabolism, and disease risk.
Self-efficacy: A person's belief in their capacity to organize and carry out actions needed for a goal. Confidence in managing obstacles influences whether health intentions become sustained actions.
Health status: A description of an individual's or population's health at a particular time. Health status describes a condition, whereas health behavior describes an action.
Health belief model: A theory that explains health actions through perceived risk, severity, benefits, barriers, and cues to action. It links beliefs about illness and prevention to decisions such as screening or vaccination.
Tobacco smoking: The inhalation of smoke produced by burning tobacco, usually through cigarettes or other products. It illustrates how a repeated behavior can cause substantial preventable illness.