Healthy and Heavenly Bodies?

Abstract

Health is in many ways an individual issue. In Western countries, we can see an increased awareness of health issues and of the importance of taking care of one’s health. Among the Western middle classes, people’s awareness of the importance of eating good, healthy food, of exercising and creating healthy lifestyle conditions is increasing. However, health is also a global issue. On the one hand, we have the affluent Western middle classes raising certain health issues. On the other, we have large populations that lack the most basic healthcare systems. Health is therefore an indicator of wealth. A healthy body is sometimes also a well-trained, disciplined, hardworking, and moral body. Increasingly health has been connected to fitness, physical desirability, youth, and social status. However, at the same time as the disciplined body is celebrated, there are also strong associations between health and the ability to “let go” and “relax” (Lupton, 2002, 2003). Today, the middle class in developed countries can, for example, spend their weekends at a spa or at a retreat somewhere in the countryside.