IELTS Speaking Vocabulary: HEALTH

(upbeat music)

We're gonna look more specifically at vocabulary.

Okay, vocabulary.

Health is the first word, health,

and it has that really interesting, th sound.

Health.

The problem is if you say health, health,

it sounds like hells like Hell's Kitchen.

Like Gordon Ramsey's Hell's Kitchen.

Health.

The tongue just touches in between the teeth.

Health.

Very, very, very light, very soft.

Your whole jaw is relaxed.

Health.

Keith.

Me, right?

Keith, health.

Some people go health. (Keith laughs)

Your tongue doesn't have to come out, but just relax.

Relaxation is the most important.

Health.

Th.

If you play the clarinet,

it'd probably be very easy for you.

Health.

This is the condition of the body

or the state of being well, right?

Being in a good state.

It's uncountable.

Common collocations, we talk about physical health.

So notice here it's the ph, physical health.

The ph and the th are similar.

Physical health.

Can you say that?

Physical health.

And this one is?

Mental health.

Mental, tal, tal.

It's the, your tongue kind of goes under.

It curls under.

Mental health.

Good.

Physical health, mental health, preventative health.

Right?

Preventative.

When you've got a long word, just break it down.

Pre-ven-ta-tive.

Watch the shape of the mouth.

Pre-ven-ta-tive.

Preventative.

Watch the stress.

Preventative.

Preventative health.

Good.

What does that mean?

Preventative health are activities to avoid sickness.

So when we talk about sleeping well, mindfulness,

meditation, having a walk every day, eating well,

all of this is preventative health, okay?

Excellent, good, nice.

Okay, we've also got to be in something health.

Common collocations.

Typically to be in good health, to be in good health.

I'm in good health.

I'm in good health.

We could say poor.

I'm in poor health.

Declining.

Declining means it goes, woo, down, right?

I'm in good health, but I'm in declining health.

I'm very sick now.

I'm in declining health.

Watch the stress.

Declining.

I'm in declining health.

Hopefully not, right?

Fragile health is another common one.

Fragile.

Fragile.

Meaning delicate, right?

You're not very strong.

Very often for older people, we can say they are fragile.

They are in fragile health, okay?

You know, sometimes if you order something from Amazon,

and it comes in a box,

if you've ordered something made of glass,

they stick a label on the box.

Fragile, delicate.

Be careful with it, right?

For example, we could say I'm in good health,

but my granddad is sick and in declining health.

So getting worse and worse.

(keyboard typing)

Okay, basically, to decline, to go down or to get worse.

Good.

Okay, good.

Let me bring in some of your comments.

Your comments are great.

And just to be clear, when I bring in your comments,

I like to point out the good and the needing improvement.

'Cause sometimes there are mistakes.

If I correct you, it's just a way of encouraging you

to get better and better, okay?

Chris says, "At the moment, I'm fragile."

Chris, I hope you get better.

Right?

We've got Ernesto, so be careful.

You are very, very close, and this is really good.

But what we need to say here is,

and let me just help you.

Whoa.

Let me just help you a little bit here, Ernesto.

If I can, I'm struggling with my technology here.

I'm really struggling today.

Decline.

It's an adjective.

So we would have to say declining health basically, right?

Julia says "Deteriorating health."

But you can't see it, but there we go.

Deteriorating health, exactly.

Deteriorating health.

Same thing.

Jane, welcome.

Almost missed the lesson.

Kay says, "I'm in good health at the moment."

Excellent.

Persian, this is interesting.

I'm in poor condition of my health.

We wouldn't say that.

To be honest, it would be much better to say

I'm in poor health.

You could say my health is not in a good condition,

but it's a bit complicated.

I'm in poor health is better.

I hope you get better.

Right, my health situation is not well, not good.

My health situation is not good.

Exactly, good.

I love all your participation.

It's really, really good.

Excellent, good.

My health is good.

Pleased to hear that.

Well done.

Leila says, "I have never felt better."

I love that.

I have never felt better.

Let's add that one.

Because that is a very common expression, right?

I've never felt better.

Meaning you're feeling really, really, really, really good.

Yes.

Excellent.

So the situation of health is right or not?

No, not for spoken English.

We don't say that.

The situation of health, no.

I think if a doctor is talking to a patient, maybe.

But when you're speaking to a friend and to family

and in IELTS, don't say the situation of health, no.

My health is good.

My health is bad.

I am in good health, right?

Keep it much, much simpler.

So the same here.

I would really encourage you to keep it a lot simpler.

And you could say, so Jannatun,

my health is going down.

Possibly even more natural,

my health is going downhill, right?

Down hill.

Same idea as declining, going downhill.

Much more natural.

You'll sound much more like a proficient speaker, right?

My health is going downhill.

Excellent.

May says, "I'm alive and kicking,"

which is a great song by Simple Minds,

but it also means I'm in good health, yes.

I like that.

I'll add that later.

I'll add it here actually.

It's idiomatic,

but it means I'm in very, very good health.

Yeah, basically.

Excellent, good.

So let me move on.

Let me move on.

We can talk about to blank your health.

So adding a verb.

So all of these are verbs.

To boost your health, to promote your health,

to improve my health.

So I need to improve my health,

or something can boost your health.

Superfoods can boost your health.

It's a bit of a marketing gimmick to be honest,

the whole idea of superfoods, but it is true.

Some foods can boost your health, right?

And we often call them superfoods.

If you've not heard of superfoods,

go and Google super foods.

But things that are very good for your health,

ranging from anything, right?

Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries,

mango, kale, lots of them.

Superfoods can promote your health, or improve your health,

or boost your health.

All of these are good.

Synonyms for health are well-being, wellness, fitness.

Notice the stress is on the first syllable.

Well-being.

Okay, not well-being.

Mm-mm-mm.

Well-being.

Wellness.

Fitness.

Yeah, exactly, yes.

I need to look after my well-being.

My wellness is important.

My fitness is a priority.

Notice all of these are uncountable.

Uncountable nouns.

For example, don't work so much,

your well-being is very important.

Okay?

Excellent, nice.

Ahmed said, "Superfood improves your health."

Yes.

"Organic food can improve your health."

That's true, absolutely, yes.

Sanity.

Thanawat, but sanity is not health.

Sanity is is in your head.

It's whether you are seeing things normally or not.

So sane is the opposite of crazy.

So sanity is not craziness.

It's being healthy in your head, if you like.

So sanity is always in your head.

It's a good question, yeah.

Brian says, "I think vegetables, fruits,

and oats are all superfoods."

That's right.

"All natural, not ultra-processed foods."

Exactly.

Yes.

I like that, ultra-processed is becoming a very

commonly used expression.

We used to talk about processed foods,

but the situation has got so bad,

now you'll hear people talk about ultra-processed foods

do not boost your health.

They harm your health.

So the opposite here, I guess.

Harm, damage.

So being the opposite, right?

Ultra-processed foods.

You know, fast food,

pre-prepared foods.

Ultra-processed foods do not boost your health.

They harm your health.

So we can add harm and damage

to being the negative idea, okay?

Abdinasir says,

"Doing exercise every day is promote your well-being."

Good.

Let me help you a little bit because promote is a verb.

So because promote is a verb, we say it promotes.

It, referring to doing exercise every day

promotes your well-being.

Perfect, nice example.

Love it.

Chris, "Can we say overprocessed food?"

We can,

but I think the fashion nowadays is ultra-processed.

Yes.

Shamim says, "My health is going down day by day.

Although the doctor said to don't eat biryani,

but I can't afford it."

I can't avoid it, yes.

Yeah, biryani, is it full of salt and tasty things?

Salt and oil maybe?

Mind you, biryani is done in the oven, right?

So not too much oil,

but this is a problem, right?

As somebody once says in a famous song,

everything that is,

no, everything that is bad for me is tasty.

Oh, I forgot what it was.

There's a really good song.

It's a Spanish song.

But basically everything that you like is bad for you.

The salt, the sugar, the oils, the tasty food

is typically bad for you.

But healthy food can be really tasty if you learn to cook.

(Keith laughs)

By the way, none of this today,

none of this is medical advice.

This is just English teaching.

Disclaimer.

Do not take any advice, medical advice from me.

Good.

Mohammadreza says, "I'm as fit as a fiddle,"

meaning very, very healthy.

Nice, excellent, good.

We're gonna kinda look at some idioms shortly,

so that's excellent, cool.

Excellent.

We've got here, "Sedentary lifestyle is harm my health."

Nice.

Again, notice harm, to harm as up here is a verb, right?

So instead of is harm, what would it be?

Exactly, yes.

Let me help you a little bit.

We would say a sedentary, ah,

a sedentary lifestyle harms my health.

'Cause it, sedentary lifestyle, harms my health.

Nice, good, lovely.

Thank you for that.

I'm trying to remember the character.

I dunno if it's Vin?

Is it Wen?

I might be wrong.

I might be wrong.

Probably wrong.

Okay, excellent.

Antonyms.

So you've got synonyms, right?

Well-being, wellness, fitness.

Antonyms will include

a sickness, an ailment, and a disease.

But notice these are countable.

So the words here for health are uncountable.

My health.

But the antonyms are all countable.

A sickness, an ailment.

Ail, it's a difficult word to say, I know.

A, A, it's a sliding vowel.

So you'll see my mouth changes.

A.

Ailment.

Always slow down with difficult words.

Ailment.

Look at the mouth.

Ailment.

I can't see your mouth, but make sure it's moving, right?

An ailment.

I have some ailments.

Meaning I have some sicknesses.

I have some diseases.

Sickness, disease.

For example, the older I get, the more ailments I have.

(Keith laughs)

It's true.

Oh dear, anyway.

Good.

So finally, health and feelings.

Health and feelings.

So we talked a bit about this.

Somebody said, I think it was Leila said,

"I have never felt better."

We can say I feel.

And here, plus an adjective or adjective phrase, right?

Or adjective or adjective phrase.

(keyboard typing)

I'm just gonna make it clearer.

Because I notice sometimes people are confusing adjectives

and verbs.

So just be careful, right?

I feel, so these are adjectives.

I feel great, which is good.

Other expressions similar to good or great,

I feel energetic.

Energetic.

Let me just make it clear for you, the stress, energetic.

Full of beans.

Full of energy, right?

And it to be energetic is full of beans.

Beans are those little legumes, pulses that we eat.

On top of the world.

On top of the world.

Which is another kind of idiomatic expression,

on top of the world.

It doesn't mean you are literally on Mount Everest,

but it just means you feel good.

I feel great.

I feel on top of the world.

I feel like a million dollars.

I feel energetic.

I feel full of beans.

Full of beans.

The opposite, I feel weak.

Okay.

But don't say I feel poor

'cause that means you are not rich.

But you can say

I feel poorly.

Poorly means sick.

So notice the difference, right?

Poor means you're not rich.

Poorly, an adjective, means you're sick.

I feel poor.

I've got no money. (Keith chuckles)

I feel poorly.

I feel sick.

Nice.

I feel weak.

I feel poorly.

I feel lethargic.

And remember you wanna stress that

syllable, lethargic.

Always do this when you practice.

Just when you stress a syllable, you make it longer,

you make it higher, and you make it louder.

Lethargic.

Of course, that's an exaggeration,

but you need to exaggerate to get it right in normal speech.

I feel lethargic.

It's got that, th.

Keith.

Health.

Lethargic.

It's a slightly stronger th.

Lethargic.

I feel lethargic.

Lethargic really is kind of to feel lazy,

no energy, not energetic, not full of beans.

Sluggish is the same, right?

Sluggish.

Stress on the slug.

Sluggish.

Sluggish, no energy, very slow.

And if you've ever seen a slug,

so it comes from the word a slug.

Let me google slug for you.

If this, let me check this.

I think this is, no, let me check.

There we go.

If I get some images, hopefully.

Yeah, I know.

Ugh, horrible.

A slug.

This is a slug.

So when you are sluggish, you move like a slug.

Get it?

Sluggish.

Out of sorts is another idiomatic expression

to not feel well, or off color.

We talked about off.

I feel off.

I feel off color, okay?

So all of these are different ways of of talking about it.

A couple of examples.

She's feeling on top of the world today.

On the other hand, I'm feeling lethargic.

I just don't want to get out of bed.

Okay.

Good.

Samuel says, "I feel energetic watching games."

All right, good, good.

Ahmed says, "Coughs, and colds, and minor ailments

began to seem poor substitutes for the wound."

Okay, good.

Minor ailments is very good.

I like that.

Very good.

I'm feeling wonderful.

Okay, I feel good.

Sounds like a song, I feel good.

Elvira, "Feel on top of the world."

Nice.

I feel on top of the world.

I'm very happy for you.

That's great.

And great English as well.

Excellent.

I feel blue.

I feel blue, it means I feel sad, right?

A bit different, but it means I feel sad.

I'm feeling drained, yeah, meaning, no energy.

That's nice.

Let me add that one 'cause I think that's a nice one.

Drained.

I feel drained.

Lovely.

Thank you, Leila.

By the way, I feel poor.

Right, without money.

Maybe you feel poor and poorly, right?

Great.

By the way, I feel well.

Pleased to hear that.

Mahi, I love this.

Lathaaargic.

I love how you've written it.

Well done, nice.

Okay, good.

Feel nostalgic.

That's interesting.

So nostalgic is when you miss things from the past.

I feel tired.

Good, exactly.

Under the water.

Under the water?

Now that's very, very interesting.

I've never heard that.

And I'm wondering if you mean,

there is an idiomatic expression, Araceli,

under the weather.

I've never heard of under the water,

unless you're a scuba diver or a swimmer.

But under the weather, yes, I feel under the weather

is I feel sick, not well, out of sorts.

Let's add that as well, Araceli, under the weather.

Every comment is a perfect comment.

It plays a role.

Thank you so much.

Eva as just confirmed, yes, good.

Lin Mberie, "I'm feeling a bit sluggish today."

Lovely.

Very, very nice.

Nice English, I mean, yes.

(Keith chuckles)

"I feel lethargic when I read the Cambridge reading book."

Okay, yes, I get it.

Good.

We've got, hey, you've changed your name, KHR Explorer.

Where's that come from?

Hmm, "I'm coming down with-"

Good, let me help you a little bit here.

I'm coming down with a fever.

I'm coming down with a fever.

Yeah.

Excellent, lovely, very, very nice.

Okay, so lots of really nice expressions

just to talk about how you are feeling at a particular time.

Let's move on from that.

And what's coming up next?

(upbeat music)