Health & Wellness — Part 2
The Celpip Plus team
Written and reviewed against the official CELPIP scoring criteria
What you'll learn: adjective + noun collocations that let you describe diets, lifestyles, and medical conditions with precision — essential for CELPIP prompts asking you to evaluate habits or explain a health situation.
Why precision matters in health descriptions
Health prompts frequently ask for evaluation — is a habit good or bad, is a lifestyle sustainable, is a condition serious. "A good diet" and "a bad habit" are correct but vague; the collocations below let you specify exactly what kind of good or bad you mean, which reads as more thoughtful and more fluent.
Lifestyle versus medical register
These collocations split into everyday lifestyle description (a balanced diet, a sedentary lifestyle) and slightly more formal medical description (a chronic condition, a full recovery). Knowing which register fits which context — casual Speaking versus a more careful Writing response — keeps your language appropriately calibrated.
Word bank: descriptive health collocations
| Collocation | Meaning | Example sentence |
|---|---|---|
| a balanced diet | a diet with a healthy variety of nutrients | A balanced diet includes protein, vegetables, and whole grains. |
| a sedentary lifestyle | a lifestyle involving little physical activity | Office work often leads to a sedentary lifestyle. |
| a chronic condition | a long-lasting or recurring health problem | Diabetes is a chronic condition that requires ongoing management. |
| a speedy recovery | a fast return to health after illness or injury | Everyone wished him a speedy recovery after the surgery. |
| a nagging injury | a minor but persistent injury | A nagging knee injury kept her out of the tournament. |
| a restful night's sleep | sleep that is calm and sufficiently restorative | A restful night's sleep made a huge difference to her mood. |
| a demanding workout | intense physical exercise | He prefers a demanding workout over a light jog. |
| a mild symptom | a symptom that is not severe | She had only mild symptoms and recovered quickly. |
| a strict diet | a diet followed with little flexibility | He's on a strict diet ahead of the competition. |
| an active lifestyle | a lifestyle involving regular physical activity | An active lifestyle has clearly boosted her energy. |
| a preventable illness | a health condition that could be avoided with care | Many preventable illnesses are linked to diet and inactivity. |
| a serious condition | a health issue requiring urgent or careful attention | The doctor confirmed it wasn't a serious condition. |
Worked example — Writing Task 2 (survey response)
Prompt: What is the biggest health challenge facing people today?
"In my view, the biggest challenge is a sedentary lifestyle brought on by desk jobs and screen time. Unlike a serious condition that appears suddenly, this kind of harm builds slowly and often goes unnoticed until it contributes to a chronic condition such as heart disease. The solution isn't necessarily a strict diet or a demanding workout routine — for most people, simply shifting toward an active lifestyle with regular movement would help. Combined with a balanced diet and a restful night's sleep, small consistent changes can prevent many otherwise preventable illnesses later in life."
Common mistakes
- "A hard diet" instead of a strict diet — "strict" is the natural collocate for a rigidly followed diet; "hard" sounds like a literal translation.
- "A fast recovery" used exclusively instead of the equally natural a speedy recovery — both work, but relying only on "fast" limits range in more formal writing.
- "A small symptom" instead of a mild symptom — symptoms are described as "mild" or "severe," not by size.
- "A lazy lifestyle" instead of a sedentary lifestyle — "lazy" carries a judgmental tone about the person, while "sedentary" neutrally describes activity level, which is more appropriate register for CELPIP writing.
Recap
Adjective + noun collocations for health let you distinguish between everyday lifestyle description and more careful medical register, and between different degrees of severity or effort. Pick one lifestyle collocation and one medical collocation from the table, and write two sentences evaluating a specific health habit using both.