World Health Organization (WHO) defines Health as “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”.

This definition of health has not been changed since 1948!

Wellness, on the other hand is defined as “The condition of good physical, mental and emotional health, especially when maintained by an appropriate diet, exercise, and other lifestyle modifications”.

Most people think Wellness is just an absence of disease!

Wellness, actually, is the multidimensional component of good health and includes different dimensions.

• Physical wellness:It is the ability to apply our knowledge, motivation, commitment, behavior, skills and self-management attitude toward achieving personal fitness and health goals. A physically well person will not feel tired towards end of the day.
• Emotional (mental) wellness: It is maintaining good mental health, a positive attitude, high self-esteem and strong self-image. It is the ability to respond resiliently to emotional states and the ups and downs of life events.

It means dealing with a variety of situations realistically and learning more about yourself and how your feelings on make you do things.  It is taking responsibility for your own behavior (no blame game) and meeting challenges as opportunities.

• Social wellness:It is to our ability to interact with people around us. It involves using good communications skills, having meaningful and dependable interpersonal relationships, respecting both others and ourselves and thus creating a social infrastructure that includes family members and friends.
• Intellectual wellness:It is having a curiosity with a strong desire to learn.  It is valuing many experiences, staying stimulated with new ideas and sharing. It is responding to challenges and opportunities to grow, making plans, developing strategies and solving problems; the ability to engage in clear thinking and recall; to think independently, creatively and at times being self-critical.
• Spiritual wellness:It is about finding your place in the universe–the quest for meaning, value and purpose resulting in hope, joy, courage and gratitude. Spiritual Wellness is the evaluation of personal beliefs.

 Interplay of all 5 dimensions

• All the five components are not individual entities but they are interlinked. One has to take care of all of them to be really ‘WELL’.

There are two focal concerns with regards to wellness and the effort to attain ‘Wellness’ are directed at achieving them:

–          The realization of fullest potential of an individual (physical, mental, social & economical) and

–          The fulfillment of one’s role expectations in the family, community and workplace etc.

How do we ensure that we remain ‘WELL’?

Wellness is adopting Health Lifestyles!

What is a lifestyle?

Behaviour(s) that we adopt based on the context of our life circumstances.

Let us understand each word:

• Behaviors: not just one but a collection of behaviors; smoking/ exercising/ eating sensibly – each one is a behaviour
• Adopt: These are not inborn; we adopt them over time till they become a habit
• Context: These behaviours are unique to our life experiences
• Circumstances: various life situations (circumstances) that influence us and may be responsible for us adopting those behaviours

Why should lifestyle be healthy?

• To look & feel better
• To think & work better
• To enjoy leisure time – most people use leaves to sleep
• Definitely to live longer
• To have a better quality of life

Behaviors leading to a Healthy Lifestyle

• Eating right: good nutrition & wt mgmt
• Being physically activity
• Managing stress
• Avoiding tobacco & other drugs
• Using alcohol in moderation
• Controlling blood sugar, cholesterol &blood pressure
• Practicing preventive self-care (seat belt, safe sex etc)
• Reducing risk factors: disease & injury

First FOUR are most significant

People ask, “Do they actually make any difference?”

The answer is YES! 50%-80% of all deaths and illnesses relate directly to unhealthy lifestyle habits

 

Summarizing;

Three priority lifestyles are

• Physical activity
• Nutrition &
• Stress management

Why are these lifestyles critical?

• They affect most people
• Most of us can make improvements
• Making Small changes can and does have a major impact on individual and public health