What is Wellness?
What pops into your head when you hear the terms "wellness" or "wellbeing"?
For many, they think solely physical health - exercise, nutrition, weight, and the absence of disease or illness.
For others they think of the current wellness trends - red light therapy, cold plunges, biohacking, saunas, and the like.
While all of these are right to some degree, "wellness" really constitutes every aspect of your life and, in many ways, is just a giant Venn diagram with lots of intersections.
There really are 8 dimensions of wellness. Here's the quick Google AI Summary of the 8 dimensions:
The Eight Dimensions of Wellness
Physical:Maintaining a healthy body through regular exercise, proper nutrition, adequate sleep, and avoiding harmful habits.
Emotional:Understanding, accepting, and managing feelings, as well as coping effectively with stress
Social:Building and maintaining positive, nurturing relationships with friends, family, and the community.
Intellectual:Engaging in creative, stimulating, and challenging mental activities, such as lifelong learning.
Spiritual:Developing a sense of purpose, meaning, and values that guide one's life.
Vocational (Occupational):Finding personal satisfaction, enrichment, and meaning through work or volunteering.
Financial:Managing resources to live within means, planning for the future, and reducing stress related to finances.
Environmental:Living in harmony with the Earth by taking action to protect the surroundings and seeking pleasant, safe environments.
These dimensions are not required to be equally balanced, but rather, one should strive for a "personal harmony" that feels most sustainable and fulfilling.
In my life, I've struggled far more in some areas than others, thus, my focus, expertise, studies, and experience have been strongly tied to the following dimensions - with slightly different terminology and breakdown than the AI summary above.
Mental and emotional. Yes, this has to do with understanding and processing your emotions, but it's about more than journaling, meditating, and therapy. It has to do with reconnecting with who you are. Your values, your goals, your mental and emotional barriers, self-limiting beliefs, you hobbies and interests. By gaining an understanding of these core pieces of yourself, you will increase your self-awareness, identity, self-efficacy, and can identify and work through your mental barriers, negative thought patterns, and self-limiting beliefs. Mindset truly is everything.
Nutrition. Ever heard the phrase "you are what you eat"? It's actually true. Not literally, of course. If you eat a turd (ew) you won't morph into a turd (*phew* - but, please don't eat a turd. It's gross and could make you very ill or dead. You can blame my daughters' love of talking about butts and poop for this analogy being the first thing that popped into my head. Sorry not sorry.) However, your level of nutrition plays a massive role in your microbiome (your gut, put simply - although this is a colossal topic in and of itself, maybe for another day.) The pieces that make up your microbiome, heavily influenced by your diet, can influence your:
Levels of hunger.
Your mood. Have you ever been "hangry"? That's not just a mental state. That's the gut-brain axis at work. Your microbiome plays a major role in emotional regulation.
Obesity - probably no 'aha' moments here.
Anxiety - eating a whole food diet can often reduce anxiety. Diets high in sugar, refined arbs, and unhealthy fats can increase anxiety.
Stress. Again - that pesky microbiome we've been talking about. Nutrition impacts how we handle stress, with more processed foods and high sugar intake often increasing stress levels, or lowering our ability to effectively manage stress.
Movement. No, I don't mean going to the gym for an hour long HIIT session. Movement is anything beyond sitting around. This could be as simple as walking to your bathroom or your mailbox, or as involved as that hour-long HIIT class. Movement is the thing doctors never "prescribe" but has been shown to be one of the most beneficial things you can do for both your physical and mental health. Partaking in movement can:
Delay effects of neurodegeneration and increase your brains ability to retain new information.
Improve eating habits through the "transfer effect". If you get some movement in and then decide you want to eat some veggies instead of Oreos because you don't want to waste your activity - that's the transfer effect at work.
Improve resilience to stress, improving mood and decreasing anxiety.
Can improve sleep. Studies show those who are intentional with getting movement in, often get better quality of sleep.
SLEEP. I will be the first to admit, I used to utter the now shame-inducing words, "I'll sleep when I'm dead." Back in the days when I'd stay up drinking with my buddies until 6 am. Not sure how I'm still alive, but I do understand how I ended up with anxiety and several of my other struggles. Don't be like me! I cannot believe how much we all underrate the need for sleep and how few of us actually prioritize it. Adults should be getting 7-9 hours of sleep consistently. Are you? Getting little or low quality sleep can wreak havoc on your mind and body in several ways:
Results in excessive daytime fatigue. Anybody else feel like they've been chronically tired daily for years? (Where my moms at??) I would bet you're getting less than the recommended amount of sleep, or it's poor quality. (PS - drugs, alcohol, blue light too close to bedtime, temperature of your bedroom, stress levels, can all impact your quality of sleep, just to name a few. No wonder we've all learned to deal with chronic levels of fatigue this day and age!)
Inability to concentrate.
Headaches.
Oversensitive to physical pain.
Mood instability.
One night of poor sleep can put you in a mental state of being legally drunk, leading to poor reactions and decisions.
ONE NIGHT! Those of us caring for kids, or high needs adults, puppies, kitties, etc. are screwed!
Social. Social connections are a must in life. Loneliness leads to depression, loss of self-esteem, loss of identity, anxiety, and a slew of other issues. Studies have shown notable improvements in immunity, blood pressure, and recovery times from illnesses linked to having strong social connections. And it goes beyond our personal lives. Having strong social connections can increase productivity, job satisfaction and collaboration at work as well.
Stress. Not all stress is bad! There's good stress (eustress) and bad stress (distress). We all need the right type and amount of stress in our lives to help with resilience, motivation, and focus. But once you have too much stress or are only experiencing "bad" stress ("distress"), then things can quickly start going wrong. Having chronically high levels of stress leads to adverse impacts on our overall health, including:
Anxiety.
Depression.
Headaches
Memory and focus issues.
Heart disease.
Weight gain.
...and more.
What's your level of satisfaction in each of these dimensions? If your life doesn't feel happy or fulfilling, something is probably out of sync. If you want to change that, find the area(s) that need attention.
"If nothing changes, nothing changes. If you keep doing what you're doing, you're going to keep getting what you're getting." -Courtney Stevens
