Overall wellness is dynamic and ever changing as life ebbs and flows. In general, wellbeing is the absence of negative emotions, satisfaction with life, fulfillment and positive functioning. According to the World Health Organization, the four dimensions of wellness – social, physical, spiritual and intellectual – are all intertwined and can affect each other. It is not simply an absence of illness. Integrating the four dimensions can help you develop a personalized plan to live life more completely.
Social wellness means maintaining and developing healthy relationships, caring about other people and socially interacting with other individuals. In today’s world, especially with the pandemic, this can be difficult to achieve. Studies show the lack of social connections have high risk factors and are comparable to smoking, obesity and high blood pressure.
Here are some suggestions to create social wellness in your life:
In the simplest terms, the physical dimension is caring for your body. A big part is regular exercise, but it also includes having a healthy diet and staying away from harmful habits like excessive alcohol and smoking. It also includes getting regular medical checkups and caring for minor illnesses. Being physically fit often leads to increased self esteem and enhanced enjoyment in life.
Below are some tips for improving your physical wellness:
Spiritual wellness is establishing peace and harmony in our lives with or without organized religion. It’s important to have a set of guiding beliefs and principles that can give direction to one’s life. We become spiritually well when we strive for consistency and live within those individual beliefs, which creates purpose, meaning and value.
Here are some tips to creating your own peace and harmony:
The intellectual dimension focuses on the mind and encourages creative, stimulating mental activities. Over the last several years, there has been a lot of conversation about our brains and how it needs to be exercised, just as much as our bodies. People who possess a high level of intellectual wellness have an active mind, continue to learn and improve their skills, and believe in the pursuit of lifelong learning.
Here are some ideas on how you can increase your intellectual wellness:
Overall wellness fuels the body, engages the mind, and nurtures the spirit. The benefits of overall well-being can have a huge impact on our lives:
