Health is not just the physical health, there is more...

 

Dimensions of Wellness

You have often heard people say, “Health is Wealth!” but which kind of health are most of them talking about? Health is a holistic term that brings together several dimensions as defined below.

Wellness is a lifestyle that involves taking care of one’s physical, mental, and spiritual health. It is a process that engages the mind, nurtures the spirit, and fuels an individual’s body. To ensure that an individual lives a healthy life, several dimensions of wellness need to be put into consideration, they include the physical, intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual, occupational, financial, and environmental. Therefore, health is not just the physical health we have inscribed in our minds, there is more to it. These different dimensions are interdependent and neglect to any will negatively affect others. 

Physical dimension

The first dimension is the physical dimension which entails caring for the body. To improve this wellness, one needs to embrace the following steps:

  1. Exercise at least three times per week, each session should be between 20-30 minutes.
  2. Walk whenever you can, for example, use stairs instead of an elevator
  3. Develop a culture of regular and adequate sleep.
  4. Always listen to your body and learn to identify early symptoms of illness
  5. Adopt a balanced diet, minimize sugar, salt, fat, and alcohol consumption
  6. Do not consume tobacco and other illicit drugs or substances.

Intellectual dimension

 The intellectual dimension involves expanding knowledge, skills and trying to broaden one’s potentials so that one can help others. To increase your intellectual wellness:

  1. Read for fun – this helps your mind to stretch by thinking about the things you do not normally think about
  2. Expose your mind to opposing ideas, for example, when debating with a friend choose a viewpoint that is opposite the one you hold.
  3. Always study and learn new things
  4. Learn a foreign language
  5. Play a game, play a musical instrument
  6. Do crossword or Sudoku puzzles.

Emotional dimension

The other most important dimension is the emotional dimension and it involves understanding own feelings as well as the feelings of others as this helps one to manage emotions constructively and be positive towards life. There are many ways to improve your emotional health:

  1. Manage stress
  2. Think before you act
  3. Connect with others
  4. Be aware of your reactions and emotions
  5. Express your feelings in an appropriate way
  6. Stay positive
  7. Find purpose and meaning

Other dimensions

Other dimensions are social and spiritual, social involves being intimate with others and hence able to contribute to the community while spiritual focuses on finding a purpose in life. Further, there are also vocational, financial, and environmental dimensions. Vocational is exploiting one’s skills and talent for purposes of personal gratification; financial entails savings, investments, and making informed financial decisions while the environmental dimension is making a deliberate commitment towards a healthy community.

NB: All pictures are credited to internet sources

Sources

1.     https://familydoctor.org/mental-health-keeping-your-emotional-health/

2.     https://news.illinoisstate.edu/2014/03/seven-simple-steps-increase-intellectual-wellness/

3.     https://www.friendshiphaven.org/keeping-up-with-the-wellness-dimensions-physical-wellness/#:~:text=The%20physical%20dimension%20of%20wellness,drugs%20and%20excessive%20alcohol%20consumption.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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