So What Exactly is Wellness? (The Guardian : 04/07/2017)
We have been receiving several inquires for conducting Employee Wellness Seminars and most of them request “can you talk about healthy food choices”? Analyzing these requests further revealed that wellness is associated with what we eat – which is a critical, but a miniscule component of the total wellness equation. Wellness is much more than merely physical health, exercise or nutrition. It is the full integration of states of physical, mental and spiritual wellness that includes social, emotional, spiritual, environmental, occupational, intellectual and physical wellness. University of California defines how each of these seven dimensions act and interact in a way that contributes to our own quality of life.
- Social Wellness – is the ability to relate and connect with other people in our world. Our ability to establish positive relationships with family, friends and co-workers contributes to our Social Wellness.
- 2Emotional Wellness – is the ability to understand ourselves and cope with challenges life can bring. The ability to acknowledge and share feelings of anger, fear, sadness or stress; hope, love, joy and happiness and a productive manner contributes to our Emotional Wellness
- Spiritual Wellness – is the ability to establish peace and harmony in our lives. The ability to develop congruency between our values and actions and to realize a common purpose contributes to our Spiritual Wellness.
- Environmental Wellness – is the ability to recognize our own responsibility for quality of the air, the water and the land that surrounds us. The ability to make a positive impact on the quality of our environment, be it our homes, our workplaces, our communities or our planet contributes to our Environment Wellness
- Occupational Wellness – is the ability to get personal fulfillment from our jobs or our chosen career fields while still maintaining balance in our lives. Our desire to contribute in our careers to make a positive impact on the organizations we work in and to society as a whole leads to Occupational Wellness
- Intellectual Wellness – is the ability to open our minds to new ideas and experiences that can be applied to personal decisions, group interaction and community betterment. The desire to learn new concepts, improve skills and seek challenges in pursuit of lifelong learning contributes to our Intellectual Wellness
- Physical Wellness – is the ability to maintain a healthy quality of life that allows us to get through our daily activities without undue fatigue or physical stress. The ability to recognize that our behaviors have a significant impact on our wellness and adopting healthful habits (routine check ups, a balanced diet, exercise, etc.) while avoiding destructive habits (tobacco, drugs, alcohol, etc) will lead to optimal Physical Wellness
The National Wellness Institute defines Wellness as “an active process through which people become aware of, and make choices towards a more successful existence.”
Since lifestyle and choices we make are the most important factor in determining health, awareness and education is important to have healthy lifestyle-related goals. The lifestyle choices your employees make will have a huge influence on their health and wellness. The secret is not in healthcare, but in healthy and consistent self-care. Medicine is focused on alleviating disease, but wellness encourages individuals to take responsibility for their own personal well-being.
Research studies related to wellness indicate that individuals who take good care of themselves, make healthy lifestyle choices are healthier, happier, more productive, miss work less and have lower healthcare costs.
Wellness is much more than simple absence of illness and / or disease. Wellness is a preventive approach that is designed to provide optimum levels of health, emotional and social functioning and emphasizes the whole individual.
Reply back to bhakti@impactafya.com or call +255 754 694 643 with your feedback. We welcome your suggestions for corporate wellness tips you’d like to see covered in our future columns.
Bhakti Shah, MPH is the Founder and Managing Director of ImpactAfya Ltd, collaborating with Workplace Options and Mayo Clinic, USA to provide Corporate Wellness and EAP Solutions in East Africa. Bhakti is also the Advisor for the Africa Business Portal and the Past President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Tanzania.
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