The Dimensions of Well being

Wellness and Health

A healthy balance of the mind, body and spirit result in an overall well being and not just the general condition of a person who is free from illness, injury and pain. Wellness is a state of optimal well being oriented towards maximizing a person’s potential. It is the life long process of working towards enhancing one’s physical, intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual and environmental well-being. These six dimensions highlight the most important components of wellness.

The physical dimension of well being is important to maintain one’s physical health in order to lead an enhanced life. It includes characteristics of body size, sensory acuity, shape, and body function, susceptibility to diseases and disorders and recuperative ability. Physical health is important to strive for a positive lifestyle behavior and for one to take personal responsibility to take care of one’s physical health. This requires one to get regular health checkups and being consistent with self-exams. For women, it is mandatory to get regular gynecological exams. Immunizations, regular exercises and balanced meals, dental and eye exams are all important to manage one’s physical state of health. One can also limit alcohol and tobacco and practice healthy methods of yoga, meditation and massages to ease tired and worked up muscles.

The intellectual dimension of well being refers to one’s ability to learn, to grow from experience and intellectual capacities. Decision making and problem solving is a vital component of one’s health. It is thus important to find outlets that are intellectually stimulating for a person to set and meet realistic goals, may it be academically, personally or professionally. Various opportunities should be grabbed to enjoy different experiences and also on the lighter side one should decide on things that help one relax and practice deep breathing to help the mind-body connection. It isn’t wrong to spoil oneself after a goal is completed.

Emotional dimension refers to the feeling component which expresses emotions in a healthy and effective manner and includes feelings of self-esteem, self-confidence, trust, love, self-efficacy and other emotional responses. It aims to recognize when emotions affects one’s body and the person’s need to express feelings, thoughts and opinions. Using humor to defuse negative emotions is one of the ways to tackle emotional distress and sustain a healthy mood. Writing can be used as way to relieve stress and being optimistic and believing in oneself and one’s abilities contribute to a healthy emotional aspect of living.

The social dimension of well being relates to the ability of an individual to have satisfying inter-personal relationships and be able to appreciate and respect differences with others. It is the ability to interact with others and adapt to social situations and day to day behaviors. It constitutes developing mutual social relationships and being able to interact with others in a positive manner. It is important to comfortably adapt to social settings and sticking to values and believes without being persuaded by peer pressure. It is vital to join social networks to interact with people with similar interests.

The spiritual dimension aims to seek meaning and purpose in human existence. An individually who is spiritually well seeks to explore and develop personal belief systems and establish values to live a life which is consistent with those values and beliefs. It seeks to enable an individual to create a sense of inner peace in order to function effectively. The spiritual realm of an individual helps one to nourish oneself through morals, personal beliefs and also religion. It is important to feel connected with oneself and others and to find a purpose in life and the meaning of everyday things one does. Developing a philosophy of life that one wants to live life will contribute to a peaceful and healthy existence.

Environmental well being refers to the appreciation for the external environment and the world that we live in and nourishes an individual’s role in preserving and improving one’s environment conditions for a standard life. It enables one to respect the environment and help one to have a place to relax, rejuvenate and feel comfortable. It gives on the strength to help contribute to reduce noise and pollution and keep one and others safe.