The word 'Wellness' seems to have a very fuzzy meaning. I'm sure people would define the word in many different ways, and I doubt whether it could possibly have a standard dictionary meaning.
So what are some possible understandings of Wellness? For a start, people would associate this with being healthy, being 'well', although even this much more basic word is not possible to define precisely. What is 'being well' for me is probably very different from 'being well' for you, as this will depend on many factors such as general living conditions, age, recent illnesses, attitude, and so on.
And how can we expect to be able to change, and hopefully improve, our Wellness? Is it just a matter of eating a healthier diet so that we are able to avoid becoming overweight and have a good energy level? Or is it much more than this being physically active and getting plenty of exercise? Surely diet and exercise are the most significant aspects of Wellness?
Maybe, but I suggest that there is much more to Wellness, if we think about this a bit more deeply. For example, we can be very well physically, but nevertheless tend to suffer from depression, stress, lack of motivation etc. In this case, to improve our wellness we need somehow to improve out psychological state. You might be able to do fifty press-ups a day, and run for an hour, but still be miserable.
And we can consider Wellness with a still wider range of potential meanings. We might be reasonably happy most of the time, but nevertheless be frustrated by various aches and pains which are frustrating and which we realise are probably going to get worse with time. Or we might eat healthy meals, and get plenty of exercise, but find it difficult to get sufficient good sleep at night which often makes us lethargic the following day.
The more you think about it, wellness has a wide and imprecise range of understandings. What is clear is that we need to consider the bigger picture and recognise that attaining and maintaining a satisfactory degree of wellness might be more difficult, and require more conscious deliberate effort, than we had initially assumed.
What is your understanding of wellness? How can your typical state of living be improved so that you feel more well, most of the time? What is currently satisfactory, and what needs some attention? Or should we just be content with things as they are, and not worry unnecessarily?
So what are some possible understandings of Wellness? For a start, people would associate this with being healthy, being 'well', although even this much more basic word is not possible to define precisely. What is 'being well' for me is probably very different from 'being well' for you, as this will depend on many factors such as general living conditions, age, recent illnesses, attitude, and so on.
And how can we expect to be able to change, and hopefully improve, our Wellness? Is it just a matter of eating a healthier diet so that we are able to avoid becoming overweight and have a good energy level? Or is it much more than this being physically active and getting plenty of exercise? Surely diet and exercise are the most significant aspects of Wellness?
Maybe, but I suggest that there is much more to Wellness, if we think about this a bit more deeply. For example, we can be very well physically, but nevertheless tend to suffer from depression, stress, lack of motivation etc. In this case, to improve our wellness we need somehow to improve out psychological state. You might be able to do fifty press-ups a day, and run for an hour, but still be miserable.
And we can consider Wellness with a still wider range of potential meanings. We might be reasonably happy most of the time, but nevertheless be frustrated by various aches and pains which are frustrating and which we realise are probably going to get worse with time. Or we might eat healthy meals, and get plenty of exercise, but find it difficult to get sufficient good sleep at night which often makes us lethargic the following day.
The more you think about it, wellness has a wide and imprecise range of understandings. What is clear is that we need to consider the bigger picture and recognise that attaining and maintaining a satisfactory degree of wellness might be more difficult, and require more conscious deliberate effort, than we had initially assumed.
What is your understanding of wellness? How can your typical state of living be improved so that you feel more well, most of the time? What is currently satisfactory, and what needs some attention? Or should we just be content with things as they are, and not worry unnecessarily?
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