human body

Feb

2022

Are You Well? The Eight Dimensions of Wellness

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Do you feel healthy? Do you feel well enough to engage in your daily activities most of the time? Most of us gauge a healthy diet and exercising as a measure of our health, but this is only one aspect of being totally healthy. There are actually eight dimensions of wellness.

Are you fulfilling the 8 dimensions of wellness to live a balanced life?

Not being sick is also not a sign that you are healthy. Yes, you may be healthy physically but you may not be well. Actually, wellness is a holistic experience and total wellness can only be achieved if you are fulfilling the 8 dimensions of wellness in your regular activities.

Wellness is considered a necessary component to be able to achieve your full potential as a human being. It encompasses your lifestyle including your mental and spiritual well-being. Wellness is an experience where you, the individual, consciously make decisions that propel you to achieving a successful, balanced existence.

The 8 Dimensions of Wellness

To help you achieve and maximize your full human potential, you need to make daily goals that develop each of these dimensions.

PHYSICAL

Are you physically healthy? Do you look and feel healthy? Are you sick often or almost never? Physical wellness is being able to get through your daily activities without undue fatigue or physical stress. Physical health is one of the dimensions of wellness that is mostly neglected and taken for granted. It is important to take care of yourself physically because it is the foundation for our overall wellness.

Do you take care of yourself physically?

Remember that we only have one body and we are only able to interact with each other and our environment because of our body so we should make it a priority to take care of ourselves. We should ensure that we are physically healthy so we can perform to our best each time we are physically needed to do so.

FINANCIAL

Do you track your expenses? Are you following a budget? Do you have a savings account? Do you have an emergency fund? Are you investing your money? These are just some of the things that we need to have in our financial life. Without these things in place, we won’t be able to manage our finances effectively.

Are you satisfied about your current financial situation or do you wish you could improve it?

There are many ways to start learning about finances so you can improve your skills in handling your money. There is no quick-rich magic formula to become instantly rich. The best way to improve your financial situation is to learn more about your money personality, improve your financial literacy, pick one financial area that you are comfortable learning and doing and then expand from there.

Are you friendly and outgoing? Are you aloof and/or prefer to be alone? Do you have one constant set of friends or do you have multiple sets of friends? Social wellness is having and maintaining positive connections with friends, family, colleagues and others. It means that you have people around you who you can feel safe with and are comfortable enough to be with in various situations.

Do you make time to go out with your friends and family?

Having many friends does not mean that you are healthy. You may be surrounded by friends and still feel alone and lonely if you don’t have good relationships with most of them. It is the quality and value of the interactions that you have with them that enables you to achieve social wellness. Constant communication is also a key factor in achieving social wellness.

SPIRITUAL

Do you feel that you are being guided to the right opportunities and decisions? Do you believe that you are being directed towards your goal or that you are fulfilling your purpose in life? How about, do you feel connected with and do you empathize with the people and events around you? Spirituality is different from religion. Two people can be from different religions but share similar spiritual practices and beliefs.

Can you calm down your worries and feel reassured that everything will work out for the best?

Finding your purpose in life and living it is the ultimate goal of each individual. Most of us believe that when we find our purpose and start living it, then we will find happiness. In fact, if we strive to find happiness in our lives, then it will become easier for us to find what truly makes us happy which is what fulfilling our life purpose should feel like. Being spiritually well involves a combination of believing in yourself as well as faith that the Universe has our back.

EMOTIONAL

Are you happy or sad? Are you angry or constantly cheerful or feeling upset? Emotional wellness refers to how you feel inside. When you feel constantly anxious, stressed and unhappy, this will eventually take a major toll in your overall health and wellness. Negative thoughts and feelings are a sign of poor health. There are many ways to alleviate poor emotional health and each person must find a way that is tailored to their specific personalities, needs and circumstances.

Are you sad or happy? How you feel greatly affects your health.

Being well emotionally means that you are able to control or regulate your emotions as necessary and that you are also able to take the necessary steps to change your emotions so you feel better about yourself and/or a negative situation. The main goal is to attain emotional happiness and fulfillment.

INTELLECTUAL

Does your job provide you with adequate intellectual challenges? Intellectual wellness means that you experience various types of intellectual stimulation through various means and different areas in your life. Constant learning not only staves off boredom; it also opens up new opportunities to develop relationships with new people, gain new knowledge, skills and new experiences.

Do you engage in activities that stimulate you intellectually?

Try enrolling in a course, develop a reading habit or listen to audiobooks, attend seminars and conferences about a topic you are interested in or find a hobby that you want to pursue. Develop a learning habit so that you constantly stimulate your intellect and mental skills and maintain your intellectual health. This also allows you to relate to much younger people than you since they are also learning new things in life.

ENVIRONMENTAL

Do you feel safe at home? How about in your community as a whole? Are you able to keep your home clutter-free? Are you disposing your trash properly? Environmental wellness is having a pleasant and stimulating environment that supports your overall well-being. You should have many safe spaces in your environment.

Does your environment allow you to feel safe enough to do the things you want and need to do?

Having the right environment is a big factor in achieving your goals in life. This can be as basic as having a dedicated work space to improve your focus and productivity. This also includes cleaning your living space as well as clearing the energy in these spaces. It also means how safe you feel in your community when you are walking alone late at night. Your environment also includes the people you interact with, your family, friends, as well as your colleagues at work and the office culture.

OCCUPATIONAL

Do you feel excited to go to work? Are you doing what you love? Your job contributes a lot to your financial state. If you are not well in this area, then it will definitely affect your performance in the other dimensions of wellness. We know that money can’t buy love or happiness but it does allow us to engage in experiences that can make us happy and acquire the things we like.

Do you love your job or are you constantly thinking of quitting?

We spend a huge amount of time at our jobs and if we are constantly stressed by it, then it will have a negative impact on our overall health. Also, having anxieties about your financial situation can cause a lot of stress. Make sure you spend some time to think about your job and your finances and what your real situation is. It helps to list down the pros and cons and then make a plan on how you can improve the situation and alleviate your issues.

Your State of Wellness

So are you well? If you are not paying attention to any of these dimensions of wellness, then you have not truly achieved overall wellness. Working on each aspect of wellness means that you plan for activities that help you fulfill each dimension. Make sure you review often so you are also able to monitor your progress towards your goal of achieving overall wellness.

If you are not sure which dimension you should work on first, then find time to look inward and talk to yourself. Spend more time with nature and learn to be comfortable with yourself. Get to know yourself better so you can have a clearer picture of what your qualities and values are and why they are important to you. This is the starting point for you to redesign your life to achieve overall wellness in all eight dimensions.

There are many ways to do this. You can start practicing meditation and engaging in gentle exercise that require focus such as tai chi and yoga. The simple act of keeping your thoughts in a diary and writing down your feelings on paper also helps. Expressing your emotions thru drawing and painting or even thru needle work or flower arrangement area also great ways to help you get to know yourself better.

The important thing is to carve out some “me time” for yourself during your day to strengthen your awareness of self. You can gain a deeper connection to your values and beliefs and get a clearer understanding of why you choose to live the way you live and how you can change it for the better.

Updated. First published on 2020.01.20.
Feature Image: Original Photo by Yayan Sopian on Unsplash.

Jul

2020

The Mind-Body Connection

Reading Time: 2 minutes

You felt sick. You went to the doctor and for some reason, your medical results indicate that everything is perfectly normal. And the doctor’s diagnosis is stress. To be well again, you just need to learn how to manage stress. Did this thing ever happen to you? Well, this is because stress, health and your overall wellness are all connected. This is what you call the mind-body connection.

Mind-Body Connection

Our thoughts and emotions greatly influenced our health. Our whole body, each part, every organ and its functions, all system and its processes are controlled by neurotransmitters coming from the brain. Thus, everything that is on our mind directly influences our body because our body only interprets and reacts to messages coming from the brain. In short, our intellectual and emotional health directly influence our physical health.

The mind body connection tells us that the physical state of our body is a direct result of our attitudes, beliefs, feelings, thoughts and mindsets. Because of this connection, what we do with our body such as the food that we eat, the numbers of hours we sleep and exercise, the water that we drink even our posture also influences our mental well-being.

To put this into perspective, take the mind and the body as one entity rather than two different parts. What you do with one will influence the other and vice versa.

Mind-Body Therapies

Mind body therapies are activities or practices that promote healing, induce relaxation, enhance positivity and improves overall health and general well being. These activities include the following.

Acupunture
Aromatherapy
Creative Arts (art, music and dance)
Group Support
Hypnosis
Imagery
Massage
Meditation
Prayer
Qigong
Relaxation
Tai chi
Yoga

The mind and the body are like parallel universes. Anything that happens in the mental universe must leave tracks in the physical one.
– Deepak Chopra

So, always remember to think positive thoughts!

Feature Image from Okan Caliskan from Pixabay Images

Feb

2020

Basic Health Rule to Combat Viruses

Reading Time: 3 minutes

As the number of persons infected and the death toll from the coronavirus continues to climb, the global community is now becoming more and more worried. As the virus spreads, the question in everyone’s mind is how to protect one’s self? The only way to protect one’s self is to follow the basic health rule to combat viruses, bacterias and other diseases.

The World Health Organization already issued standard precautions that must be done. These include practicing basic hygiene such regular hand washing, refraining from touching the face and avoiding contact with people who are infected. Following these guidelines would help prevent the spread of infection.

Immune System

Setting the coronavirus aside, did you know that the human body is exposed to millions of viruses and bacteria every single day? We don’t get sick because our immune system is doing a remarkable job defending our body from harmful microorganisms. Your immune system is your body’s defense against invaders. Check out the video for more information about how the immune system works.

Video Credit: Science ABC

The human body is guarded by a group of complex network of cells collectively known as the immune system whose main task is to defend the body against intruders such as viruses and bacteria. As long as they are doing their job, we will be free from illnesses and diseases.

Here is an illustration of how the immune system worked on the novel coronavirus outbreak:

Not all people who got exposed with infected persons get sick
There are many cases of people who got infected that recovered from the virus despite the fact that there is no identified treatment yet
The 1-2% that succumbed to the virus had underlying medical conditions. This means that they immune system are already weak in the first place

The point is there is a way to protect yourself from the COVID-19. Instead of creating unnecessary panic, focus on keeping yourself healthy by boosting your immune system. That is the basic rule of health.

The basic rule of health is to boost your immune system.

Help your immune system do its job by doing these simple things that can do wonders to your health:

1. Get enough sleep

Sleep is a vital factor in helping your immune system stay strong. Unfortunately, it is often neglected by many. The body repairs cells and tissues while we sleep. Without enough sleep, the body will have a hard time fighting infections. Aside form physical health, sleep is also a big contributing factor to our mental health. Sleep improves your memory and problem-solving skills. It keeps you alert and motivated. It also prevents depression. Sleep requirement varies per age group. Check the National Sleep Foundation to determine how much sleep do you need per day.

2. Drink plenty of water

About 60% of our body is made up of water. Without water, every cell in our body will cease to function. Although the amount of water that you need to drink varies per individual depending on certain factors such as lifestyle and the weather; on average, a person needs to drink at least eight 8 oz. glasses of water a day.

Health Benefits:

aids in digestion
boosts energy
fights off illness
flushes out toxins
helps remove wastes
improves brain function and blood circulation
maintains moisture in body tissues
prevents dehydration
promotes weight loss
protects spinal cord and joints
removes bad breath
regulates body temperature
slows down aging

3. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables

Fruits and vegetables are an important part of a healthy diet. Fruits and vegetables are rich with vitamins and minerals that the body need to stay healthy. They also contain fiber which helps the body absorb vital nutrients and promotes regular bowel movements. They help you maintain a healthy weight. Fruits and vegetables also lower cholesterol and blood pressure. And most importantly, a healthy diet protects you from diseases. You need to feed your immune system healthy food for them to do their job properly.

4. Exercise Regularly

You want to feel better, livelier and more energetic? Then, exercise! Exercise increases your energy levels. It helps maintain your weight and helps prevent diseases. It also keeps your brain healthy and also reduce negative feelings like depression, stress and anxiety.

5. Stop smoking

Smoking harms your immune system. It weakens your immune response especially in your respiratory health thus increasing your risk in developing respiratory illnesses. Do take note that coronavirus is a respiratory virus that attacks the lower respiratory tract. The last thing that you want right now is to make yourself susceptible to the virus.

In addition, smoking also damages your antibodies in the bloodstream. This will result to more severe infections. Any wounds and illnesses will take longer to heal because of the damage.

6. Take lots of Vitamin C

Vitamin C helps support your immune system. It is essential not only for growth but also in healing wounds and repairing cells in the body. Unfortunately, the body does not make its own Vitamin C so you can only get it from your food intake. Eat foods that are rich in Vitamin C such as oranges, cantaloupe, papaya, pineapple, strawberries and kiwi. You can also found it in vegetables such as broccoli, spinach, cauliflower and beans. You can also take Vitamin C supplements.

Stay healthy everyone!

Feature Image by Posted by A.L. Jonas in Physical, 1 comment