Well-being is defined as a sense of health and vitality that arises from your thoughts, emotions, actions, and experiences. When we have well-being, we feel happy, healthy, socially connected, and purposeful most of the time.
What does well-being mean?
Well-being as a concept has been debated since the Third Century BC. The Philosopher Aristotle came up with the concept of Eudaimonia – the contented state of feeling healthy, happy, and prosperous. Even though happiness is an integral part of your personal wellness, it includes other things such as the fulfillment of long-term goals, your sense of purpose, and how in control you feel in life. An overall sense of wellness will not be achieved without having a balance in these key elements:
- Physical. This includes lifestyle choices that affect the functioning of our bodies. What we eat and how active we are will affect our physical well-being.
- Emotional or psychological. This is our ability to cope with everyday life and reflects how we think and feel about ourselves.
- Social. This is the extent that we feel a sense of belonging and social inclusion. The way we communicate with others, our relationships, values, beliefs, lifestyles and traditions are all important factors.
- Spiritual. This is the ability to experience and integrate meaning and purpose in life. Achieved through being connected to our inner self, to nature or even a greater power.
- Intellectual. It is important to gain and maintain intellectual wellness as it helps us to expand our knowledge and skills in order to live an enjoyable and successful life.
- Economic. Economic wellness, in short, is our ability to meet our basic needs and feel a sense of security.
Five ways of wellbeing
There are five steps we can all take to improve our mental wellbeing:
Connect: Connecting with the people around us is a great way to remind ourselves that we’re important and valued by others. Some ways you can stay connected are:
- Arrange to meet up with friends and family regularly.
- Reach out to someone you’ve lost touch with.
- Talk to someone on the phone or in-person instead of sending an email or text.
Be active: It’s been proven that regular physical activity is associated with combating depression and anxiety across all age groups. Activities like walking can encourage social interactions while you exercise. Here are a few suggestions of how you can get physical:
- Take the stairs instead of the lift.
- Walk to work - with a colleague if you want to ‘connect’ as well!
- Organize a work sporting activity, like tennis, walking, or something suited to you.
Take notice: Studies show that being aware of what is taking place in the present directly enhances your wewell-beingSavoring the moment can help reaffirm your priorities and help you appreciate what you have. Here are some ideas of how you can take time to enjoy the moment and the environment around you:
- Take up a mindful hobby like coloring, sewing, journaling, or scrapbooking.
- Write down three things that you’re grateful for in your life.
- Put aside time in the evenings to reflect on what went well that day.
Keep learning: An effective way to boost self-confidence and meet new people is through learning new things; it can help improve mental health wellbeing. Read on for some ideas of how you can keep learning:
- Try using a new recipe.
- Learn a new language or musical instrument.
- Research a topic you’ve always been interested in.
Give: In the world of well-being research, individuals who report a greater interest in helping others are more likely to rate themselves as happy. Here are some suggestions of how you can ‘give’ in order to boost self-esteem, happiness and well-being:
- Try doing one kind of thing every day, like making a colleague a cup of tea, or helping someone carry their bag.
- Recycle your waste and don’t use single-use plastics to give back to the environment.
Importance of health and wellness
The importance of health and wellness is to live a long, prosperous life. As humans, we all have something in common, but the two basic things we all share is that we all want to be happy and successful. Well, the one key to achieving that goal is "health" and "wellness". For some people, wellness means how fit and healthy you are. For others, it is a state of connectedness and appreciation. It is much more than just the absence of chronic illness and disease.
Experiencing great health and overall well-being is the main goal that almost everyone wants to achieve. Living a healthy life not only makes you feel good but it also rewards you with a high quality of life. Well-being is your approach to life to take a conscious decision to live your life to the fullest. Health and wellness is not something that you achieve and delete from the list, however, it is a life-long journey!
Maintaining excellent health, for example, through the use of mindfulness products such as spiritual stones or female wellness products from MY BODHI, has a positive impact on almost all areas of your life. Fitness may be achieved in a variety of ways that includes consuming healthy and lean meals, fresh fruits, and vegetables. Spending a little time practicing Yoga and Meditation (using the MY BODHIs Lovetuner – a breathing device for anxiety) also helps you become a healthier version of yourself.
