What is Wellness?

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According to World Health Organization (WHO) – Wellness is the optimal state of health of individuals and groups. There are two focal concerns:

The realization of the fullest potential of an individual physically, psychologically, socially, spiritually and economically.
The fulfilment of one’s role expectations in the family, community, place of worship, workplace and other settings.

Other definition given by National Institute of Wellness says – Wellness is an active process of becoming aware and making choices towards a more successful existence.

Concept of wellness
Wellness is holistic concept of health. It considers a person as a whole and it is not only about low blood pressure or stress or obesity, etc. Wellness is more than having a good physical health – wellness is not just about staying away from illness.

To understand wellness, you need to remember that being healthy is not same as wellness; being healthy is just a part of wellness. Wellness is associated with your overall lifestyle.

Wellness = good quality of life + overall well-being

Well-being = sound physical health and positive psychological attributes
Quality of life = individual’s perception of their position in life in relation to the value systems they live in, goals, expectations, standards and concerns.

In simpler words, wellness = health + happiness

As already said, wellness considers a person as a whole. It has 4 major components – mind, body, spirit and environment. It takes in to account both the internal and external environment of a person.

Some factors that influence wellness are culture, community, family, physical environment, finance and social life.

To build a wellness mind-set, you need to understand concepts like health practices, environment, family, destiny, spirituality, work, money and security, health services, social support and leisure. There are few specific characters that define a wellness mind-set. A wellness mind-set includes –

Ability to live fully and understand that everything we do, feel, think and believe has a direct impact on the person as a whole
Ability to balance constantly changing nature of life
Having self-esteem, self-control, self-determination and sense of direction
Taking personal responsibility of his own decisions
Being self-aware of the causes and consequences of his behaviour and that his decisions are responsible for his health and happiness
Having positive perspectives and values to lead a life, besides having strong sense of purpose and conscious
Giving equal attention to every dimension of wellness – spiritual, social, physical, intellectual, occupational and emotional
Being proactive and optimistic about attaining optimal levels of healthy and fully satisfied life

A wellness mind-set/lifestyle leads to higher levels of well-being and life satisfaction.

Having understood the concept of wellness, it is now necessary to make yourself aware of the different dimensions of wellness, how to practice wellness and most importantly, why should you adopt a wellness lifestyle.