Hello! Welcome to Reignite Health, Bokz the Bio here ready and happy to educate you more on health so you can reignite your health.
Today’s topic will be looking more into Health and Wellness and all its Components. I have made a series on YouTube about it. Copy the link to be directed to the videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCde0t8m_epqrl7SbSsuT0VV65yyCz9pM
So, what is health and wellness?
The WHO defined Health as “the complete state of physical, mental and social wellbeing, and NOT merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” In other words, living the best possible quality of life with/out a chronic disease diagnosis (https://www.who.int/about/governance/constitution).
Now wellness is the actual process of increasing your quality of life to improve your health status. So, everything you do to live a healthy lifestyle to ensure better physical, mental, and social wellbeing for yourself. Basically, you cannot reach a complete state of health without practicing wellness.
Wellness can be broken down into a few components:
• Physical: what you do to increase your physical wellbeing, such as exercise
• Intellectual: learning new things, problem solving, etc.
• Emotional/Mental: how you act when you are told information, understanding feelings of others etc.
• Spiritual: searing for your purpose in life, developing your beliefs and values, etc.
• Social: interpersonal relationships that you make and keep, that are healthy.
• Environmental: how you keep your surroundings clean to promote health
This is important to know because optimal health DOES NOT only consist of increasing your physical wellbeing. It is about seeing yourself as a whole: a body, and mind and a soul. Also, your social environment is important in enhancing your health. So, it is good and healthy to have people support your journey, but also very important to support other people on their journey.
What is meant by physical wellbeing?
Physical wellbeing is being strong enough to do activities of daily living without getting tired or injured. Activities of daily living are things that you do throughout the day survive. These include walking, sitting down and standing, picking things off the floor, cleaning your home, getting out of bed, cooking, and so on.
It also includes doing things to avoid preventable diseases such as Type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, obesity, some heart diseases, stroke. These diseases are generally caused by our lifestyle behaviours.
Now, please note that sometimes is it not easy to avoid injury or disease because our genetics/family history and age do make us more susceptible to some diseases. However, being active in your health can help lessen the effect of the disease or prevent you from being diagnosed with it for a long time or at all. If you have already contracted a lifestyle disease, living a great quality of life by improving your physical wellbeing is still possible.
Physical wellness has to do with activities you do to make your body and all its organs to function efficiently. These activities include eating nutritious foods, exercising, getting a good night’s rest, limiting alcohol consumption, quitting smoking, practicing safe sex, minimizing stress levels, and preventing colds and flu.
- Nutritious foods = getting a good balance of carbohydrates, protein, fats etc.
- Exercising = trying to do physical tasks for at least 30 minutes each day
- Sleep = trying to get 7-9 hours of restful and uninterrupted sleep
- Alcohol = drinking no more than 1 unit of alcohol for women and 2 units for men at a time
- Smoking = aiming to not smoke anything esp. substances that have tobacco in them
- Sexual health = using condoms to prevent you from contracting sexually transmitted infections which can affect your physical health
- Stress = taking breaks throughout the day, understanding what makes you stressed and working to reduce stress. Deep breathing and walking out in nature really help with this
- Colds and flu = keeping your immune system strong and avoiding crowds
What is meant by mental wellbeing
Mental wellbeing has to do with our thoughts, feelings, and relationships. Our thoughts, or psyche, has to do with all the good and bad things/situations that we think about daily; how we view ourselves or how we think others view us; that internal voice that says you can or cannot do it. And our feelings, or emotions, has to do with our moods and how we react to what people say or do. And lastly our relationships, or social interactions, has to do with the people who we surround ourselves with which may have a positive or negative influence on our wellbeing.
So mental wellness is everything you actively do to increase your mental wellbeing.
This means:
- connecting with people that you love daily
- getting some physical activity done daily
- learning new skills and finding new hobbies
- partake in acts of service and give to others
- and practice mindfulness
What is meant by social wellbeing
Social wellbeing is your ability to make and keep good, positive, and significant relationships with people within your different small communities, such as at work/school, your neighborhood, your family, etc. It also has to do with how we act in these relationships and society, being able to communicate effectively and appropriately with others, supporting others when we can, and being at peace with one another in this world.
So social wellness is things that you do to actively increase your social wellbeing. Ways to increase your social wellbeing is like increasing your mental wellbeing.
These include:
- connecting with people that you love daily
- getting some physical activity done daily
- learning new skills and finding new hobbies
- partake in acts of service and give to others
The difference is that it must do more with knowing yourself in forming these relationships. Yes, connecting with others does has a positive impact on your social health, but knowing whether the relationship is good for you will determine if the impact will be good for your mental health.
Now social, physical, and mental wellbeing do overlap. This means each one component affects the other. To reach a state of complete health, you must develop and maintain each component.
How a Biokineticist help you improve your health and wellness?
Sometimes the journey to complete health and wellness is challenging. A Biokineticist can help you know what functional activities you may struggle with and help you improve them. Contact me to book your first appointment with us.
Looking For A Biokinticist In Fourways?
Book an assessment with Bokamoso Mthimkulu Biokineticist at Reignite Health and discover how exercise can help reduce the effects of chronic inflammation, improve your mobility, and support a healthier, more active life.
Wishing you a lovely week ahead. Chat soon.
Bokz the Bio
Everybody has the ability to take control of their own health
Email: bmbio@reignitehealth.co.za