What is included in the concept of wellness

Wellness is a holistic and multidimensional concept that encompasses several key elements including physical wellness, emotional wellness, intellectual wellness, social wellness, spiritual wellness, occupational wellness, environmental wellness and financial wellness. All of these areas are connected, and taking care of each one is important for a balanced, healthy life.

• Physical Wellness: This means keeping your body healthy with regular exercise, good nutrition, enough sleep, and preventive care. It includes things like heart health, strength, flexibility, and staying free from chronic diseases.
• Emotional Wellness: This is about understanding and managing your feelings, handling stress well, and keeping a positive attitude. Emotional strength and coping with challenges are key parts of this.
•  Intellectual Wellness: This involves keeping your mind active through learning, creativity, and developing new skills. It includes problem-solving, critical thinking, and lifelong learning.
•  Social Wellness: This focuses on building strong relationships and being part of a community. It’s important for emotional support and feeling connected to others.
• Spiritual Wellness: This is about finding purpose and meaning in life, which can come from personal beliefs, values, or religious practices. It helps foster a sense of connection to something bigger than oneself.
•  Occupational Wellness: This means finding satisfaction in your work and maintaining a good work-life balance. It also involves career growth and job happiness.
•  Environmental Wellness: This focuses on living in a healthy, safe, and sustainable environment, and taking care of the world around you.
• Financial Wellness: This involves managing money wisely, planning for the future, and feeling financially secure

There are different risk factors for low wellness

• Age: Older adults are more likely to have lower wellness due to aging, less physical activity, multiple health problems, and mental health issues like depression and anxiety. For example, a study found that adults 65 and older with depression and anxiety had much lower levels of wellness.  Frailty, which is common in older adults, is linked to things like low physical activity, taking many medications, and chronic diseases.
• Gender: Women often report lower wellness than men. Studies show that lower levels of wellness  was more common in women, especially those living alone. Women are also more likely to feel burned out and emotionally exhausted, especially if they have long-term health problems. Factors like obesity and family history of diabetes and heart disease also contribute to lower wellness.
• Medical Disorders: Chronic illnesses have a big impact on wellness. Conditions like diabetes, arthritis, asthma, heart disease, and lung problems are linked to lower wellness and higher stress levels. Depression and anxiety are especially harmful and can significantly reduce wellness. In older adults, frailty is made worse by health issues like memory problems, poor sleep, and a history of falls.
• Socioeconomic Status (SES): People with lower income or education levels often have lower wellness. This is because they may have less access to healthcare, healthy food, and safe living conditions.
• Lifestyle Factors: Bad habits like smoking, not eating enough fruits, not exercising, and drinking too much alcohol are major risks to wellness. These behaviors can lead to chronic diseases and mental health problems, which lower overall wellness.
•  Social Determinants of Health (SDH): Social isolation, lack of support, and living alone hurt wellness, especially for older adults. These issues can make mental health problems worse. Loneliness occurs when there is a discrepancy between actual and desired social relationships. Loneliness has been declared a health crisis by the surgeon general.
• Psychological Distress: Overwhelming stress, and poorly controlled anxiety and depression are big risks for low wellness. They can lead to unhealthy habits and make existing health problems worse.
• Environmental Factors: Living in polluted areas or places without green spaces can reduce wellness. Long-term exposure to bad environmental conditions can cause inflammation and chronic diseases.
• Occupational Factors: Being unhappy with your job, lack of meaning at work, having a poor work-life balance, and dealing with excessive stress at work can harm both physical and mental health, leading to burnout.
• Family History: If chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, or mental health problems run in your family, you are at a higher risk of having low wellness. This is due to both genetics and shared lifestyle factors.