What Is Wellness?
Traditionally, wellness / good health has been viewed as freedom from disease; hence, if you were not sick, you were considered healthy. This model is changing. Most people agree that the absence of illness is one part of being healthy, although it does not indicate whether your in a state of well-being. Wellness is not the mere absence of disease. It is a proactive, preventive approach designed to achieve optimum levels of health, social and emotional functioning. Wellness can also be defined as an active process through which you become aware of and make choices toward a more successful existence.
Wellness is intimately associated with your lifestyle. You have a responsibility to provide for such health essentials as proper nutrition / diet, exercise / activity, personal growth, a personal detoxification program and the elimination or reduction of risk factors such as smoking, alcohol and drug abuse.
Wellness research shows that Americans who take care of themselves and manage their lifestyles are healthier, more productive, have fewer absences from work, and make fewer demands for medical services.
“75 percent of an individual’s health after age 40 is dependent upon what the person has done to his or her genes, not to the genes themselves.”
Jeffrey S. Bland, Ph.D. Genetic Nutritioneering, 1999 p.65
Since lifestyle has been found to be the single most important factor determining your pattern of general health, it is important that you be educated to “take charge” of your daily life and to set healthy lifestyle goals. The choices you make have a dominant influence on your health and wellness. The secret is not in medical care, but consistent self- care. While traditional medicine concentrates on alleviating or curing disease, the wellness approach encourages you to take personal responsibility for your well-being.
A wellness-oriented lifestyle encourages you to adopt habits and behaviors that promote better health and an improved quality of life. It also involves the recognition that you have physical, psychological, social, and spiritual needs, with each dimension being necessary for optimal levels of functioning.
Wellness is a positive approach to living – an approach that emphasizes the whole person. It is the integration of the body, mind, and spirit; and the appreciation that everything you do, think, feel and believe has an impact on your state of health. (What Is Wellness?)
At Whole Body Health, we live this concept every day. We are not focused on just making the sick better, we are focused on helping you achieve the wellness that you are meant to experience.