The term wellness can refer to a variety of conditions within the body. While many people associate their wellness to their physical health it can also be used to describe your environmental, mental, intellectual, occupational, emotional or spiritual well-being. These different dimensions will interact together to help determine your full quality of life.

Dimensions of Health

1. Physical

Physical wellness can refer to any of the aspects that are needed to keep your body in top condition. Consuming a healthy diet and getting an adequate amount of exercise to build cardiovascular health, endurance or flexibility are essential to this goal.

You are responsible for your health care which means treating minor conditions and consulting a professional to manage more serious conditions. On the path to good physical health, you should

• Monitor warning signs so you understand when your body is not getting the nutrition it needs or establishing an unhealthy state.
• Keep on top of your physical health which helps to improve determination, self-control and self-esteem.
• Get a sufficient amount of sleep, avoid harmful substances like tobacco products, and get annual physical exams.
• Know the ideal health numbers for conditions such as weight, cholesterol, blood pressure or blood sugar and develop a regular exercise routine.

2. Intellectual

Finding a way to engage in creative and stimulating activities that allow you to share your gifts and expand your knowledge is essential to your overall health.

Those that have high intellectual wellness

• Engage in the exploration and their understanding of new ideas.
• Cherish stimulation and mental growth.
• Get involved in cultural and intellectual activities.

This will allow you to find a path to explore your creativity, problem solving skills and ways to learn more about your personal interests and the world around you. Keeping up with current events and finding new ideas to strike your intellectual curiosity will allow you to continue to grow over time.

3. Emotional

This is one of the important dimensions of health. Emotional wellness focuses on ensuring that you are attentive to your feelings, thoughts and behavior. This includes both positive and negative reactions, though overall you should

• Seek an optimistic approach to life, enjoying life in spite of occasional disappointment.
• Adjust to change and express your emotions appropriately.
• Express your feelings freely while managing your feelings, allowing yourself to cope with stress in a way that is healthy.

Those working toward a path of emotional wellness will work to

• Keep a positive attitude.
• Learn to manage their conditions.
• Maintain a balance in life by setting their priorities.
• Seek support for expressing their emotions appropriately.
• Remain aware of their thoughts and feelings.

4. Spiritual

Spiritual wellness involves discovering a set of beliefs and values that brings purpose to your life. While different groups and individuals have a variety of beliefs regarding spiritualism but the general search for meaning for our existence is considered essential to creating harmony with yourself and others, regardless of the path to spirituality you choose to follow.

It is considered healthier to find your own path to the meaning of life that allows you to be tolerant of the beliefs of others and live a life that is consistent with your beliefs. On the path to a healthy spiritual life, you should

• Apply your values to your actions and decisions.
• Make time to relax each day.
• Accept the views of others.
• Make time for prayer or meditation.

5. Social

Social wellness refers to your ability to interact with people, respect yourself and others, develop meaningful relationships and develop quality communication skills. This allows you to establish a support system of family and friends. This is another one of the important dimensions of health.

Those with high social wellness believe that it is important to

• Live in harmony with the environment and others.
• Consider the common welfare of the community over their own.

Those on the path to healthy social wellness will work to

• Develop interdependent healthy relationships while developing healthy behavior.
• Create a balance between their community and the environment.

6. Occupational

The ability to find peace between your leisure time and work time while managing stress from your relationships with coworkers effectively is essential to occupational health. Your work takes up a great deal of your time, so it is important to find something that you love to do and gives you a sense of purpose.

To achieve occupational wellness, it is important to

• Feel as though you enjoy your work most days.
• Feel like you can talk openly with your employer and coworkers.
• Have a manageable workload.

7. Environmental

More dimensions of health? Yes. The environment can have a significant impact on our feelings about overall health. For developing environmental wellness, you should

• Live in harmony with your environment.
• Take action to protect this environment from harm.
• Minimize behavior that could impact your environment while protecting yourself from environmental hazards.
• Realize the effects of your daily habits on the world around you.
• Live a life that is accountable to your short and long term environmental needs.
• Bring awareness of the Earth’s limits and resource to others.