What health and wellness means to you - Essay Example

Meaning of Health and Wellness of the of the March 21, Meaning of Health and Wellness In the contemporary times when humanity is falling prey to faulty lifestyles, hectic schedules, wrong eating habits, the concept of health and wellness is often interpreted in a very narrow context, mostly attributed to a salubrious state of the body parameters like body weight, blood pressure, blood glucose, cholesterol, etc (Jamner & Stokols, 2009). Yes, I do believe that though the human health does get reflected in a favorable balance of these vital body parameters; yet, these parameters actually tend to be the outcome and not the basis of a well balanced and healthy life.

In a personal context I believe health and wellness are primarily about achieving a broad based and holistic sense of balance dependent on nurturing and taking care of the varied facets of my life, are they physical, mental, spiritual, social, financial, or intellectual that blend together to endow the human life with happiness and peace. Yes I agree that keeping the body free of disease by avoiding unhealthy habits, exercising regularly and eating the right diet are essential to my innate sense of wellness.

Yet, this is not the be all and end all of my sense of wellness. For me, staying healthy is about continually striving to strike the right balance between my career and academic pursuits, my commitment to my family and the society, in which I live, my spiritual life and the intellectual aspirations I tend to have. In fact for me all these aspects of my life are closely intertwined and linked to each other, and a deterioration or neglect even in one of them directly translates into negatively impacting the other aspects of my health and wellness.

For instance my career pursuits endow me with a sense of security and confidence, and any deterioration in them not only shakes my confidence in my ability to lead a successful and secure life, but also gives way to mental anxiety and stress that may make me eat unhealthy, have sleepless nights, avoid my family and friends, and not able to concentrate on the spiritual side of my personality. Similarly, my association with my family and the society in which I live endows me with a sense of identity and acceptance (Cattan & Tilford, 2011).

If for some reason, say too much involvement in my career pursuits, I start ignoring my family beyond what is acceptable and normal, I will eventually become victim of a sense of isolation and mental anxiety, irrespective of the progress I may be excelling in the career aspects of my life. This may also make me develop physical and mental maladies like high blood pressure, obesity or depression. Hence, for me health and wellness is about devoting the right time, effort, resources and consideration to the varied aspects of my life, thereby achieving a balanced state as an organism, a family man, a social being, and a career person, a person of faith and as an intellectual.

Health means a favorable blend of a lot many things that define my existence. ReferencesCattan, M., & Tilford, S. (2011). Mental Health Promotion. Maidenhead, England: Open University Press. Jamner, M.S., & Stokols, D. (2009). Promoting Human Wellness. Berkley, CA: University of California Press.