By Elvenia Gray-Sandiford
Summer is finally here, and that means it’s a great time to talk about our health and wellness as we move, live, and play outside in the sunshine.
Just as our personalities are different, so are the nuances of our biology. Maintaining an optimal level of wellness is absolutely crucial for living a higher quality life. Just as plants and animals need nourishment, such as food and water, so do human beings: not just for our belly, but for our body, mind, and spirit.
Mankind is made up of three parts: our physical body, our mind (thinking), and our spirit (our consciousness). Without proper nourishment, we will not be able to thrive, to grow more productive, and feel less stressed. Healthy minds and bodies require dedication, patience, and intentional work.
Our wellness matters, because everything we do and every emotion we feel relates to our well-being. Our physical body needs an ongoing cycle of good nutrition, stress relief, and yes, a little bit of exercise; our minds are nourished by silence, stillness. Our hearts are nourished with love, laughter, intimacy, and forgiveness; our spirit — our consciousness — is nourished when it is connected to something greater than ourselves.
Wellness habits are the big and little things we do to care for ourselves that directly affect our actions and emotions. While the effort to adopt new health and wellness decisions shows a great sense of positive purpose, a better option is to develop a small goal for a healthier lifestyle in the future. Small steps to living a healthy lifestyle and making healthy lifestyle changes make a more effective plan than making bold changes, because the steps build up.
Goals can be tackled in steps, beginning with small steps and increasing in difficulty as you become more familiar with the change. There are also chances for evaluation processes in between. This way, the whole family gets involved and the skills learned become habits for life.
We should be aware that wellness is a deliberate, continuous, and comprehensive approach to making good choices. Being in good physical and mental health is the foundation of wellness. Problems in one area might affect the others, since mental and physical health are intertwined. At the same time, enhancing overall wellness can help an individual in other areas of their life, including their mental health.
Positive feelings are indicators of thriving or maximum well-being. Positive feelings, like joy, interest, happiness, love, and the like, are undoubtedly experienced during times in a person’s life when negative feelings, like anxiety, melancholy, wrath, and despair, are not present. In line with this assumption, it has been demonstrated that people’s subjective well-being assessments are predicated by the total distribution of their happy and negative emotions.
As we are seeking to empower ourselves with information and tools for good and healthy choices for ourselves and our families, I encourage the use of local community spaces such as community centres and friendship centres. They provide opportunities to not only be educated about fitness/wellness, nutrition, and personal skill development, but also engagement opportunities so that skill sets can be sharpened and honed. Then we can set achievable goals that can make a big difference for our health!
Let’s talk about wellness. According to the World Health Organization, health is defined as being “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being.”
1. Eating for health: Because the digestive system slows down as we age, it is critical to eat like the rainbow; food that makes us go and glow.
2. Practice self-care: Regularly invest in special care of self by being mindful of our own needs, so we are better able to support the people we care about.
3. Check our mental health: Engage in exciting activities like doing crossword puzzles, reading, writing, and taking up new hobbies to keep minds active. Keeping our minds sharp can help us think more clearly.
4. Stay physically active: This may help adults maintain a healthy weight and avoid chronic health issues. Physical activity also helps us manage activities of daily living more easily.
5. Get enough sleep: It is crucial to keep a regular sleeping routine. Practice sound “sleep hygiene” that helps us have an easier time when dozing off and staying asleep.
6. Meditation and mindfulness: Meditation rejuvenates our mind and aids in a person’s ability to manage stress, anxiety, chronic pain, and a variety of ailments.
7. Cultivate positive emotions: This helps us feel good about ourselves and engage in positive relationships.
8. Social interaction: Social networks — from volunteering or visiting the local seniors’ club to spending time with relatives and grandkids — helps older people fight loneliness.
9. Concentrate on prevention: Be diligent in attending numerous community preventative care appointments.
10. Importance of hydration: Up to 60 per cent of the human body is water. Hydration aids our digestion, optimizes brain function, helps regulate our internal temperature, and helps our skin and joints work properly.
One of the biggest reasons people don’t take care of themselves is because they do not know how. Over the next few weeks, we will explore an indicator and share examples: we will break it down and start small. Stay tuned.
editorial@accjournal.ca
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