Health and Wellness - Unit 1 PDF

**[HEALTH AND WELLNESS - UNIT 1]** **Dr. Shrabani Mukherjee(Chattopadhyay)** **[Definition of Health and Wellness]** According to WHO : \"Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.\" An important implication of this def...

**[HEALTH AND WELLNESS - UNIT 1]** **Dr. Shrabani Mukherjee(Chattopadhyay)** **[Definition of Health and Wellness]** According to WHO : \"Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.\" An important implication of this definition is that mental health is more than just the absence of mental disorders or disabilities. **Wellness,** refers to the active process of becoming aware of and making choices toward a healthy and fulfilling life. It involves a balance in various domains such as physical, emotional, intellectual, social, spiritual, and occupational well-being. Wellness is often seen as a proactive and preventative approach to health. In short, health is a state of being, while wellness is about the actions and behaviors that promote and maintain good health. **[Aspects of who we are as individuals:]**Social, Emotional, Intellectual, Physical, Spiritual, Occupational **Social:** relationships, community interactions, relating to others, communication.** Emotional:** feelings, emotions, reactions, cognition, coping skills.** Intellectual:** critical thinking, creativity, curiosity, lifelong learner. **Physical:** body, nutrition, healthy habits, making healthy decisions.** Spiritual:** meaning, values, establishing peace and harmony, ability to discover purpose in life** Occupational:** skills, finances, balance between work and leisure, satisfaction,accomplishment. **[Disease:]** This term is used by the doctors or physicians to describe the pathological (symptoms, causes etc.) and biological aspects of the health condition of his/her patients.**[Illness:]** It refers to the general term that people use to describe their perceived deteriorated health conditions that may or may not have been yet diagnosed by a doctor. Thus, this term represents subjective experiences of the person's ill health.**[Sickness:]** It is the societal role and perception related to illness such as taking rest, days off from work, stigma, etc. Being healthy can be denoted not only by absence of illness but also presence of physical, mental and social wellbeing, ability of an individual to adapt well to his/ her environment. Health is also denoted by a movement towards wellbeing or wellness. Illness on the other hand can be characterised by decreased functioning in terms of physical, emotional, mental, social and spiritual aspects. Illness can be determined by presence of symptoms as well as by the diminished ability to function effectively in day to day life. It can also be determined by how the individual is feeling.Health can be described in terms of its three domains as proposed by Dalal and Mishra (2012). They suggested the field of health broadly comprised of three domains, namely, restoration, maintenance, and growth. The objective of the first domain (restoration) is to help an individual in recovering his health from the state of illness. Thus, this domain involves all kinds of interventions that will help a patient in recovering from his illness symptoms, bodily pain, and sufferings. The second domain of health is maintenance, and its objective is to help people in maintaining good health and protecting them from diseases. All kinds of health-promoting behaviour such as yoga, exercise, eating good food, etc, are part of this domain. The last domain; growth, sees health not just in the physical terms but it considers social factors and spirituality as its parts as well. Therefore, this domain helps patients to achieve and grow in all spheres of their life. **[HEALTH-ILLNESS CONTINUUM]** Health-illness continuum was introduced by John Travis in the year 1972 and it can be explained as a graphical representation of wellness. Wellness here is not mere absence of illness but denotes healthy mental and emotional state. According to the Health-Illness continuum, health is dynamic. Our health moves back and forth within a continuum, with optimum health or highest health at one end and death or complete disability at the other end of this continuum. One day you may feel energetic, another might have a headache for all day long, while on the third day you may feel fine again. These situations suggest that our health never remains constant and it changes or fluctuates throughout one's life. According to this model, since our health continuously changes; therefore, our adaption or response to that change matters most as it affects our health directly. For the same stressful situation, one person might respond positively while another person might get anxious. The person who responded positively will have better health than the second one. **[Importance of holistic wellbeing ]** The importance of holistic well-being is the ability to promote a balanced and fulfilling life by addressing all aspects of a person\'s health---physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual. following are the most important reasons why it is important: **[Improved Physical Health: ]** Holistic well-being encourages healthy lifestyle choices, such as proper diet, exercise, and stress management, which can prevent chronic diseases and improve overall physical health. **[Enhanced Mental and Emotional Resilience: ]** By addressing mental health, holistic well-being helps individuals manage stress, anxiety, and emotional challenges, leading to improved resilience and mental clarity. **[Stronger Social Connections:]** Holistic well-being emphasizes the importance of relationships and social support, which are crucial for mental and emotional health, as well as overall life satisfaction. **[Spiritual Fulfillment:]** It allows individuals to explore and nurture their spiritual health, which can provide a deeper sense of purpose, peace, and connection to something greater than oneself. **[Balanced Lifestyle: ]** Holistic well-being promotes a balance between work, leisure, and personal development, reducing burnout and enhancing productivity and personal satisfaction. **[Prevention of Health Issues: ]** Instead of waiting for problems to arise, holistic well-being focuses on preventative measures, reducing the risk of physical, emotional, and mental health issues in the long term. **[Sustainable Happiness: ]** Holistic well-being leads to a more balanced and harmonious life, which promotes long-lasting happiness and satisfaction rather than temporary or superficial fixes. **[Determinants of health]** The determinants of health include: 1\. The social and economic environment 2\. The physical environment 3\. The person's individual characteristics and behaviours. The context of people's lives determine their health, and so blaming individuals for having poor health or crediting them for good health is inappropriate. Individuals are unlikely to be able to directly control many of the determinants of health. These determinants---or things that make people healthy or not---include the above factors, and many others: **Income and social status -** higher income and social status are linked to better health. The greater the gap between the richest and poorest people, the greater the differences in health. **Education --** low education levels are linked with poor health, more stress and lower self-confidence. **Physical environment --** safe water and clean air, healthy workplaces, safe houses, communities and roads all contribute to good health. Employment and working conditions -- people in employment are healthier, particularly those who have more control over their working conditions. **Social support networks --** greater support from families, friends and communities is linked to better health. Culture - customs and traditions, and the beliefs of the family and community all affect health. **Genetics -** inheritance plays a part in determining lifespan, healthiness and the likelihood of developing certain illnesses. Personal behaviour and coping skills -- balanced eating, keeping active, smoking, drinking, and how we deal with life's stresses and challenges all affect health. Health services - access and use of services that prevent and treat disease influences health. **Gender -** Men and women suffer from different types of diseases at different ages. **[MIND-BODY RELATIONSHIP]**Two important aspects of human beings are mind and body. Hence when we study about mind and related mental processes, there is a need to understand these in relation to our body also -- the brain, nervous system, hormones, immune system, disease, disabilities etc. There is a bi-directional influence between our mind and body. They do not function in isolation.Our mind consisting of our perception, thoughts, emotions, motivation etc. affect our body's functioning, physical health; similarly our body's capacity, health conditions affect our mind and mental health. Thus there is a relationship between physical health and mental health, both affect each other. For instance, our immune system gets affected by both physical and mental health.In the case example of Rina given in the beginning of this Unit, you can see how her perception of her body image as influenced by others around impacts her health. Mind-body relationship in the context of human functioning can be viewed in the following ways (Leitan & Murray, 2014): \(i) Separation of mind and body from the conceptualization of human functioning (uncritical dualism). \(ii) Elimination of mind or body from the conceptualization of human functioning (exclusivism), \(iii) Mind and body conceptualized as a single holistic system (mind-body monism). The researchers propose a holistic conceptualization of the mind-body relationship to address the individual as a whole. Mind-body relationship has a significant impact on our health. Health does not refer only to physical health, it is not concerned only to what we eat. Rather health also includes what we think, say, feel and how we behave. Our thoughts, emotions and actions are equally important in affecting our health as the food we take. Further, As the World Health Organization (WHO, 2014) states, health is not merely the absence of disease or infirmity and is a dynamic state of complete physical, mental, spiritual and social well-being. There are three main aspects ofthis definition: \(i) health can be considered on a continuum of health -- illness, and the absence of disease may not necessarily make one healthy. \(ii) health is a dynamic state, and is influenced by various factors. \(iii) health consists of all the four aspects of physical, mental, social and spiritual.However, the part of the definition focusing on 'completeness' has been criticized, since an individual may suffer from health problems but consider herself as healthy. What matters here is how the individual perceives and thinks about it, what emotions she brings into it, how does she adapt to the illness. This indicates the importance of the underlying dynamics of mind-body relationship. People can successfully adapt to an illness and feel healthy despite limitations. This brings in a sense of empowerment in the individual. Known as disability paradox, age-related impaired functioning does not reduce the perceived quality of life if people are able to develop successful strategies for coping. Thus health is defined in terms of a person's ability to adapt and function adequately at physical, mental, social and spiritual level within the context of her environment. Psychological factors and social factors need to be considered alongwith the biological factors to enable the person to deal with the illness and disability. Our thoughts, attitudes and emotions are powerful tools which can mediate our perception and experience of illness in significant ways. The type of personality we have, the life style we lead, the social environment we live in -- all can affect our health.Thus wellness which refers to physical health, and well-being which indicates overall mental health, both are important for an individual to be considered as healthy. Hence both mind and body are important for the health and well-being of human beings. The inter-dependence of mind and body in affecting our health and the comprehensiveness of the term health is also discussed by Dalal and Misra (2011) who state that health consists of three domains: restoration, maintenance and growth. Restoration refers to recovery from the illness, and the medical and nonmedical interventions taken for this by the individual. Maintenance denotes a preventive approach where the individual engages in various health promoting activities and behavior (e.g., exercise, balanced diet, adequate sleep, meditation, positive thoughts etc.) to maintain good health. Finally, the domain of growth includes not only physical but also social, mental and spiritual aspects. Thus health is not limited to bodily aspects only, but goes beyond it to indicate the overall well-being of the individual.