The Six Dimensions of Wellness

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The Six Dimensions of Wellness

• Brian W. Findley, M.Ed.
• Palm Beach Community College

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The Wellness Continuum(Prior to 1980)
Premature Death
Absence of Disease
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Wellness Continuum
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Intellectual Wellness

• openness to new ideas
• a capacity to question and think critically
• motivation to master new skills
• sense of humor
• creativity and curiosity

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Spiritual Wellness

• Possess a set of guiding beliefs, principles or
  values
• Spiritual wellness involves
• capacity to love
• compassion
• forgiveness
• altruism
• joy
• fulfillment

Spiritual health can be achieved through
organized religion, art, meditation, political
action etc.
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Physical Wellness

• good nutrition
• exercising
• avoid harmful habits
• making responsible decisions about sex
• recognize symptoms of diseases
• regular doctor and dentist visits
• prevent injuries at home, on the road and at work

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Emotional Wellness

• Emotional health is a dynamic state that
  fluctuates with your physical, intellectual,
  spiritual, interpersonal and environmental
  health.
• Maintenance of this wellness requires monitoring
  and exploring your thoughts and feelings,
  identifying obstacles and finding solutions to
  emotional problems
• optimism
• trust
• self-esteem
• self control
• satisfying relationships
• ability to share feelings

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Interpersonal and Social Wellness

• Developing social wellness means
• learning good communication skills
• developing the capacity for intimacy
• cultivating a support network of caring friends
  and/or family members.
• Social wellness requires participating in and
  contributing
• to your community, country, and world.

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Environmental/Planetary Wellness

• Personal health depends on the health of the
  planet
• Environmental threats include
• ultraviolet (UV) radiation
• air and water pollution
• second hand tobacco smoke
• violence in our society
• Wellness requires learning about and protecting
• yourself against such hazards - and doing what
  you
• can to reduce or eliminate them.

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New Opportunities, New Responsibilities

• Average lifespan in 1900 was 45 years
• (due to infectious diseases and poor environment)
• Average lifespan is 76 years
• (due to vaccine development, improved
  environmental
• conditions, public health campaigns)
• Health threats in 2000 include
• heart disease
• cancer
• stroke

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National Wellness GoalsHealthy People 2010

• Increase quality and years of healthy life
• refers to a full range of functional capacity
  that enables people to work, play and maintain
  satisfying relationships.
• Stress the importance of health status and nature
  of life, not just longevity.
• Eliminate health disparities among Americans
• many health problems disproportionately affect
  specific populations (ethnic minorities, low
  socioeconomic groups etc.)
• Healthy People 2010 calls for eliminating
  disparities in health status, health risks, and
  use of preventative services among all population
  groups within the next decade.

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Wellness Profile

• Having a sense of responsibility for your own
  health.
• learning to manage stress in effective ways.
• maintaining a high self-esteem and mentally
  healthy ways of interacting with other people.
• understanding your sexuality and having
  satisfying intimate relationships.
• Avoiding tobacco and other drugs, using alcohol
  responsibly, if at all.
• Eating well, exercising, and maintaining healthy
  weight.

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Wellness Profile cont..

• Knowing when to treat your illness yourself and
  when to seek help.
• Knowing the facts about CV diseases, cancer,
  infection, STDs, and injuries and using your
  knowledge to protect yourself against them.
• Understanding the natural processes of aging and
  dying
• understanding how the environment affects your
  health and taking appropriate action to improve
  it.

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How To Reach Wellness?

• Getting Serious About Your Health
• know that the behavior is problematic
• What Does It Take To Change
• strong motivation
• raise consciousness about your problem behavior
• Developing A Behavior Change Plan
• 1. Choose a target behavior
• 2. Monitor your behavior and gather data
• 3. Analyze the data and identify patterns
• 4. Set specific goals
• 5. Devise a strategy or plan of action
• 6. Make a personal contract

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• Putting Your Plan Into Action
• Staying With It
• Getting Outside Help
• To start and maintain a behavior change program
  you need commitment, a well-developed and
  manageable plan, social support and a system of
  rewards.

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What Can You Do?

• Choose to take an active role in achieving
• self-awareness
• greater individual responsibility and control
• healthier lifestyle

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Thank you!