Health and wellness are two terms that are used interchangeably but unknown to many, these two are quite different. Health relates to the functioning of our physical body whereas wellness has to do with the quality of life we live and not just our body. A thorough understanding of how both differ is key to building a quality of life that is sustainable and that promotes health. Without wasting much time, let’s dive straight into it.
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What is Health?
In the past, the definition of health was narrowed only to the absence of disease or infirmity. However, today, its definition has been modified to include one’s overall mental, physical, and social well-being. That said, when most people hear the word health, they think of it as relating to the physical body and how well it is functioning.
What is Wellness?
Wellness describes the active lifestyle of living healthy. It can also be seen as having a positive approach to living. Wellness involves every aspect of a person’s life. It covers the body, relationships, work or career, food, water, mindset, rest, finances, purpose, spirituality, and any other area that one can think of.
Wellness can be taken as the intentional decision to live a life that promotes good health. Someone who understands how wellness affects health would probably work out, eat a balanced diet, and make regular visits to the doctor for checkups. So, in actual sense, one cannot truly have health without truly achieving wellness. Check out https://mypvhc.com/importance-regular-check-ups/ to learn more about the importance of regular checkups.
What’s the Difference?
From the definitions, we can see that wellness can directly influence health, which is crucial to living a happy and fulfilled life. The difference between the two is that health is the goal while wellness is the active process of achieving the goal-health.
Before drawing out a plan or health goals, it is important that you ask yourself what you want out of the outcome. Ask yourself some of the following questions:
- How will this transformation affect my life?
- Am I doing this for myself or to impress others?
- What support systems do I have?
- Is this something I can sustain?
By asking questions like this, you get to understand what you want and create a plan that you can follow through for as long as you want. When it comes to wellness, the drive is very important as without the right drive, it’s easy to go back to those unhealthy lifestyles.
How to Improve Health and Wellness
Wellness is a continuous process and improving in every area of one’s life is the only true way to a healthy life. The following tips can be of help:
Eat Healthily
Food plays a big part in our health and just about everybody knows this. Unfortunately, not so many people make the decision to eat healthily. A simple way to ensure you get adequate nutrients is by eating whole foods rather than processed and canned foods. You can learn more about how to ensure you eat healthy here. By balancing your diet with whole grains, healthy fat, lean and plant-based proteins, fruits, and vegetables, you can significantly decrease your chances of falling ill.
Regular Exercise
The place of exercise in wellness cannot be overemphasized as physical activities keep the mind and body in top shape. As a matter of fact, the American Heart Association recommends that the body gets at least 150 minutes of physical activity weekly.
There are many benefits that one can enjoy from regular exercise. Some of them include maintaining healthy body weight, lowering blood pressure, improving mental strength, relieving stress, and many others.
Rather than sticking to a structured workout which could become boring, you could increase your physical activity by taking walks, walking your dog if you have one, going hiking, using the steps instead of the elevator. Biking when possible is also another way to exercise the body. In addition to keeping your body fit, you also contribute to the environment by reducing fuel emissions.
Many people put off exercise because of the pain and soreness they feel after. However, by staying consistent, one gets used to these pains and they go unnoticed. That said, certain supplements like CBD can help the body recover from exercise soreness. You can visit Cheef Botanicals to learn more.
Get Quality Sleep
This is one wellness area that is heavily overlooked by many people. There are many benefits to sleeping and people who do not get the quality of sleep that is adequate for the body miss out on these benefits. Quality sleep can help to:
- Regulate hunger levels
- Reduce stress
- Strengthen the mind by improving concentration and memory
- Reduce cravings
- Rejuvenate the body after a long day’s work
Most people only know about the full night’s sleep of between seven and nine hours but only a few know about power naps. Power naps are taken during the day, usually between 2 pm and 3 pm. They aren’t as long as a full night’s sleep, but they are very effective in getting rid of the stress that may have already built up so far; it also helps a lot with concentration.
Final Thoughts
Most people live a routine life and while some don’t like it, others would rather remain in their comfort zone and stick to what they are used to. But learning new things not only makes life much more interesting but is also a great way to exercise our brain and improve our mental strength.
As a matter of fact, it’s been found that people who regularly learn new things and challenge their minds are often better at staving off mental conditions that come with aging. You can start small like reading about a different field from yours, learning to play a new sport, and so on. The key is to find something new that you’ll enjoy doing.
