6: Positive Psychology's Approach to Wellness
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- Briefly describe the evolution of wellness beginning with Ayurveda and including at least five major changes. (APA Goal 1, outcome 1.1)(APA Goal 1, SLO 1.2c)
- Define wellness and well-being. (APA Goal 1, outcome 1.1)
- Identify the dimensions of wellness. (APA Goal 1, outcome 1.1)
- Define mind, body and spirit. (APA Goal 1, SLO 1.1b.)
- Understand the biological value of sleeping and eating well. . (APA Goal 1, SLO 1.3a)
- Understand the science of meditation.
- Define mindfulness and provide an example. . (APA Goal 1, SLO 1.3a)
- Identify techniques to increase mindfulness. . (APA Goal 1, SLO 1.3a)
- Understand the science of yoga. (APA Goal 1, SLO 1.3a)
- Explore the benefits of the ocean breath. (APA Goal 1, SLO 1.3a)
- Define spirituality. (APA Goal 1, SLO 1.3a)
- Differentiate between spirituality and religiosity. (APA Goal 1, SLO 1.3a)
- Identify ways in which one can be spiritual. (APA Goal 1, SLO 1.3a)
Reading 1: The History of Wellness:
Although a buzzword that has recently dominated health-centered conversations, wellness is a concept that conveys the importance of nurturing the mind, body and spirit, which has been around for thousands of years. Ayruveda is a holistic system of natural antidotes that fuel the power of the body’s self-healing powers, which originated in India 5000 years ago. In 500 B.C., Hippocrates emphasized the powerful role played by diet in the preservation of one’s health. The emphasis on wellness has waxed and waned across the centuries, with certain cultures steadfast in their homeopathic protocols and others focusing on the tenets of biomedicine to eradicate disease until the prudence of illness prevention becomes undeniable as a means of containing the swell of rising health care costs. As the concept of wellness became a well-researched alternative to traditional biomedicine, the nascent influence in the 1950s has morphed into a 304 trillion-dollar global wellness industry.
Key Words: wellness, Ayruveda, holistic, homeopathy, osteopathy, Global Wellness Institute (GWI), National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)
Reading 2: Dimensions of Wellness
Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\): “FruitShare-Week1” by Christopher Paquette, 8/2009, CC BY 2.0When we think about wellness, we often think about eating well or exercising; however, the concept of wellness includes multiple dimensions. There is emotional wellness and occupational wellness, just to name a few. You will find as you read the above reading, that wellness is not just about eating well or sleeping well, it is about taking an inventory of all aspects of our lives and evaluating whether we are engaging in practices that are conducive to wellness. We may ask ourselves, “Is my environment conducive to wellness?” To answer this, we need to evaluate for the presence of violence, toxins, or obstacles to serenity such as clutter and disorganization. Heightening our awareness of the dimensions of wellness can inform us of where we need to look to make changes, and hopefully achieve balance.
Key Words: Emotional Wellness, Spiritual Wellness, Environmental Wellness, Intellectual Wellness, Physical Wellness, Financial Wellness, Occupational Wellness, Social Wellness
Reading 3: Why Do We Sleep?
We live in a world where we always feel like we never have enough waking hours to accomplish all that we desire. How can we possibly get all of our studying completed; and maintain a close watch on every human’s Instagram account; and compose the myriad texts that keep us connected; and binge watch on our favorite shows; and dare I say it: SLEEP? Sleep, the enigmatic force that we delude ourselves into believing is of little importance. We rationalize our self-inflicted, sleep-depriving regimens by chanting the banal statement, “I will be able to sleep when I’m dead.” The irony is that if we don’t sleep, we will die. Although scientists have not been able to definitively explain the biological significance of sleep, they do know that without it, a human can’t survive. Much of what researchers do know about sleep comes from sleep deprivation studies (Reading 4). Research has revealed that without sleep, we may find ourselves wandering through a dark corridor to psychosis. When we explore what happens to our bodies when we don't sleep (Reading 5), we become astutely aware of how insignificant all of those things are that rob us of our slumber.
Key Words: Sleep Deprivation Studies, REM sleep, plasticity, glia cells, working memory
Reading 6: College Student’s Guide to Nutrition
Diet can be one of the most difficult aspects of wellness to manage, especially if you are a college student. The irregularity of a college student’s schedule lends itself to unhealthy eating practices. It is not uncommon for a college student to experience significant weight gain during their freshman year of college(Reading 7). Our food choices can potentially thwart any effort made in improving the other aspects of wellness. If we sleep eight hours, run three miles per day, but consume 4,000 calories of fats and carbs, we are going to feel miserable. Our food choices impact our energy levels, our weight management, and our cognition, just to name a few. College students tend to operate on a very tight budget, making an all organic grocery purchase implausible. As you will discover in Reading 6, there are practical ways in which a college student, with minimal financial resources can eat well. The food pyramid in the above picture was replaced in 2014 with MyPlate. The pyramid provided information about how many servings from each group we should consume. MyPlate focuses more on how our plate should look at mealtime. Per the new MyPlate guidelines, we should consume less carbs and more veggies and fruits. If you must ask yourself whether you have eaten a vegetable or a fruit in a while, you are not consuming enough. Another rule of thumb: go for the rainbow. If your plate is colorful, and not as the result of chemical-laden, lab-synthesized foods, but due to nature’s dye, then you are making progress towards healthful eating.
Key Words: MyPlate, whole grains, refined grains
Video 1: Science of Meditation
If someone told you that you would feel a greater sense of peace, get sick less, and feel less anxious if you blocked extraneous thoughts by meditating for just a few minutes a day, would you do it? Such a minimal commitment, and yet so many of us choose to live in the insanity of our chaotic world because we simply don’t have the time or the patience to break from the noise. Meditation, the ancient practice of quieting the mind has the power to physically change the brain. Some practice meditation by reciting a mantra; others by focusing on their breath. The tricky part: focus only on your mantra or your breathing and nothing else. Block all extraneous thoughts. Some avoid sitting alone at all costs, for the reels of the past can produce a cacophony ironically silenced only by noise. Science reveals to us that meditating regularly increases gray matter in the structures of the brain associated with learning, memory and emotional regulation, while decreasing gray matter in areas associated with stress and fear. Meditation changes brain wave activity. Mediation improves our immune response to illness. Mediation protects the telomeres, which act as protective caps on the ends of chromosomes. For a ten minute per day investment, you can engage in a practice that has the power to not only change your brain, but also your DNA. I challenge you to find a meditative practice that appeals to you, and commit to practicing this for just ten minutes a day, several days per week. Log your experience and evaluate whether there are notable differences in your daily functioning.
Key Words: meditation, gray matter, amygdala, telomere, telomerase
Video 2: Guided Meditation Exercise
In this video, you will be guided through a meditation exercise. At first, you may find this very challenging; however, if you try it several times per week, you will find that calming your mind will become a more manageable task. Meditation requires practice and persistence. Keep a journal logging your meditative experiences. Perhaps the approach in the video does not appeal to you. Find another approach and log your experience. With persistence, you should be able to see notable changes in your ability to calm your mind. The written log will allow for you to see the progression.
Video 3: Science of Yoga
Yoga, a type of meditation has the power to change the brain, increase flexibility, and decrease anxiety levels. This video describes in detail how yoga affects the brain. There are many different types of yoga, and a novice yogi must find the style of yoga with which she/he feels the most comfortable. Some types of yoga, such as power yoga are a way to achieve an intense workout through intense stretching. Yoga takes practice and patience. The different poses can be challenging; however, the rewards are worth the effort.
Key Words:
Video 4: What is Spirituality?
Do you ever find yourself enamored by the beauty of nature? Do you ever find yourself moved by compassion to the point of tears? Do you ever find yourself so connected to another person that you ache at the fleeting thought of loss? Spirituality is not about subscribing to a particular doctrine. It is not about attending worship in the finest of cathedrals. It is not about following protocols for accepting communion. Spirituality is about the search for the spirit, that which connects us to other souls; that which connects us to the majestic sun as it dances on the horizon. Jung believed that life has a spiritual purpose beyond material goals. When we saturate our psyche with thoughts of our material world, we establish a spiritual impasse. Chopra discusses in the video how yoga can open the mind to the deeper elements of the self. There are many ways to navigate your spiritual journey; the how, is part of your search.
Key Words: Spirituality, Religion
Reflections:
1. What impact will the shift in focus from sickness to wellness have on the future of the healthcare industry?
2. Take a personal inventory of how you are practicing wellness in each of the wellness dimensions discussed your reading. Is there room for improvement? Discuss.
3. Discuss why you feel that some people have an aversion to yoga and other meditative practices even though science highlights the health benefits of such practices.
4. Do you agree with the switch from the nutrition pyramid to MyPlate? Explain.
5. Describe the differences between being spiritual and being religious. Describe how spirituality and religiosity vary across generations.