5.5: Healthy Behaviors and Wellness

5.5: Healthy Behaviors and Wellness

As most college students do, you have probably set goals. Obviously, your individual goals differ from those of your fellow classmates, but everyone’s goals share one common attribute: their intention to improve individual wellbeing. However, there are as many ideas about how to do that as there are individuals. Do your goals involve making more money, achieving better health, improving your relationships? Holistic wellness involves all those aspects of life and more. This chapter explains the importance of overall wellness, which is about more than being physically and mentally healthy, free from illness and disease. In fact, the study of wellness incorporates all aspects of life. Achieving overall wellness means living actively and fully. People in this state exude confidence, optimism, and self-efficacy; they have the energy reserves to do what needs to be done today and to plan for a better tomorrow. The most effective and transformative goals are those designed to achieve the highest level of personal wellness.

Dimensions of Wellness

Wellness is a familiar term, but what is its true definition? Is it simply the absence of disease? This chapter will define all the components of holistic wellness and describe the factors that contribute to not only a person’s physical and mental health, but also their ability to develop, thrive, succeed, enjoy life, and meet challenges head on with confidence and resolve.

To achieve this type of overall wellness, a person must be healthy in nine interconnected dimensions of wellness: physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, social, environmental, occupational, financial, and cultural. A description of each dimension follows.

The Nine Dimensions of Wellness

Occupational Wellness An occupationally well person enjoys the pursuit of a career which is fulfilling on a variety of levels. This person finds satisfaction and enrichment in work, while always in pursuit of opportunities to reach the next level of professional success.

Financial Wellness Those who are financially well are fully aware of their current financial state. They set long- and short-term goals regarding finances that will allow them to reach their personal goals.

Physical Wellness People who are physically well actively make healthy decisions on a daily basis. They eat a nutritionally balanced diet; they try to get an adequate amount of sleep, and they visit the doctor routinely. They make a habit of exercising three to five times per week; they have the ability to identify their personal needs and are aware of their body's limitations. They maintain positive interpersonal relationships and make healthy sexual decisions that are consistent with their personal values and beliefs.

Emotional Wellness An emotionally well person successfully expresses and manages an entire range of feelings, including anger, doubt, hope, joy, desire, fear, and many others. People who are emotionally well maintain a high level of self-esteem. They have a positive body-image and the ability to regulate their feelings. They know where to seek support and help regarding their mental health, including but not limited to, seeking professional counseling services.

Intellectual Wellness Those who enjoy intellectual wellness engage in lifelong learning. They seek knowledge and activities that further develop their critical thinking and heighten global awareness. They engage in activities associated with the arts, philosophy, and reasoning.

Spiritual Wellness People who can be described as spiritually well have identified a core set of beliefs that guide their decision making, and other faith-based endeavors. While firm in their spiritual beliefs, they understand others may have a distinctly different set of guiding principles. They recognize the relationship between spirituality and identity in all individuals.

Social Wellness A socially well person builds healthy relationships based on interdependence, trust, and respect. Those who are socially well have a keen awareness of the feelings of others. They develop a network of friends and co-workers who share a common purpose, and who provide support and validation.

Environmental Wellness An environmentally well person appreciates the external cues and stimuli that an environment can provide. People who have achieved environmental wellness recognize the limits to controlling an environment and seek to understand the role an individual plays in the environment.

Cultural Wellness Culturally well people are aware of their own cultural background, as well as the diversity and richness present in other cultural backgrounds. Cultural wellness implies understanding, awareness, and intrinsic respect for aspects of diversity. A culturally well person acknowledges and accepts the impact of these aspects of diversity on sexual orientation, religion, gender, racial and ethnic backgrounds, age groups, and disabilities.

Lifestyle Modification Barriers

Dr. James M. Olson, a psychology professor at the University of Western Ontario, London, has identified several psychological barriers that commonly prevent people from taking action, even when inaction poses a threat to their health. These barriers occur during three stages of behavior modification: admission of the problem, initial attempts to change, and long-term change, as outlined below:

Barriers to Admission of the Problem

The first step in lasting change is admitting a problem exists. People often fail to change behavior that poses a risk to their health because they deny a risk exists, trivialize their personal risk, feel invulnerable, make a faulty conceptualization (i.e., they attribute early warning signs to a benign cause), or experience debilitating emotions when contemplating preventative measures.

Barriers to Initial Attempts to Change

At this stage, people acknowledge the need to change but struggle to accomplish their goals. This failure is a result of lack of knowledge, low self-efficacy (the belief in one’s own ability to succeed at change), and dysfunctional attitudes.

Barriers to Long-term Change

Just because a person has experienced success in changing a behavior, that doesn’t mean the change is permanent. Barriers to long-term change include cognitive and motivational drift (diminishing enthusiasm for the need to change), lack of perceived improvement, lack of social support, and lapses.

Fostering Wellness in Your Life

You are once again feeling motivated to eat better, exercise more, drink less caffeine, or make any number of the positive lifestyle changes you have been telling yourself you want to make. You have tried before—probably declaring another attempt as a New Year’s resolution—but without experiencing much success. Making a lifestyle change is challenging, especially when you want to transform many things at once. This time, think of those changes not as a resolution but as an evolution.

Lifestyle changes are a process that takes time and requires support. Once you are ready to make a change, the difficult part is committing and following through. So do your research and make a plan that will prepare you for success. Careful planning means setting small goals and taking things one step at a time.

Here are five tips from the American Psychological Association (APA) that will assist you in making lasting, positive lifestyle and behavior changes:

1. Make a plan that will stick. Your plan is a map that will guide you on this journey of change. You can even think of it as an adventure. When making your plan, be specific. Want to exercise more? Detail the time of day when you can take walks and how long you will walk. Write everything down, and ask yourself if you are confident that these activities and goals are realistic for you. If not, start with smaller steps. Post your plan where you will most often see it as a reminder.
2. Start small. After you've identified realistic short-term and long-term goals, break down your goals into small, manageable steps that are specifically defined and can be measured. Is your long-term goal to lose 20 pounds within the next five months? A good weekly goal would be to lose one pound a week. If you would like to eat healthier, consider as a goal for the week replacing dessert with a healthier option, like fruit or yogurt. At the end of the week, you will feel successful knowing you met your goal.
3. Change one behavior at a time. Unhealthy behaviors develop over the course of time, so replacing unhealthy behaviors with healthy ones requires time. Many people run into problems when they try to change too much too fast. To improve your success, focus on one goal or change at a time. As new healthy behaviors become a habit, try to add another goal that works toward the overall change you are striving for.
4. Involve a buddy. Whether it be a friend, co-worker, or family member, someone else on your journey will keep you motivated and accountable. Perhaps it can be someone who will go to the gym with you or someone who is also trying to stop smoking. Talk about what you are doing. Consider joining a support group. Having someone with whom to share your struggles and successes makes the work easier and the mission less intimidating.
5. Ask for support. Accepting help from those who care about you and will listen strengthens your resilience and commitment. If you feel overwhelmed or unable to meet your goals on your own, consider seeking help from a psychologist. Psychologists are uniquely trained to understand the connection between the mind and body, as well as the factors that promote behavior change. Asking for help does not mean a lifetime of therapy; even just a few sessions can help you examine and set attainable goals or address the emotional issues that may be getting in your way.

Start with “Why?”

Making changes in habitual behavior requires a deep and abiding belief that change is needed. Your desire to change may be motivated by personal goals, or it may be the result of the impact your improved wellness will have on those you love. Nietzsche said, “He who has a strong enough why can bear almost any how.”

Once you have a compelling reason to change, develop a plan and commit to that plan. If you experience a moment of weakness, do not waste time on self-condemnation. Revisit your compelling reason and reaffirm your commitment to change. The health, peace, and sense of well-being inherent in the highest level of your own personal wellness is more than worth the effort required to change.

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Attributions:

The above content was remix from:

1.1: Why Study Wellness? is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Flynn et al. (GALILEO Open Learning Materials) .

1.2: Dimensions of Wellness is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Flynn et al. (GALILEO Open Learning Materials) .

2.6: Lifestyle Modification Barriers is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Flynn et al. (GALILEO Open Learning Materials) .