Wellness Habits for a Better Life

Staying healthy and living a better life by cultivating Wellness Habits is not impossible. All that is required is ‘DISCIPLINE’

I know you must have heard of the popular axiom “Health is Wealth.” Does this mean that if you are healthy, you will be wealthy? Or maybe it connotes the possibility of having wealth as long as you have good health? If that is the case, why are 90% of the world’s healthy people not wealthy today? Is Health Wealth? The answer is YES. How? you may wonder. “I am healthy,” you may say, “but I’m not wealthy.” Well… I have NEWS for you. ‘HOW WRONG YOU ARE

Health is considered the “Biggest Wealth in life” and the most valuable and priceless aspect of every individual’s life. The axiom “Health is Wealth” means that Health is the greatest Wealth anybody can have. It doesn’t matter if you are materially rich or not. As long as you possess good health, you’re wealthy. It’s wonderful, right?

Everyone dreams of living a long, healthy life, but do you know that good health is not only the absence of disease in the body? It’s much more than that. According to the World Health Organization, “It is the state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infinity.”

You may think that Health and Wellness are the same at this juncture, right? WRONG! Though often used interchangeably, the two terms are quite distinct. Wellness is a common concept often mentioned in the context of health, and without wellness, good health can not be achieved. What, then, is Wellness?

What is Wellness?

According to the National Institute of Wellness, wellness is “an active process through which people become aware of and make choices toward a more successful existence.” The World Health Organization (WHO) defined Wellness as “the optimal state of health of individuals and groups.” WHO thinks that Wellness is characterized by two major aspects viz:

• The achievement of individuals’ fullest potential physically, psychologically, socially, spiritually, and economically; and
• Carrying out individuals’ expectations in the family, community, place of worship, workplace, and other settings.

 In summary, Wellness is a state of actively living a lifestyle that helps to attain health. In other words, cultivating Wellness habits leads to a better life. So, what wellness habits must everyone cultivate to live a better life?   

What are Wellness Habits

First of all, what is a habit?

A habit is a behavior that requires little thought or effort to carry out, which an individual, group organization, society, or even a plant or an animal is accustomed to doing. Habits tend to be automatic, subconscious, uncontrolled, and almost accidental. For example, someone who brews a pot of coffee every morning immediately after waking up will get to a stage where he or she will always find him or herself walking to the kitchen or to the Coffee Brewer holding coffee pots immediately after waking up every morning.

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Now that you understand habits, how can we relate them to Wellness? Simply put, Wellness Habits are habits that promote health and wellness in the life of those who cultivate them.

These habits include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Healthy Eating: It is important to enjoy the food you eat, and eating in a healthy manner may even be cheaper. Research has shown that you can build a healthy and balanced diet by choosing the right combination of food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. A balanced diet is the key to healthy eating, which promotes Wellness.
• Regular Exercise: Regular physical activity has been shown to concert with normal muscle aging and help preserve lean muscle mass. It has also been proven to be a good method for burning excess fat. To get the most benefit from physical exercise, Laura Carstensen, Ph.D., director of the Stanford Centre on Longevity in California, recommends that you “find something you enjoy doing that is sustainable over time. When it something that you can do easily, it becomes a habit”.
• Routine Checkups\Health Screenings: According to the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, routine screenings can reduce your risk of early death because they help prevent illnesses or detect them earlier when they are more treatable.
• Getting Quality Ample Sleep: Good sleep predicts life expectancy, and this doesn’t just mean sleeping for longer hours. It denotes getting the right amount of restful quality sleep for your needs. Research has shown that getting less than 7 hours or more than 8 hours of sleep each night increased mortality risk by 24% and 17%, respectively. Therefore, getting quality, ample sleep is a wellness habit that must be cultivated.
• Healthy Relationships\Social Life: A popular axiom is “No man is an island.” Man is a social animal. Therefore, it’s unsurprising that socialization and relationships are vital to health and wellness. Research published online in Ageing and Society in July 2022 has shown that having fewer friends is linked to negative health outcomes and loneliness, depression, stress, and anxiety. No one says you need to have a million friends. Having just two or four close friends can mitigate that risk.

Living a better life is determined largely by your daily habits. By changing, adapting, and cultivating certain habits, you can increase your overall health and wellness, leading a better life.