Lifestyle, Finance & Health
HEALTH & WELLNESS
Change Your Habits, Change Your Life by Dr. Cindy Maynard
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sually, when we think about health and wellness, we think about diet, exercise, or weight control. Although attention to these areas is important to have a healthy lifestyle, wellness involves much more. Wellness is a holistic term that means incorporating many aspects of health and making choices which help us live a robust, happy, and fulfilled life. These dimensions include physical and emotional wellbeing, engaging the mind, and nurturing the spirit to defend against the process of aging to promote longevity. Therefore, making health and lifestyle changes could mean focusing on ways to achieve better mental or emotional health, improving social or environmental factors, changing diet and exercise, or even self-care. One of the more popular models of wellness was developed by Dr. Bill Hettier of the National Wellness Institute. The model refers to the Six Dimensions of Wellness. The Institute states that by addressing all six categories, we can build on a holistic sense of wellness and fulfillment. The six dimensions involve physical, social, intellectual, spiritual, emotional, and occupational aspects to maximize health. You can see the interconnectedness of each dimension and how they all contribute to helping us lead a more holistic, healthier life.
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• Physical Dimension: involves nutritional tionnaire is a tool that can help jumpstart intake, daily activity of some kind, and healthy change and help you maximize your getting adequate rest personal wellness program. You can quickly see where your strengths and weaknesses lie. • Social Dimension: Maintaining friend- Then decide to focus on one or two areas ships and intimate relations and contrib- you want to change. For example, it could uting to the environment or community be making more social connections, taking a class, or eating better. (PS new habits typ• Intellectual Dimension: Being engaged ically take two months to form). Don’t worry and curious about life, having interests, about doing it perfectly. Life is all about being a life-long learner experimenting, taking two steps forward, one back. Positive change is a fluctuating, • Spiritual Dimension: Finding purpose or dynamic process. But there is no greatmeaning in life beyond the physical, ap- er motivator than realizing that you have preciating that we are part of the greater changed a behavior to a more positive one. whole which is cosmic or divine in nature Because when you’ve changed your habits for the better, you’ve changed your life for • Emotional Dimension: Managing emo- the better. tions in a healthy way, maintaining positivity or enthusiasm about your life The key to a healthy life is engaging fully in life—emotionally, physically, and intellec• Occupational Dimension: Engaging in tually. Applying a holistic approach to our work that is consistent with your values, lives can help us achieve our full potential to contributing your unique skills and gifts live a more positive, authentic, and fulfilling in a way that is meaningful and satisfying life which ultimately helps move and power our society forward. Making healthy lifestyle changes isn’t easy, but it’s not impossible either. Before Cindy Maynard, Ph.D., RD, is a health you decide on an area(s) you might want psychologist, a registered dietitian, and a nato change or work on, I usually suggest to tionally published health and f itness writer. my clients to take the American Board of She is passionate about promoting health and Integrative Holistic Medicine (ABIHM) wellness. You can contact her at drcindymayHolistic Health Questionnaire. This ques- nard@live.com Central Coast Journal
