The 7 Dimensions of Wellness
Wellness can be a difficult thing to wrap your head around. The mindset that health is holistic, about balance and lifestyle goes against a lot of rhetoric around health that we often hear in our lives. There are, in general, seven dimensions of wellness that are often talked about in this umbrella term.
The 7 dimensions of wellness
The 7 dimensions of wellness are mental, physical, social, financial, spiritual, environmental and vocational.
The concept of these seven are that true wellness is about each one, and neglecting one will impact your overall wellness and wellbeing.
Mental wellness
While there are still many stigmas around these conversations, we have moved forward with leaps and bounds to advance awareness and treatment of mental health. Mental health is one part of mental wellness. Your emotional state, including anxiety, mood, stress management, self-care, suicide prevention and — yes — mental health all influence mental wellness. Some ways to take care of your mental health are to:
Have emotional support systems like family and friends
Have time to relax and practise self-care
Seek professional help or therapy when needed
Get enough sleep
Spend time outside
Move your body
Physical wellness
Your physical wellness is not only about physical fitness. Nutrition, sleep, substance use, harm prevention and practising healthy habits all contribute to your physical wellness.
Physical wellness matters because the health of our bodies give us the ability and energy to live our lives as we choose to.
Taking care of your physical health include:
Drinking lots of water
Eating fresh fruit and vegetables
Avoiding sugary drinks
Limiting alcohol
Exercising and moving your body
Getting enough sleep
Social wellness
You may not have heard of social wellness before. Social wellness is about how you as an individual interact with the people and community around you. It’s about communication skills, having healthy relationships, consensual social interactions and building meaningful relationships where you can be yourself.
These social skills and acts of social wellness can be strengthened and learned. Some ways to so this are to:
Balance personal and social time
Give back to the community
Be open minded to new people and new ideas
Explore other cultures and customs
Join clubs and interact with your community
Financial wellness
We start off this topic acknowledging that there are many external factors that affect financial wellness. We are currently dealing with high levels of inflation, increased cost of living and food prices. Economic standings are impacted by many uncontrollable factors. This cannot be underlined enough.
Financial wellness is not just about how much money you make, but also your relationship with your money and financial needs.
Some ways to help practise financial wellness include:
Budgeting
Talking with financial planners to understand your finances
Educating yourself about money management
Being honest with yourself about your finances
Spiritual wellness
This aspect of wellness is often misunderstood. Religion does not equal spiritual wellness. You do not have to practise a religion or follow a belief system to have spiritual wellness.
Instead, spiritual wellness is about your personal beliefs, values and morals that you live in your everyday life. It’s about having a lifestyle where you can be true to yourself and your beliefs without judgement. Feeling respected and surrounding yourself with people who believe the same things or support your individual beliefs matters to how you feel about yourself. Living life true to your values impacts us emotionally and, ultimately, physically.
You can practise spiritual wellness by:
Developing relationships with people who share the same values as you
Acting on your values and morals
Finding hobbies and activities that let you live our your beliefs
Vocational wellness
A vocation is about feeling that you fit what you do in your career or role. It’s about feeling suited for how you spend your days.
Vocational wellness, then, is about using our skills, talents and gaining any skills or talents that help you feel a sense of purpose, accomplishments, happiness and fulfilment in your everyday life. You can practise vocational wellness by:
Pursuing activities that make you feel rewarded and accomplished
Learning new skills and challenging yourself
Balancing your work and life time
Keeping focused on your own journey and not comparing yourself to others’ path
Speaking with career coaches or mentors to help path your future
Environmental wellness
Our environment impacts our overall wellness both physically, mentally and emotionally. Spending time in nature and having a clean and organised space gives you the mental space to think. Plus, spending time in nature is scientifically connected to a healthier body and happier life. Ways to practise environmental wellness are to:
Spend time among trees and practice forest bathing
Walk or bike to work if you can
Eat fresh local food
Tidy up your work and sleep space
Open up your windows frequently
Go for walks in parks instead of around buildings or in your neighbourhood
Living a life of wellness
As you can tell, there’s a lot that goes into wellness. But do you notice how most of these overlap with each other? So it’s actually much simpler to do than you’d think. Getting 8 hours of sleep, eating fresh fruit and veggies, going for walks, spending time with loved ones and keeping your space clean are all easy ways to incorporate wellness into your everyday life.