What comes to mind when you hear the word wellness? Most people think about our physical health, such as exercise and nutrition. However, wellness is much more than just the physical dimension. Through my experience earning my Bachelor degree from UW Stevens Point’s Health Promotion/Wellness program, I learned how to focus on a broader picture of wellness that included the seven dimensions of wellness. An acronym you can use to remember these is the word S.P.E.C.I.E.S. The seven include: Social, Physical, Emotional, Career, Intellectual, Environmental, and Spiritual. Each of these dimensions act and interact in a way that helps us be well as a whole. If we put too much energy into one dimension we will end up weaker in another, meaning we want to try to maintain a balance among all seven. According to Tom Rath in his book, Wellbeing: The Five Essential Elements, the seven dimensions of wellness are defined as follows:
- Social Wellness is the ability to relate to and connect with other people in our world. Rath found that people who have at least three or four very close friendships are “healthier, have higher wellbeing, and are more engaged in their jobs.”
- Physical Wellness is the ability to maintain a healthy quality of life that allows us to get through our daily activities without unnecessary fatigue or physical stress. According to Rath, “If we make substantially more net positive decisions about what we eat and drink, coupled with a good night’s sleep and vigorous exercise, our bodies will run much more efficiently.”
- Emotional Wellness is the ability to understand ourselves and manage the challenges life can bring. The ability to acknowledge and share feelings of anger, fear, sadness or stress; hope, love joy and happiness in a productive manner contributes to our emotional well-being.
- Career Wellness is the ability to get personal fulfillment from our jobs while maintaining balance in our lives. According to Rath, “People with high Career Well-being are more than twice as likely to be thriving in their lives overall.”
- Intellectual Wellness is the ability to open our minds to new ideas and experiences that can be applied to personal decisions, group interaction and community improvement. It is the desire to learn new concepts, improve skills and seek challenges in pursuit of lifelong learning.
- Environmental Wellness is the ability to recognize our own responsibility for the quality of the air, the water and the land that surrounds us.
- Spiritual Wellness is the ability to establish peace and harmony in our lives and to also develop a common relationship between values and actions.
Wellness is all about awareness and finding balance between these dimensions. If you are not already aware of which dimension(s) need a little more work try this self-assessment to help gauge where you are at, and identify what changes you need to make to achieve living well. According to Rath, “Changing our daily routine a little can have a big impact on the quality of each day. Through these daily choices, you create stronger friendships, families, workplaces, and communities.”
Jame Schwefel has a degree in Health Promotion & Wellness and currently works as the Wellness Director at Invivo Wellness in Milwaukee, WI.
