Health vs. Wellness
Health is defined as a range of states including physical, social, mental/Intellectual, emotional, spiritual, and occupational.
Wellness is defined as optimal health. In order to have wellness, each aspect of health should optimally be the best it can be. It includes growth, balance and the absence of illness.
- Wellness is a balance of all aspects of health. An improvement in one aspect can lead to improvements in other aspects and visa versa.
Lifestyle Choices
Personal Responsibility is central to wellness. Essentially, the choices that you make everyday can effect each dimension of health and in turn, directly or indirectly has an effect on all of the other dimensions.
Certain daily lifestyle choices can either increase or decrease one's health.
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The Environment; Is it part of Wellness?
Most people do not think a lot about Environmental Wellness as part of an overall wellness plan, but our environment has a huge impact on the way we feel.
Environmental health includes: the impact of your actions with nature, your personal environment, taking action to protect the world around you, protecting yourself from any environmental hazards, as well as, minimizing any negative impact your behavior may have on the environment.
Environmental threats may include, but are not limited to, air pollution, ultraviolet radiation in the sunlight, chemicals, noise, water pollution, and second-hand smoke.
Environmental wellness involves personal and societal responsibilities such as:
Environmental health includes: the impact of your actions with nature, your personal environment, taking action to protect the world around you, protecting yourself from any environmental hazards, as well as, minimizing any negative impact your behavior may have on the environment.
Environmental threats may include, but are not limited to, air pollution, ultraviolet radiation in the sunlight, chemicals, noise, water pollution, and second-hand smoke.
Environmental wellness involves personal and societal responsibilities such as:
- Being aware of the earth's natural resources
- Being accountable to the environment's needs, in the short and in the long-term
- Understanding the effects of your daily choices/habits on your environment
Genetics; The only aspect of wellness you can't directly control
Gregor Mendel, an Austrian monk (1822-1884), was the first person to explain how traits are inherited or passed down from generation to generation. He first studied how the color and smoothness of pea plants and discovered they were inherited in certain patterns. In the 20th century, other scientists expanded on his ideas. Mendel is considered to be the father of genetics.
"Genetics is the study of heredity; a biological process where a parent passes certain genes onto their offspring". Everyone inherits 23 chromosomes from each of their biological parents creating their genotype (DNA sequence) and phenotype (looks). Phenotypes include hair, eye color and skin color, etc. On the other hand, one's genotype may carry the risk of certain diseases and disorders.
"Genetics is the study of heredity; a biological process where a parent passes certain genes onto their offspring". Everyone inherits 23 chromosomes from each of their biological parents creating their genotype (DNA sequence) and phenotype (looks). Phenotypes include hair, eye color and skin color, etc. On the other hand, one's genotype may carry the risk of certain diseases and disorders.