The 5Ws of Wellness
- Catherine Deutmeyer
- May 30, 2024
- 6 min read
Wellness: something that we all crave and very few of us actually understand. While the term wellness was not used commonly until after WWII, components of the definition have roots in early American Movements. During the nineteenth century, thoughts such as individual responsibility for one’s health and the importance of a proper state of mind for long-term health entered public dialogue from religious movements like Christian Science and spiritual movements like New Thought (Manderscheid et al., 2010). Some of the central tenets of wellness such as individual responsibility and the importance of attitude have their roots in these nineteenth century movements (Manderscheid et al., 2010). By 1948, thoughts about the definition of health also started to change from that of a model that characterized health as the absence of disease to one that characterized health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being,” according to the World Health Organization (Kirkland, 2014, p.1).
In 1959, Halbert L. Dunn introduced the term wellness in his article “High-Level Wellness for Man and Society,” and added evidence to the idea that health is more than the absence of disease. He believed that the need for wellness arose from the demands of modern living including connection with digital communication, crowding, aging and tensions from the quickening tempo of life (Kirkland, 2014). The tenets of this new term wellness helped individuals prepare for the “cacophonous, tense and demanding new world,” (Kirkland, 2014, p.2). Donald B. Ardell provided a more individual focused definition and added a multidimensional component defining wellness as “self-responsibility, nutritional awareness, physical fitness, stress management, and environmental sensitivity,” (Kirkland, 2014, p.2). Wellness has achieved a “buzzword” status because it has captured the urge to move away from health as a model for battling illness and instead as an avenue for long, meaningful lives (Kirkland, 2014).
While definitions vary in terms of what dimensions constitute wellness, personal responsibility, interconnection and the multidimensional nature have remained. Manderscheid et al. (2010) defines wellness as “the degree to which one feels positive and enthusiastic about life,” including one's ability to “manage one’s feelings and related behaviors,” “develop autonomy” and “cope effectively with stress,” (p.1). Illness then relates only to disease. According to Stoewen (2017), wellness is “a holistic integration of physical, mental and spiritual well-being, fueling the body, engaging the mind, and nurturing the spirit,” (p.1). Wellness by this definition is a dynamic process that allows “you to become the best kind of person that your potentials, circumstances and fate will allow,” (Stoewen, 2017, p.2). According to the Global Wellness Institute (n.d.), wellness is “the active pursuit of activities, choices and lifestyles that lead to a state of holistic health,” (p.1). By this definition, wellness is an individual pursuit that is “significantly influenced by the physical, social and cultural environments in which we live,” (Global Wellness Institute, n.d., p.2). Finally, Dunn defined wellness as an “integrated method of functioning,” aimed at maximizing individual potential (Kirkland, 2014, p.2). Dunn utilized a hierarchy of health where everyone starts in some position on the hierarchy with the goal of moving towards high-level wellness (Kirkland, 2014).
To fully understand a concept, it is also important to define what it is not. Wellness is not synonymous with prevention as seen in the case of disease management. This is because prevention is “controlled by outside experts,” instead of centering on an “individual's responsibility for one's own striving and attitudes,” (Kirkland, 2014, p.3). Wellness is also not synonymous with any short-term program, diet or prescription given that “it must be a sustained effort of small actions and omissions that is descriptive of a lifestyle,” (Kirkland, 2014, p.3). Wellness is also not synonymous with happiness because wellness is “not a state but an active process of making choices,” (Global Wellness Institute, n.d., p.2). Workplace wellness has become a prominent staple in the wellness sphere but workplace wellness is not truly wellness oriented if it is “highly managerialized within the business world,” with the primary goal of reducing healthcare costs (Manderscheid et al, 2010, p.3). If the focus of a wellness program is to provide social support and resources to help employees make better choices though, it is truly a workplace wellness program.
As touched on above, the concept of wellness arose in response to existing demands and needs of individuals post WWII. To begin, Dunn stated that the concept of wellness helped individuals to prepare and navigate demands of modern life (Kirkland, 2014). The concept of wellness also arose around the time that medical sociologist David Armstrong stated that health behaviors or individual choices had a large impact on health and disease (Kirkland, 2014). Around this same time, the concept of health as the absence of disease was coming under scrutiny as more and more individuals were living long lives with chronic illnesses and diseases. Definitions of health and wellness needed to be inclusive even for those who might always struggle with symptoms of disease. Wellness provided those with chronic illness a goal to “strive to participate fully in community life, even in the presence of continuing symptoms and disability,” (Manderscheid et al, 2010, p.3).
In addition to evolving needs of the population and changing ideas about health, evidence has arisen about the benefits of positive affect and thinking even in the face of chronic illness and disease. A review of existing literature has stated that positive affect is linked to “lower morbidity, increased longevity, and reduced health symptoms,” as well as “lower levels of cortisol, epinephrine, norepinephrine,” and “better immune response,” (Manderscheid et al, 2010, p.4). Another review found that components of wellness have impacts on our biology. For example, older woman with “higher levels of purpose in life, personal growth and positive relationships,” have “lower glycosylated hemoglobin, lower weight, lower waist-hip ratios, high HDL cholesterol,” and “lower salivary cortisol throughout the day,” (Manderscheid et al, 2010, p.4).
Now that we have established the who, what, where, when and why of wellness, it is important to discuss the how. Without actionable steps, wellness can quickly become a woo-woo term that is overused and carries no meaning. To begin, the various dimensions of wellness do not need to be equally balanced and instead we should “strive for a personal harmony that feels most authentic to us,” based on our needs, goals and priorities (Stowen, 2017, p.2). In other words, while our physical, mental, spiritual, social, vocational and intellectual wellness should all be addressed, how much of a place each has in our lives varies between individuals and across time. In order to find this personal harmony between dimensions, we need to utilize self-regulation which is “our ability to direct our behavior and control our impulses so that we meet certain standards, achieve certain goals or reach certain ideals,” (Stowen, 2017, p.2). When trying to begin a new routine, self regulation is utilized to direct our attention but self regulation does require consistent mental energy. To reduce the mental energy required to make healthy choices we can utilize self-awareness to cultivate habits or “behaviors that are recurrent, are cued by a specific context, often happen without much awareness or conscious intent, and are acquired through frequent repetition,” (Stowen, 2017, p.2). About 40% of what we do each day are repeated habits and if we can make more of these habits align with the personal harmony between the various dimensions of wellness, we can begin the process of creating a life that is meaningful and joyful.
Feeling stuck on where to start? Here are 9 possible behavior changes that can become beneficial habits:
Get between 6-7 hours of sleep each night
Eat a balanced diet of about 80% nutrient dense food and 20% of whatever your body is craving
Get consistent sunlight exposure to prevent Vitamin D deficiency
Learn to cope effectively with stress through meditation, journaling or therapy
Exercise daily: even a daily walk is beneficial
Limit smoking and alcohol use
Socialize daily because isolation and lack of communication are associated with depression and illness (Adams, n.d.).
Find new hobbies that you enjoy and become a lifelong learner
Learn to live in the present moment: a recent study found that while children laugh 200 times per day, adults laugh only 15 times per day on average (Adams, n.d.). Start living in the present moment to find all the joy that life has to offer.
References
Adams, J. (n.d.). Tested tips to improve your wellbeing and quality of life. The Wellbeing Project. https://wellbeing-project.org/9-tested-tips-to-improve-your-wellbeing-and-quality-of-life-post/
Global Wellness Institute (n.d.). What is wellness? Global Wellness Institute. https://globalwellnessinstitute.org/what-is-wellness/
Kirkland, A. (2014). What is wellness now? Journal of Health and Political Policy Law, 39(5), 957-970. https://doi.org/10.1215/03616878-2813647
Manderscheid, R.W., Ryff, C.D., Freeman, E.J., McKnight-Eily, L.R., Dhingra, S., & Strine, T.W. (2010). Evolving definitions of mental illness and wellness. Preventing Chronic Disease, 7(1), 19. PMID: 20040234
Stoewen, D.L. (2017). Dimensions of wellness: Change your habits, change your life. The Canadian Veterinary Journal, 58(8), 861-862. PMID: 28761196
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