Integrated Wellness Framework

As I alluded to in my previous post, there are multiple facets of wellness that, when developed individually and as a whole, make up what I refer to as an integrated wellness framework.  One focus of this blog is the unique balance that everyone should strike, so as to optimize their own wellness and to avoid over-focusing on any one particular component of wellness; anything taken to the extreme can become detrimental, no matter how beneficial and healthy the activity may be in moderation. 

Consider young Olympian gymnasts: they are in impeccable physical condition, but are socially well?  intellectually well?  emotionally well?  If they focused solely on athletic perfection, without consideration of developing friendships, working hard in school, or failed to truly enjoy their lives, then likely not.  Read more about the risks of social isolation in early sports specialization here. 

Likewise, consider the wunderkind who becomes CEO at 40.  Remarkable professional wellness (or occupational wellness, as some call it); they have mastered certain aspects of their industry and likely have had a tremendous education.  But their physical well being?  environmental, emotional, and spiritual well beings?  Those likely are not in such good condition.  To read more about work-life balance, read selections from Take Back Your Time: Fighting Overwork and Time Poverty in America here.

Perfection should not be our goal.  Nor should we strive to develop each component of wellness equally.  Rather, we should (1) learn about the importance of each component, (2) decide how far we would like to personally develop them, (3) actively progress to a minimum baseline in each component of wellness, and then further depending on our goals, and finally (4) aim to bring it all together into a well-rounded, happy, healthy, and positive life. 

In the previous post, I made a note on the most commonly focused on component of wellness, physical wellness, and how it is comprised of nutrition, exercise, and sleep.  I will use a framework similar to this one to identify and deconstruct the different aspects of each wellness component (of which, as you can see, there are 8).  Once I have introduced each component of wellness, we can back track and systematically delve deeper into each.

Please feel free to share comments, questions, and bits of supporting (or contradicting) evidence.  Be well.