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Wellness:What is Wellness?
The term wellness was first used by a physician named Halbert L. Dunn, who published a small booklet entitled “High Level Wellness” in 1961. In Turkish, shortly the meaning of wellness is synonimous with well-being (esenlik)”. Dr. Dunn saw wellness as a lifestyle approach for pursuing elevated states of physical and psychological well-being.Wellness is first and foremost a choice to assume responsibility for the quality of your life. It begins with a conscious decision to shape a healthy lifestyle. Wellness is a mindset, a predisposition to adopt a series of key principles in varied life areas that lead to high levels of well-being and life satisfaction. A consequence of this focus is that a wellness mindset will protect you against temptations to blame someone else, make excuses, shirk accountability, whine in the face of adversity. Wellness is an alternative to dependency on doctors and drugs, to complacency, to mediocrity and to self-pity, boredom and slothfulness. · Wellness is a choice, a decision you make to move toward optimal health. Wellness is an active process of becoming aware of and making choices toward a healthy and fulfilling life. · Wellness is a way of life, a lifestyle you design to achieve your highest potential for well-being. · Wellness is a process, isn't just not being sick. A developing awareness that there is no end point, but that health and happiness are possible in each moment, here and now. Wellness is a dynamic process of change and growth. · Wellness is the integration of the body, mind, and spirit, the appreciation that everything you do, and think, and feel, and believe has an impact on your state of health. · Wellness is the loving acceptance and appropriate of yourself. As mentioned abov, wellness is the integration of mind, body and spirit. Optimal wellness allows us to achieve our goals and find meaning and purpose in our lives. Wellness combines seven dimensions of well-being into a quality way of living. Overall, wellness is the ability to live life to the fullest and to maximize personal potential in a variety of ways. Wellness involves continually learning and making changes to enhance your state of wellness. When we balance the physical, intellectual, emotional, social, occupational, spiritual, and environmental aspects of life, we achieve true wellness. We need more different dimentions for more understanding wellness. Dimensions of WellnessThere are many interrelated dimensions of wellness: physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, social, and environmental. Each dimension is equally vital in the pursuit of optimum health. There are six dimensions for wellness:
Physical Wellness A healthy body maintained by good nutrition, regular exercise, avoiding harmful habits, making informed and responsible decisions about health, and seeking medical assistance when necessary. To remain well, physical wellness requires that you take steps to protect your physical health by eating well, getting plenty of exercise, maintaining a proper weight, getting enough sleep, avoiding risky sexual behavior, and restricting intake of harmful substances. Intellectual Wellness Intellectual well-being involves ongoing education and expanding your awareness of the world around you. Learning new things such as an exercise routine or a new recipe can also be intellectually stimulating. Discussing new ideas with people from different cultures and backgrounds helps us advance in all aspects of life. This dimension of wellness implies that you can apply the things you have learned, that you create opportunities to learn more and that you engage your mind in lively interaction with the world around you. Emotional Wellness Emotional wellness can be defined as an awareness and acceptance of a wide range of feelings in one’s self and others. The ability to understand your own feelings, accept your limitations, achieve emotional stability, and become more comfortable with your emotions. It is taking responsibility for your own behavior and responding to challenges as opportunities. An emotionally well person is self-aware and self-accepting while continuing to develop as a person. Emotional wellness is the ability to form interdependent relationships based on mutual commitment, trust, honesty, and respect. Social Wellness The ability to relate well to others, both within and outside the family unit. Social wellness gives us the ease and confidence to be outgoing, friendly and affectionate towards others. It involves not only a concern for the individual, but also an interest in humanity and the environment as a whole. It includes promoting a healthy living environment, encouraging effective communication and mutual respect among community members, and seeking positive interdependent relationships with others. It is being a person for others and allowing others to care for you. It is also recognizing the need for leisure and recreation and budgeting time for those activities. Spiritual Wellness The sense that life is meaningful and has a purpose; the ethics, values and morals that guide us and give meaning and direction to life. Spiritual wellness is a search for meaning and purpose in human existence leading you to strive for a state of harmony with yourself and others while working to balance inner needs with the rest of the world. Spiritual wellness encourages a lifelong development of a personal relationship with a Higher Power in the Universe. Inner peace is also important in dealing with life changes, challenges and the present moment. Spiritual Wellness is the evaluation of personal beliefs. The person has pray freedom and able to in anywhere. Environmental Wellness The capability to live in a clean and safe environment that is not detrimental to health. To enjoy environmental wellness, we require clean air, pure water, quality food, adequate shelter, satisfactory work conditions, personal safety, and healthy relationships. Wellness activities and treatmenrs n Natural life and it’s philosopy
n Fitotherapy and aromatheraphy
n Hamam Treatments
n Natural foods, diet and weight management
n Massage, natural and traditional therapies
n Beauty and skin care
n Exercise and physical activities
n Rekreational sports and leisure activities
n Tai Chi, Qi gong, yoga and meditation
n Worship and pray
n Folk dances, social and cultural activities
Where we can find wellness activities?
n Recreational parks and centers
n Resorts and holiday villages
n Wellness and fitness centers
n Spa and beauty centers
n Rehabilitation and therapy centers
n Natural and healty life gardens
n Thermal and hot spring resorts
n Turkish Bath: Hamam
n Traditional bazzars, festival and conventional centers
In conclusion we have to know that health or wellness is a combination of physical, emotional, social, intelectual, environmental and spiritual well-being. Wellness has a large range of activities that we can not find in only one center. Some centers try to give some wellness treatments or activities. Wellness is a lifestyle. There is no end for wellness activities and it is not small to be named as deficient center. In this way maybe you need a guide, trainer, therapist, instruction, management or training.We suggest you to lead wellness or healthy lifestyles through health life training or natural life and natural treatments. Nihat AYÇEMAN, M.Sc.
Akdeniz University, School of Physical Education and Sport, Antalya/Turkey
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Wellness
