Running head: Wellness or Well-Being? Or...

Wellness or Well-Being? Or...

Emalee Schneider

Arizona State University

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Abstract

In this presentation, the term “wellness” is defined. When people think of the word

“wellness”, they sometimes think of the word well-being and/or health. Wellness is the one of

the most important concepts a person should accomplish and when wellness is accomplished, the

person will be healthy and in a state of well-being. Wellness also have different stages to achieve

in order to have wellness. This word is important to me because my major is Exercise and

Wellness and it is a key concept for a successful life.

Keywords: Wellness, Well-Being, Health

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Wellness or Well-Being? Or...

One of the key elements to living a fulfilled life is based around one simple term. This

simple term is not only significant to living a fulfilled life, but it allows an individual to feel

satisfied with themselves. What is this term you may ask? Wellness. Wellness includes all the

aspects of being healthy and being in a state of well-being. Unfortunately, this term “wellness” is

commonly misinterpreted with health and well-being. It is important to understand the realistic

definition of wellness because not that many people in the world right now are in a state of

wellness. According to the National Wellness Institute, “Wellness is an active process through

which people become aware of, and make choices toward, a more successful existence”

(National Wellness Institute 2017).

Wellness defined as “the quality or state of being in good health especially as an actively

sought goal” (Merriam-Webster). In order to reach this specific kind of state, the individual has

to realize their full potential to live a healthier life-style. In order for someone to reach this full

potential, the individual has to understand the sub words within the term “wellness”. There has to

be a sense of awareness of the current state of health and the six dimensions of wellness. The six

dimensions include emotional, spiritual, intellectual, physical, social, and occupational; which

contribute to be a “positive and affirming” (National Wellness Institute 2017) outlook on life.

Although wellness is commonly confused with well-being, medical, and health, there is a general

agreement that “Wellness is multidimensional and holistic, encompassing lifestyle, mental and

spiritual well-being, and the environment” (National Wellness Institute 2017).

The six dimensions of health is an important characteristic to define wellness. All six of

these make up someone’s health and well-being. In the simplest terms to brief describe each

dimension of wellness, they contribute to “how a person contributes to their environment and
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community, and how to build better living spaces/social networks, the enrichment of life through

work/its interconnectedness to living and playing, the development of belief systems/values, and

creating a world-view, the benefits of regular physical activity/healthy eating habits,

strength/vitality as well as personal responsibility/self-care/when to seek medical attention, self-

esteem, self-control, and determination as a sense of direction, creative and stimulating mental

activities, and sharing your gifts with others” (National Wellness Institute 2017). The emotional

dimension of wellness relates to how someone feels about themselves. The intellectual

dimension of wellness relates how someone thinks about certain subjects. The physical

dimension of wellness relates to the how much exercise someone does and how their health is.

The spiritual dimension of wellness relates to someone’s beliefs. The social dimension of

wellness relates to how people interact with others. Finally, the occupational dimension of

wellness relates to what someone does for living or as a job. It is important to fulfill all of these

dimensions of wellness because then someone’s overall health will be sufficient, along with their

well-being.

One of the word that wellness is commonly confused with is well-being. Well-Being can

be defined as “the state of being happy, healthy, or prosperous” (Merriam-Webster). Although

there is no correlation between wellness and well-being, well-being contributes to the meaning of

wellness. In order for someone to be consider well or be in a state of wellness, their mental

capacity must be happy and positive. Well-being can be seen as a measurement as happiness.

Which is why when there is data released from countries showing they have high happiness

levels but low health/wellness levels, it distinguishes a difference. Hence, wellness is not the

same as well-being and happiness is not the same as wellness. The term “well-being” is one of
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the most commonly misused words in the field of health. Being happy about life is a great

quality to express, but that is only one category of “wellness”.

Another word that is commonly mistaken for the word “wellness” is health. Health can

be defined as “the condition of being sound in body, mind, or spirit... freedom from physical

disease or pain” (Merriam-Webster). “Health is a state that someone is in and wellness is the way

someone thinks and chooses to act.” (The Well Choice 2014). When you have good health, you

are closer to being in a state of wellness. Just like well-being, it is only one aspect to wellness.

Wellness does not just include physical health, but mental as well.

Below is an interesting set of statements that separates wellness and medical(health).

These bullet points came from a blog called “Wellness, Well-Being... And What About Spa”

composed by Susie Ellis.

• medical is most often about cure, wellness is about prevention

• the medical profession has patients, wellness has guests

• medical is strictly evidence-based, wellness can be a bit more experimental

• medical costs have skyrocketed, wellness is more democratized

• medical has an authoritarian culture, wellness is more collaborative

These statements are important to embed into someone’s mind because it puts emphasis

on the fact that wellness cannot be cured or fixed by a hospital. Wellness has to do with an

individual and the individuals drive. It is up to any person who desires to better their wellness to

create a plan and follow through with that plan in order to reach a state of wellness. From one of

the statements above, Wellness is experimental; it may not be accomplished quickly or there may

be a downfall, but it does not mean there should be discouragement. It is important to stay

positive about this plan to accomplish wellness because then well-being will be accomplished.
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Wellness is not just a one time thing, it has to be maintained. Wellness is not health, medical, or

well-being.

The word “wellness” means to me that I have accomplished an important aspect of my

life. When I reach a state of wellness, I believe that I am going to feel happy and hearty. Also, it

is important to realize when you have not reached wellness. I imagine this person to feel lazy,

unmotivated and even possibly disgusted with themselves. Wellness has many stepping stones

until someone actually attains it. These stepping stones include not only the six dimensions of

health, but the terms “well-being” and “health”. You need to feel good about yourself on the

inside in order to allow it to show on the outside. Once you mentally reach that goal, then you

can get the motivation to continue feeling good; whether it’s by working out or eating right,

positive results can show physically.

Overall, wellness is a compacted word; words inside one singular word. Wellness is the

state of physically and mentally feeling healthy. In order to get to the state of wellness, an

individual has to be healthy/disease-free, and have to be in a state of well-being. “This language

decision was monumental...it calmed down the disagreements and allowed each establishment

that had something to do with renewing body, mind, spirit to still maintain its unique identity”

(Ellis 2017). As time continues to move, more and more people are becoming over-weight and

becoming more un-happy because of it. The reason why it is important to put an emphasis on the

meaning of wellness is so those people now and in the future, can be motivated to be happy

along with being well.

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References

Ellis, Susie (2017). Wellness, Well-Being... And What About Spa? The Huffington
Post. Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/susie-ellis/wellness-
wellbeingand-wha_b_9641722.html

Hettler, Bill (2017). About Wellness. National Wellness. Retrieved from

http://www.nationalwellness.org/?page=AboutWellness

Merriam Webster (since 1828). Health, Well-being, Wellness. Retrieved from

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary

The Well Choice (2014). Are Health and Wellness Really Related? YouTube. Retrieved
from
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=wellness+vs+health&&view=detail&mid=E
AB313A812CFFD92F9BBEAB313A812CFFD92F9BB&&FORM=VRDGAR

University of California (n.d). Spiritual Wellness. Wellness. Retrieved from

https://wellness.ucr.edu/spiritual_wellness.html