Introduction
An optimal health status ensuring fulfilled physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of life is a desire for every single human being. This reports aims at investigating the various dimensions of health and wellness and the relevant measure essential in ensuring optimal health levels. The lack of wellness instigates adverse symptoms of chronic illnesses, which considerably handicaps an individual’s functionality. By analyzing a wide variety of books, journal articles and health and wellness websites, the report discuses the issue of health and wellness in terms of self-management, health benefits of physical activity, the self-planning for health lifestyles, tobacco health effects, and diabetics. With the employment of the appropriate measures, the mitigation of the various the various diseases, which develop overtime is possible.
Health and Wellness
Health and wellness refers to a dynamic process regarding an individual attaining the highest potential in terms of the physical, intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual and the environmental aspects. These aspects known as the six dimensions of health and wellness interact in a way that determines an individual’s quality of life (Corbin, 2008). The physical wellness describes a flexible, energetic and a cardiovascular fit physical body. The choices made in this regard pertain to exercise, nutrition, sleep, sex, injury and illness management, and the responsibilities concerning alcohol and other drugs. The intellectual wellness pertains to creativity and the mind’s openness to new ideas (Corbin, 2008). It is independent of intelligence or ability, but rather dwells on creating connections, evaluating one’s opinions and judgments. The emotional wellness entails the acceptance of self-worth, connecting with our feelings in a healthy manner, and creating and maintaining a realistic and positive self-conception. The social wellness involves the process of creating and maintaining healthy relationships in various aspects of one’s life. The spiritual wellness pertains to the discovery of meaning and purpose in life, and the values demonstrated through our behaviors. The environmental wellness constitutes of one’s choices that contribute to the sustenance and improvement of the quality of life in the universe (Corbin, 2008). These choices include the responsibility pertaining to the use of natural resources and animal and plant life. The factors influencing health and wellness are categorized into the internal and the external environment. The internal environment entails hereditary, congenital, and personally acquired behavioral risk factors such as smoking, and other attitudes and values. The external environment entails physical factors such as pollution, communication and the work environment, biological factors such as microorganisms, animals and plants, and the social-economic factors such as health services and income.
Self-Management
Self-management skills are special skills which when adopted facilitates the altering of factors related to adherence and help one to embrace healthy lifestyle behaviors. Individuals undergo a series of stages in the attempt to make lifestyle changes. Individuals in the pre-contemplation stage resist making any change to their lifestyle and fail to acknowledge that they have a problem (Hoeger & Hoeger, 2010). Once individuals have accepted the negative effects in the existing lifestyle, they begin to weigh the costs and benefits accompanying the lifestyle modifications that they intend to embark on. At this time, they are in the contemplation stage (Hoeger & Hoeger, 2010). The preparation stage constitutes of individuals who have recently reached the decision to change their habits and are starting up on their relevant program. The action stage, involves the actual process of lifestyle change. Consistency in the exercise programs and health feeding are key considerations. The final stage is the maintenance stage in which the successful lifestyle changes require sustenance. Several factors are associated with the attainment of advance stages of health lifestyle. The personal factors are often beyond a person’s control. However the considerably influence health behaviors. The predisposing factors enable one to move from the pre-contemplation to higher stages of healthy behavior. The enabling factors help people to follow through with decisions concerning changes in behavior. The reinforcing factors are crucial in bringing about changes in an individual’s lifestyle.
Health Benefits of Physical Activity
Physical activity is considerably beneficial to health and wellness. It facilitates increased energy expenditure and body fat metabolism. This enables the achievement and maintenance of long-term weight loss and goof health (Warburton, 2006). Physical activity boosts high-density lipoprotein and decreases unhealthy triglycerides thus helping combat various health conditions and diseases. Another health benefit of physical activity is that it preserves the structure and functioning of muscles, bones, joints, and the cardiovascular system (Warburton, 2006). In addition, physical activity supplies the body tissues with oxygen and nutrients and enables the cardiovascular system to function effectively. This boosts the overall energy for an individual. Regular physical activity promotes better sleep. Medical professional hypothesize that distal thermoregulatory responses to exercise contribute in to better sleep (Warburton, 2006) Evidence also shows that physical activity relieves symptoms of depression and anxiety, and improves one’s mood. It stimulates various chemicals in the brain that cause feelings of happiness and relaxation. An individual’s confidence and self-esteem considerably improve with regular physical exercise as it improves the appearance.
Self-Planning for Healthy Lifestyles
There are six steps in the self-planning for health lifestyles process. First, it is considerably important to clarify the objective for the changes one intends to undertake concerning his or her lifestyle. The reasons may vary from a medical advice to personal resolution. The second step involves the planning of the program based on one’s needs and the adherence to it (Corbin, 2008). The third step entails the clear definition of our goals. These goals should be measurable, attainable, and realistic. In addition, they should be timely and well outlined. The fourth step involves the selection of various program components based on an individual’s needs. The fifth step involves writing out one’s plan which facilities commitment to the program. A good plan entails timed and detailed daily plans. The final step is the evaluation of one’s progress as per goals set during the onset of the program. This helps one to monitor his or her progress in the program and modify the plan if necessary (Corbin, 2008).
Tobacco
Tobacco contains numerous toxic substances. The most damaging are tar, nicotine, carbon monoxide. Tar, which is a carcinogen, causes various types of cancers. Nicotine is addictive and increases the body cholesterol levels (Giannone, 2003). The components of carbon monoxide and particulate phases cause chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD). Due to nicotine addictiveness, the strategies to quit smoking need to address the physical addiction and psychological habit. Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) is one of the common strategies employed in managing physical addiction (Giannone, 2003). In this strategy, the brain is supplied with nicotine without the exposure to other harmful substances in the cigarette smoke. With the relief from the withdraw symptoms, one can then try to break from smoking. The other strategy is the use of non-nicotine pills which act on the brain to reduce nicotine cravings and the withdraw symptoms. Behavioral and cognitive techniques are also crucial in dealing with nicotine addiction. The behavioral therapy changes the stimulus and response patterns that promote smoking. Nicotine addicts learn to keep themselves occupied and distracted in response to the urge to smoke. Cognitive therapy enables addicts to cope with frustration, anger, and depression because of a lapse.
Diabetes
There are three major types of diabetes. The type I diabetes occurs when the body is unable to produce sufficient amounts of insulin. Its control requires daily injections of insulin to regulate the blood sugar level. The Type II diabetes, which is the most common type of diabetes, develops due to the fat, liver and muscle cells failure to respond appropriately to insulin (Guthrie & Guthrie, 2004). This results in high levels of sugar in the blood. Health lifestyle or drugs other than insulin can control it. Gestational diabetes results from the pregnancy hormones interfering with the functions of insulin. Normally the blood sugar level returns to normal levels after the delivery (Guthrie & Guthrie, 2004).
Diabetes facilitates various health complications. It contributes to the onset of high blood pressure and heart diseases. Moreover, it instigates numerous cases of kidney failure. In some situations, it causes blindness. It may also lead to complications in pregnancies. The adoption of a healthy lifestyle facilitates the mitigation of the impacts of diabetes (Guthrie & Guthrie, 2004). Diabetics should adopt the habit of checking their blood sugar levels to maintain it at healthy point. The observance of a good diet is vital in the control and prevention of diabetes. It should consist of less fats and calories with an emphasis on fruits vegetables and whole grains. Knowledge about diabetes and its symptoms is vital in the prevention and early detection of the onset of the condition.
Conclusion
Fulfilled physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of life are only attainable by observing the various aspects of health and wellness. By employing various planning and management skills, an individual can make considerable advancements towards a healthy lifestyle. The level of physical activity is a key factor that determines an individual’s Health and wellness. Lifestyle factors such as smoking serve to deteriorate our health and wellness due to the various toxins present in tobacco. The various types of diabetes make one vulnerable to other health conditions and thus their regulation is vital.
References
Corbin, C. B. (2008). Concepts of physical fitness: active lifestyles for wellness (14th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Giannone, D. F. (2003). That’s it, I quit: a guide to quitting smoking forever. New York: IUniverse, Inc.
Guthrie, D. W., & Guthrie, R. A. (2004). The diabetes sourcebook (5th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Hoeger, W. W., & Hoeger, S. A. (2010). Fitness & wellness (9 ed.). Australia: Cengage Learning.
Warburton, D. (2006). Health benefits of physical activity: the evidence. [CMAJ. 2006] – PubMed – NCBI. National Center for Biotechnology Information.