Your Portal to Wellness

Wellness can mean many things to many people. We know it is an important part of work/life, yet because of its many components and the diverse nature of our campus community it is difficult to construct one definition of wellness that applies to all University employees. The Wellness Initiative Task Force issued a report in the spring of 2004 in which it delineated the scope of wellness as a holistic community of individuals comprising mind, body, and spirit. Effective wellness strategies and programs must include these three components.
The following definition and Wellness Wheel provide a guideline for defining Wellness at SU.

WHAT IS WELLNESS?

• Wellness encompasses the active, lifelong process of educating ourselves and making choices that will lead to optimal health and more successful and balanced existence.
• Wellness is about embracing a way of life; an individual lifestyle based on one’s abilities in striving for the highest potential for well being.
• Wellness encompasses choices about our lives, our work, our families and our priorities that influence our lifestyles.
• Wellness is about forming positive connections with others and fostering positive acceptance of one.
• Wellness is multidimensional and is based on the premise that our minds, bodies, spirits and sense of community are all important and interrelated.

Dimensions of Wellness (from SaskEd Curriculum, province of Saskatchewan)
They are referred to as dimensions of “wellness” but they can also be thought of as the dimensions of one’s life – the dimensions of one’s being. They are the physical, the psychological, the social, and the spiritual dimensions. These four dimensions are interconnected, interdependent, and constantly interacting with each other. Maintaining or improving one’s wellness – one’s quality of life – requires continuous balancing and rebalancing of these four dimensions in response to the events in our lives.

Underemphasizing (neglecting) or overemphasizing any one dimension will have a negative impact on the others. Conversely, improvements in one dimension will have a positive influence on the other three dimensions. For example, improvements in one’s level of physical fitness (related to the physical dimension) will almost certainly have a positive effect on the psychological, social, and spiritual dimensions of our lives.

Associated with each dimension are a variety of factors that can cause us to move toward the optimal wellness end of the Illness-Wellness Continuum – or toward the illness end. Understanding these factors is an important step to improve your ability to manage them in order to move toward, or remain near, the optimal wellness end of the continuum.

Physical Dimension
The physical dimension deals with the functional operation of the body. In general, wellness factors related to the physical dimension can be grouped within the following categories:

• Physical Activity and Fitness
  • appropriate amounts of, and ease of access to, a variety of physical activity
  • a balanced menu of physical activity that provides opportunities for development and maintenance of each component of physical fitness – cardiovascular endurance, muscular endurance, muscular strength, flexibility, and body composition (healthy body weight).
• Nutrition
  • opportunities for a balanced diet
  • wise food choices
• Medical Self-care
  • regular self-tests and check-ups
  • proper use of medications
  • taking necessary steps when ill
  • appropriate use of the medical system.
• Physical Environment
  • safety in the home (e.g., fire, carbon monoxide, backyard trampolines)
  • sources and prevention of common injuries (e.g., blisters, sprains, sunburns)
  • safety related to the operation of motorized recreational vehicles (e.g., personal water craft, snowmobiles, motorcycles)
  • safety related to the operation of cars, trucks, and other vehicles (e.g., seat belts, designated driver)
  • pedestrian safety (e.g., jaywalking, light coloured clothing, or reflective strips)
  • stereo headsets causing users to be unaware of traffic noise and other sounds that would alert them to possible hazards or dangers
  • safety related to acts of violence (e.g., physical assaults)
  • pollution (e.g., sound, environmental tobacco smoke)
  • use and abuse of alcohol, drugs, and tobacco products.
• Other
  • stress prevention and management
  • adequate amounts of sleep.

Psychological Dimension
Factors of wellness related to the psychological dimension can be grouped into three categories: mental, emotional, and intellectual. These categories are described below.

The mental category of the psychological dimension includes:

• reacting to difficulties and adversity in an optimistic manner
• viewing difficult situations as challenges and opportunities for growth
• adopting a positive attitude
• accepting our limitations and making the best of a bad situation.

The emotional category of psychological wellness is the “feeling” part and includes:

• handling emotions and controlling, or coping with, personal feelings
• maintaining emotional stability at some mid-range between highs and lows
• laughing and being able to stimulate laughter in others
• being able to express emotions appropriately and comfortably.

The intellectual category includes factors related to “thinking”. These include:

• learning and using information effectively
• continuously acquiring knowledge throughout life
• engaging one’s mind in creative and critical thinking
• keeping abreast of current events
• being curious.

Social Dimension
The social dimension of wellness has to do with “others” – both human and non-human. It extends beyond relationships with people who are close to us – beyond our cultural environment of family, friends, and local community. Our social wellness is also dependent on our relationships and interactions with all that is not human such as plants, animals, and minerals that make up the natural environment.

Wellness in the social dimension of our lives also depends on our relationships and interactions with the buildings, parks, automobiles, and other elements that constitute the built environment. Factors in our cultural, natural, and built environments influence our behaviour, and in turn, our behaviour has an impact on these environments. These factors are described in the following sections.

Wellness Factors in our Cultural Environment

Given the growth of technology and globalization, we could argue that all of humanity on the planet makes up our cultural environment. But in terms of the wellness-related decisions that we make, it is factors in our cultural environment of family, friends, and people in our community that influence us the most. These factors consist mainly of our relationships and interactions with other people. They include:

• relationships with family, friends, and people in our community
• the ability to get along with people from diverse backgrounds who express differing beliefs, values, and perspectives
• the ability to resolve conflicts, to negotiate, and to reach consensus
• feeling “connected” to a person, group, cause, or even a pet
• a sense of belonging to a large social unit
• the ability and willingness to reach out to others and to care for them
• the ability and willingness to invest in meaningful causes beyond ourselves
• traditions – one’s own and those of various cultures
• socio-economic factors (e.g., race, income, education)
• technology
• laws and cultural practices within society.

Wellness Factors in our Natural Environment

Factors in our natural environment that can influence our wellness include:

• The weather and climate: Heat, cold, wind, rain, sun, snow, etc. influence the activities in which we do (and do not) participate, the illnesses and injuries we may suffer
  (i.e., increased incidence of skin cancer in sunny climates), and the moods we may experience (i.e., depression as a result of prolonged periods of rain and overcast skies).
• The geography: Lakes, forests, mountains, and rivers influence the activities in which we participate. Some people enjoy the wide, open spaces of the plains but feel trapped and enclosed in the mountains. Similarly, people who like the mountains and wooded areas may view the prairies as stark and empty.
• Pollution: The quality of the food we eat, of the water we drink, and of the air we breathe is affected by a variety of pollutants (i.e., carbon monoxide in the air due to car exhausts; residues of harmful pesticides in the air, ground, and water supplies). In addition, the earth’s protective ozone layer is being eaten away by human-made chemicals resulting in increasing cases of skin cancer and cataracts, and decreases in human immunities.

Wellness Factors in our Built Environment

We, who live in modern societies, spend nearly all of our time amidst the built environment that consists of buildings, streets, roads, vehicles, machines, furniture, and other objects fabricated by humans. Not all of these are fashioned out of inert or dead matter. The built environment includes the pets we keep, the domesticated animals we rear, and the domesticated crops we grow. It is made up of anything that has come into existence entirely to serve human needs and purposes.

There are numerous factors in our built environment that can influence our wellness. Some of these include:

• the extent to which the built environment nourishes our soul
• the design of our cities, towns, buildings, rooms, vehicles, furniture, tools, etc. and the materials out of which they are fabricated
• the resource demands upon the planet that generate massive amounts of waste and pollution.

Spiritual Dimension
This is the “depth” dimension of life. It refers to the values, beliefs, and commitments at the core of one’s being. This set of personal guidelines acts as a secure anchor when difficult times arise or when we have to deal with a crisis.

Spiritual wellness does not just “happen”. It requires time and attention. Unless it is nourished and exercised regularly, it will not be there to support us when we need it to counteract cynicism and despair. How do we go about getting in touch with our core and developing into spiritually healthy beings? A first step is to create an atmosphere that invites spiritual development. Time must be set aside to be quiet – for solitude, reflection, and meditation.

A basic precondition for the development of any kind of spirituality is the ability to tolerate, and even enjoy, solitude. The development of the spiritual dimension requires solitary practice – spending time alone. In our culture, however, very few people can tolerate solitude. When they find themselves alone, instead of reflecting, the typical reaction is to turn on the television, make a phone call, or find some other way to escape the solitude. When people experience moments of silence, taking these opportunities to focus attention inward and reflect upon ideas, feelings, and desires may contribute to growth within the spiritual dimension. The development of these abilities requires disciplined habits that are usually developed slowly over a long period of time.

For spiritual growth to occur, opportunities must be provided for students to reflect on their inner lives and to engage in serious dialogue on profound issues. Students need a place to respond in depth to questions such as: To what should I be committed? What gives meaning to my existence? What animates, energizes, and gives direction to my life?

Spiritual well-being means different things to different people. This dimension of wellness might include:

• a belief in some unifying force that gives purpose or meaning to life (i.e., for some people, this unifying force is nature; for others, it is a feeling of connection to other people, or a personal deity or universal life force)
• a sense of belonging to a scheme of existence greater than the merely personal
• a sense of purpose
• a realization that all humanity is somehow interrelated
• an understanding that true happiness involves more than the acquisition of material goods
• a desire to comfort and help others
• the ability to show gratitude and generosity
• a desire to contribute to society
• an attempt to reduce conflict and disorder
• efforts to bring harmony to activities, relationships, and the larger community
• a sense of wonder and awe related to the beauty, power, and mysteries of nature
• a potential, or capacity, to engage in thinking about larger purposes (e.g., social justice, ecological sustainability).

Wellness Wheel
The wellness wheel provides a visual representation of the concept of wellness that demonstrates the need for “balanced” or “well-rounded” lives. To attain and maintain harmony and balance in our lives, we must pay attention to each of the four dimensions of wellness. To neglect or over-emphasize any of the four dimensions will result in an out-of-balance (out-of-round) wellness wheel.

Imagine the wellness wheel as a tire made up of four separate air chambers – each one representing a dimension of wellness. If one or more of these air chambers is either over-inflated or under-inflated, the wheel will be unbalanced and the road of life will be a bumpy one. We roll along through life more smoothly when our lives are “well-rounded” or balanced. These ideas are represented visually through the three following graphics:

Balanced/Round Wellness Wheel

This wellness wheel belongs to a person who takes responsibility for achieving balance in his/her life. As a result, this person is rolling along smoothly through life – for whom everything is going “just right”.

Out-of-balance/Out-of-round Wellness Wheel #1

This wheel could represent a person who is overly concerned with having fun and socializing (social dimension), and neglects the physical dimension (e.g., has a low level of physical fitness, and/or is overweight, and/or does not have a healthy diet, etc.).

Out-of-balance/Out-of-round Wellness Wheel #2

This wellness wheel is that of a person who is obsessed with the physical dimension of wellness. He or she engages in physical activity for so many hours each day that there is no time for attending to elements of wellness in the other dimensions (e.g., meaningful relationships, reading).

Aboriginal Medicine Wheel

The Medicine Wheel is an ancient holistic approach to healing ailments of the mind, body, and spirit that explains illness as springing from an imbalance of being. The Medicine Wheel is a complex network of ideas, symbols, and philosophies depicted within a metaphorical circle. The Wheel is divided into north, south, east, and west doors, each associated with thoughts, feelings, time periods, and sacred elements.

A holistic approach to life where all things are connected is central to the Aboriginal world view. Illness is explained as an imbalance in life and restoring balance and harmony is achieved by examining the elements of one’s life represented by the Medicine Wheel .

Understanding the Medicine Wheel is a challenge because the prevailing worldview of mainstream society, with its emphasis on measuring and quantifying, runs contrary to the holistic and esoteric principles on which the Medicine Wheel is based. In fact, some proponents of Medicine Wheel teaching are cautious about even discussing the Wheel because they are concerned that people will misinterpret the Wheel and start using it without really understanding what they are doing. Communities and individuals seeking healing usually look to respected Elders and facilitators, who have mastered the Medicine Wheel over many years. For more information you may wish to consult The Sacred Tree (1985) by Phil Lane, Jr., Judie Bopp, Michael Bopp, Lee Brown, and elders.

Illness-Wellness Continuum

Wellness is not merely the absence of illness. The Illness-Wellness Continuum illustrates that there are many degrees of wellness, just as there are many degrees of illness. Moving from the centre of the continuum to the left shows a progressively worsening state of health. It depicts a wellness wheel that is becoming less balanced (less round). Moving to the right of the centre of the continuum indicates an increasing level of wellness. It shows a wellness wheel that is becoming more balanced (round).