MentalSocial Physical

Physical Health: the conditions of a person’s body. A proper diet, exercise, and the right amount of sleep are examples of keeping the body in good physical condition. Mental Health: the condition of a person’s mind and the ways that person expresses their feelings. Understanding one’s own feelings, and being able to express them in healthful ways are ways to maintain good mental (and emotional) health. Social Health: the condition of a person’s relationships with family members and others. Expressing yourself, and working toward positive interactions with people are important for social health.

Knowledge: do you have the proper information and understand it as it relates to your health? Access: do you have access to the information and/or products that affect your health? With no access, your health status can be compromised. Behavior: do you engage in risk-taking behavior? Media influences: are you influenced by the explosion of healthy or harmful health behaviors which saturate the media? (Internet, TV, music, etc.) Communication skills: do you the proper communication and/or resistance skills when it comes to sharing thoughts, feelings, and information regarding your health? Do you have good conflict- resolution skills? Heredity: are you aware of any “family” issues that would affect your health, both in a healthful or harmful way? Environment: do you live in an environment that does not promote healthy behavior?

 It takes more than physical exercise to maintain good health. Balance is the key to leading a healthy lifestyle. Wellness is the dynamic process of becoming aware of, taking responsibility for, and making choices that directly contribute to one’s well being and that of the common good. It is the integration of body, mind and spirit and the ongoing development of one’s own meaning in life.

 Physical Wellness means respecting and taking care of your body. It is applying your knowledge, motivation, and skills toward enhancing personal fitness and health. It is making healthy and positive choices regarding a variety of issues including nutrition, physical activity, sexuality, sleep, the use of alcohol and other drugs, self-care, and the appropriate use of health care systems.

 Intellectual Wellness is having a curiosity and strong desire to learn. It is a lifelong process of creating and reflecting upon experience, staying stimulated with new ideas, and sharing. It is discovering challenges, overcoming barriers, and integrating opportunities to grow, make plans, develop strategies, and solve problems in an academic community dedicated to leadership and service to others. It is the ability to engage in clear thinking and recall, and to think independently, creatively, and critically.

 Emotional Wellness is striving to meet emotional needs constructively. It is the ability to respond resiliently to emotional states and the flow of life events. It is realistically dealing with a variety of situations and learning how your behaviors, thoughts, and feelings affect one another and your decisions. 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 means contributing to one’s human and physical environment for the common welfare of, and social justice within, one’s community. 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.

 Occupational or Vocational Wellness is a fit between who you are called to be and what you are called to do. It is finding the place where your deep desires and gifts meet a need in the community. A “vocationally well” person expresses his or her values through paid and volunteer activities that are personally rewarding and that make a contribution to the well being of the community. Occupational wellness involves continually learning new skills and seeking challenges that lead to personal growth and a better world. Listening for and following your vocational calling is a lifelong process.

 Spiritual Wellness is the quest for meaning, value, and purpose resulting in hope, joy, courage and gratitude. It is the discovery and incorporation of a personal set of values and beliefs that defines the person, places the individual in relation to the larger community, and engages a faith that promotes justice.

 Global or Environmental Wellness is an awareness of the precarious state of the earth and the effects of your daily habits on the physical environment. It is respect for God’s creation and the beauty and balance of nature. Global wellness involves maintaining a way of life that maximizes harmony with the earth and minimizes harm to the environment. It includes being involved in socially responsible activities to protect the environment.