Wellness – Embracing a Happier, Healthier Lifestyle
“I am well,” is often used as a response to the greeting “How are you?”. Many people do not realize that being well is more than just a byword or trend. Wellness is the active process of making choices toward a healthy and fulfilling life. Everything we do and the emotions we feel relate to our well-being. They are crucial to living a higher quality of life. In turn, our well-being directly affects our actions and emotions. It is a continuous circle.
Dr. Tendwa Ongas, a medical officer at the M.P. Shah Hospital, notes that wellness is an intentional, ongoing, and holistic approach to making healthy choices for ourselves in various areas of life. It is not the absence of illness or stress, but a broad practice of internal and external behaviors even when experiencing challenges.
Wellness categories:
Wellness can be physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and intellectual. Each of these aspects contributes to our own sense of wellness or quality of life. Each affects and overlaps the others. At times one may be more prominent than others, but neglect of any one dimension for any length of time may have adverse effects on overall health.
Physical wellness is important as one advances in age. Optimal physical wellness requires regular wellness check-ups. According to Dr. Tendwa, while opinions vary, routine physical exams are generally recommended once a year if you’re over the age of 50, and once every 3 years if you’re younger than 50 and in good health. If you have a chronic disease or other ongoing health issues, you should see your doctor more often, regardless of your age.
Regular wellness check-ups can help find potential health issues before they become a problem. This then gives you the best chance of getting the right treatment quickly, thus avoiding any complications. This is what Dr. Harsh Khoda, a metabolic balance coach and the head of medical services at the M.P. Shah Hospital’s Village Medical Centre, describes as “taking important steps toward living a longer, healthier life.”
In a world that continually challenges us to be and do more, it is so easy to ignore self-care by pushing it forward to a future date. While we are too busy to notice, our wellness is slowly slipping away. While trying to juggle all the many responsibilities in our lives, we often don’t make the effort to take care of ourselves as we should. Do not wait. Take charge of your health and schedule an appointment with your doctor today.
