Enhancing Health and Wellness Relating to Health Psychology

Enhancing Health and Wellness

The concept of enhancing health and wellness means different things to different people. To some, the enhancement of health and wellness is about exercise and a fit and healthy lifestyle based on a good diet. To others, enhancing health and wellness is an overarching concept that has less to do with an individual person and more to do with society as a whole. Why society has sickness and how more people can be reached and made to understand the value of health is at the core of this far-reaching understanding. That idea is much closer to what health psychologists consider when they talk about how health and wellness should be advanced into the future (Marks, et al., 2011).

Past experience has shown that there are many different components to health and wellness from a societal standpoint. It is not just about sickness and disease, but about environmental, biological, cultural, and psychological factors (Taylor, 2005). In order to enhance health and wellness for everyone in a particular society, all the factors that are faced by that society have to be addressed. That means governing bodies must find ways to get a health and wellness message to the people. There will certainly be people who do not heed that message, but if the uninterested people become the majority then it is time to reevaluate the message (Michie & Abraham, 2004).

Ending smoking in public places is becoming very common in the United States, and it is one of the best ways to enhance health and wellness. Since the dangers of smoking are so well-known to almost everyone, it makes sense from a societal standpoint to stop allowing people to smoke where others might be affected by it. Modern medicine is also improving and finding new and better treatments for people who have health problems. Because that is the case, there are fewer diseases and more people are living longer lives. Unfortunately, there are still many problems with health and wellness, such as obesity.

When there is a large problem with society from a health and wellness standpoint, it is clear that work needs to be done (Taylor, 2005). That is especially true if that problem is getting worse instead of better. When societal progress is no longer being made, it becomes very easy to start slipping backward into old habits that could actually begin to shorten life expectancy instead of increasing it (Marks, et al., 2011). Some studies say that the generation of children growing up today may be the first generation that does not live as long as their parents (Marks, et al., 2011). The reason behind that decline in lifespan is obesity.

In order to really enhance health and wellness, the message about obesity and its health problems must be changed. Health psychologists are working on ways to help people absorb and understand the dangers of some of their current behaviors. There will always be people who choose to ignore a message, but obesity is growing at such a rapid rate it is clear that the message has failed. New messages must be created, or the health and wellness of society as a whole will continue to decline (Michie & Abraham, 2004).