Six Dimensions of Wellness: A Chapter Review

Introduction

As the nation continues to recover from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the concept of wellness has assumed new importance and relevance. Until just a century or so ago, humans were far less concerned about wellness over the lifespan simply because they died much younger than most people do today. In sharp contrast, children born today have a reasonably good chance of living into their hundreds, assuming the current pandemic is resolved in the foreseeable future. Against this backdrop, it is important to develop a better understanding of the fundamental factors that contribute to human wellness. To that end, the purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic review of Chapter One from Introduction to Wellness, Fitness, and Lifestyle Management. Following the review, a summary of the research and key findings from the chapter are presented in the conclusion.

The Six Dimensions of Wellness

In the introductory chapter, the authors provide an overview and description of the six dimensions of wellness — physical, emotional, intellectual, interpersonal, spiritual, and environmental — as well as a discussion of the qualities and behaviors associated with each dimension. In a sidebar, the authors also describe occupational wellness along with strategies that can help individuals achieve it. The authors make the point that, much like Maslow's hierarchy of needs, these dimensions of wellness exist along a holistic, interrelated continuum: the higher the level of wellness in one dimension, the higher the levels of wellness are likely to be in the others. In other words, when individuals' physical health levels are high, their ability to care for their basic living needs translates into an ability to achieve higher levels in other dimensions as well.

An especially interesting issue identified by the authors is the fact that the concept of wellness is relatively recent. Just a century ago, most people did not enjoy the luxury of being concerned about their wellness over the course of a lengthy lifetime because life expectancy was only around 43 years. This means that the majority of people 100 years ago were not suffering from many of the same age-related disorders that are becoming increasingly commonplace today, and decisions about healthy lifestyle choices were far less pressing (Hermon & Davis, 2009). Today, however, this situation is vastly different, and increasing numbers of health care consumers are focusing on remaining healthy throughout their lives. According to Walsh (2015), "As older Americans seek to reverse these dismal trends and exert control over their health and well-being, they have contributed to a 'wellness' culture that has found its way into almost every corner of modern life" (p. 24).

Healthy Behaviors and Lifestyle Risks

Following a discussion of the Healthy People Initiative — which focuses on the leading causes of death in the United States and some of the measures implemented to address them — the authors describe several behaviors that contribute to human wellness, including those prioritized by the Healthy People 2010 initiative. The healthy behaviors discussed are ranked by the percentage of Americans who routinely engage in them, covering modern physical activity, healthier dietary choices, and moderation in alcohol consumption. The authors emphasize that the combination of poor dietary choices and an increasingly sedentary lifestyle has produced yet another epidemic — overweight and obesity — that adversely affects tens of millions of Americans.

A particularly striking point that emerged from the breakdown of healthy behaviors is their simplicity and common sense. For instance, excepting only New Hampshire and the District of Columbia, all states in the United States have laws mandating that adults wear seat belts (Seat belts overview, 2020), yet — much like wearing face masks during a global pandemic with an airborne pathogen — far too many Americans still refuse to wear them despite their proven ability to save lives. Similarly, it is common knowledge that poor diet choices and a sedentary lifestyle contribute to obesity, but many Americans continue to make unhealthy choices regardless.

The authors also identify several factors that can affect wellness and provide a boxed entry describing wellness-related differences based on gender, race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Taken in isolation, any of the unhealthy lifestyle behaviors or risk factors identified by the authors can cause health problems over time. The harsh reality, however, is that these factors can also interact in unknown and unexpected ways to adversely influence wellness. The authors describe steps that people can take to mitigate these elevated risks, while underscoring the need for ongoing commitment to remain motivated in reaching individual wellness goals.

Conclusion

In Chapter One of Introduction to Wellness, Fitness, and Lifestyle Management, the authors provide a comprehensive background concerning the value and importance of wellness in people's lives. The description and examples of the six dimensions of wellness offer a useful framework for understanding the inextricable interrelationship among the dimensions in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. In sum, the authors provide a thoughtful analysis of the ways in which people of all ages can make the changes necessary to overcome unhealthy behaviors and replace them with healthier alternatives. In the final analysis, it is reasonable to conclude that some readers' lives will be changed after reading this chapter — though the authors concede that these types of lifestyle changes are difficult and may require more than one attempt.

References

Hermon, D. A. & Davis, G. A. (2009, Spring). College student wellness: A comparison between traditional- and nontraditional-age students. Journal of College Counseling, 7(1), 32–36.

Holland, D. & Wheeler, H. (2016, Fall). College student stress and mental health: Examination of stigmatic views on mental health counseling. Michigan Sociological Review, 30, 16–21.

Introduction to wellness, fitness, and lifestyle management.

Seat belts overview (2020). Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Retrieved from

Walsh, B. (2015, Spring). America's evolution toward wellness. Generations, 39(1), 23–26.