Living Long, Living Well
What Is Wellness Really?
Gretchen Heuring | ElderThink | 10.30.10
The idea of "wellness" has been around for about fifty years and became popular in the 1970s. It is about "feeling well" and incorporates techniques for preventing illness. It is also about quality of life and happiness. How to have them, and how to keep them.
We want our bodies, our minds, and our spiritual selves to be strong and vital. This means there are habits to form and habits to break; there are things to discover about our persons and our relationships; and there is seeking to find and strengthen our spiritual being. This is a lifelong journey and each of us must find the path from within.
We can adopt advisors and coaches and trainers, and we need to listen to them, but really, the discoveries and decisions are for each of us to reach alone.
We each know someone who has a perfect body and shabby values; or a wonderful spiritual presence but is obese. It's so easy to see the work other people need to be doing, especially if we have overcome some of the shortcomings we see in others.
Let's not forget that to be perfecly "well" we have to reach our best form in three areas. These are body, mind and spirit.
The body needs to be strong and capable of moving in all the directions we wish, lifting and carrying reasonable amounts, processing our food properly and without pain, giving us good information through our five senses, and providing us with energy through our days.
The mind must be capable of managing direction so we can travel somewhere and back again, organizational details such as folding laundry or hosting a party, recognizing people and places, learning something entirely new, and adapting to social situations or relationships.
The spirit experiences love both for another and from another, identifies through compassion with other beings, expresses generosity and kindness, knows loss and grief, and embraces personal peace.
When we are unwell, some or all of these three parts of us can get tangled up and we need to work on them all together to get them sorted out. This is when we need to listen and respond to our advisors and coaches and trainers so we can get on to our own wellness path.
Physical Wellness
Regular physical exercise can be gentle and even fun. Think about what it can do. When muscles in the legs, back and shoulders are strong, then balance is improved. Much less chance of falling and getting a serious injury. Moving briskly can strengthen the lungs and heart. It just takes a little every day. Breathing hard during exercise is a good thing. So is sweating. Yoga is truly a wonderful exercise choice for Seniors because it includes stretching are concentration. There are even great exercises for people who are sitting down. >>More
Mental Wellness
Mental wellness require exercise too. There are three types that are very important. The first is stretching yourself mentally by reading new things, puzzles, and games. The second is communicating to others and listening to what they have to say back again. This can be a passing moment in the grocery store or something longer like a book club or social time at the senior center. The third important type of communication involves spiritual strengthening. Some seniors find themselves drawing closer to spirituality learned in childhood. Others reach for something different such as meditation or the spiritual side of Yoga. >>More
Nutrition For Seniors
Eating balanced meals in correct proportion is important to Seniors. This improves energy and feelings of wellness. When we are younger we often don't realized the affect of various foods and combinations of foods but if you pay attention, you will be surprised at what you discover. >>More
As we grow older, there are a lot of stressful changes going on. Some are health-related but many more are changes in relationships, moving to a new location, and large amounts of time on our hands. It's easy to rely on too much alcohol or other drugs to "manage" these problems but this sort of management just puts the problems off because they still must be dealt with.
