Wellness
What is it?
Five Essential Dimensions of
Health/Wellness
 Physical Dimension
 Intellectual/Mental Dimension
 Emotional Dimension
 Social Dimension
 Spiritual Dimension
Other Important Factors...
 Environment
 Career
 Culture
 Customs
 Beliefs
 Values
 Finances
Which wellness dimension is
the most important?
Which wellness dimension is
the most important?
 The dimensions of wellness are interdependent
 The dimensions of wellness are interactive
Wellness Dimensions Fit
Along a Continuum
 The two ends of this continuum are “optimal wellness”
and “death”
 Can a person be physically and intellectually well, yet
still be deemed “unwell” or “unhealthy?”
 Why or why not?
How Do We Become Well?
Prevention
 Tertiary Prevention
 When an individual gets cancer, the tumor is removed
 Secondary Prevention
 When an individual develops a chronic cough, he/she
stops smoking
 Primary Prevention
 Smoking is avoided altogether
Importance of Prevention
 Diseases seen at the turn of the 20th century
 Tuberculosis
 Pneumonia
 Smallpox
 Diseases seen currently
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
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Heart disease
Cancer
Respiratory disease
Stroke
Sexually transmitted disease
Currently, prevention is the
key to improving wellness
We Can Control Much of Our Wellness:
Choices, Behaviors, Habits, Lifestyles
 Make choices to improve
health, reduce disease
and discomfort risk
 Maximize healthy
behaviors, minimize
unhealthy behaviors
 Engage in healthy habits,
disengage unhealthy
habits
 Change or transform
lifestyles