Wellness vs. Health: What You Need to Know

Wellness is often confused with health even though the two terms are not synonymous. Learn about wellness vs. health to learn the difference here.

When you hear the words, “wellness” and “health,” what do you think of? Do you think of the two terms as one and the same? If we were to ask you what wellness and health mean to you, would you have one answer that describes both terms? 

If so, then you’re like many other people who tend to group wellness and health together as the same definition. Although wellness and health do play a huge role within one another, the terms are separate. So, how do you determine wellness vs health?

Before you can understand the different aspects of each term and what each term focuses on, you should have a solid understanding of the difference between the two. After knowing the difference, you can then begin to look at the breakdown of each. 

Here’s everything you need to know about the difference between wellness and health. 

Wellness Vs Health: the Difference

When we speak about wellness, we speak about the balance within ourselves. Health refers to the lack of illness, disease, and other physical or mental troubles. Health, in most cases, cannot be controlled. 

We see this in people suffering from genetic diseases, high blood pressure, and so on. Wellness is the action we take to keep our bodies, minds, and spirits in good health at all times. We have control over our wellness. 

For example, we can choose to practice yoga for stress relief and physical health, we can choose to take part in several wellness activities like these wellness trends to keep ourselves well. 

There is more to health than you might believe as well. Health is not only the presence of or absence of an illness of some sort. Health also relies on our social and mental fitness aside from our physical fitness. 

When we practice wellness, we improve the health of our bodies as a whole. Wellness is the action we take for our bodies and health is the final outcome we receive. Here’s a breakdown of the different aspects of each. 

Aspects of Wellness

Personal health relies on 5 different aspects. When all of these aspects are given attention, we reach wellness. Here’s what you need to know about the different aspects of wellness. 

Physical

To work on the physical aspect of wellness, be sure to get at least 6-8 hours of sleep every night. You should also schedule in around 30 minutes of exercise each day to keep your muscles and joints moving. Be sure to eat 3 healthy meals every day and try to avoid skipping breakfast. 

Refraining from drug use is another sure way to keep your physical body in good health. 

Emotional

To seek emotional wellness, have a support system by your side who you can talk to. This might be a friend, family member, or professional. Manage your time wisely to help reduce the amount of stress on your shoulders. 

You should also find other ways to help manage your stress that work well for you. 

Spiritual

To gain spiritual wellness, spend time practicing your religion or faith if you have one. If not, you can reach spiritual wellness by finding a calm and quiet place to self-reflect in. Take in all of the natural elements around you.

Be at one with yourself and the world. Listen to the noises, smell the scents of outdoors, focus on your breathing. 

Social

Find a good balance in your social life. Stay aware of those around you and how they make you feel. Choose to place your attention on friends who make you happy, comfortable, and at ease. 

Leave relationships that do nothing good for you. Have time for yourself, but have time for family and friends as well. 

Intellectual 

Your brain should be put up to challenges regularly. This keeps your brain on its toes and works out its muscles. To better your intellectual wellness, consider taking up a new hobby such as signing up for a cooking class or taking classes at a community college.

You can also decide to complete puzzles and read more as well. 

Aspects of Health

When we choose to work through all of our wellness aspects, we begin to bring overall health to ourselves. Here are some of the aspects of health that we’ll see an improvement in.

Physical

When we choose to practice good physical wellness, we begin to see a drop in the number of illnesses our bodies suffer from. Practicing good physical wellness oftentimes leads to a healthy weight, a healthy heart, strong muscles, and a healthy body overall. 

Relational

As we strive to work on social wellness, we’ll see an improvement in our relationships with everyone around us. In social wellness, you choose to build relationships with those who offer you positive energy. In return, we begin to build strong and healthy relationships

Self 

Spiritual wellness gives us the opportunity to build a better self. We’re able to look into ourselves and make spiritual changes based on the type of person we want to become. The spiritual wellness aspect builds the foundation to create a self that we strive to be.

This might be a kinder person, a happier person, a less stressed person, etc. 

Start Getting Healthy by Staying Well!

To get healthy, you must stay well. Wellness vs health might seem confusing at first, but after reading through this guide, we hope you now understand how the two are connected, yet different. 

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