When someone asks how you are and you say “I’m fine” or “doing well” or “great”, what do you mean? Do you say that because you are not sick and because you are not sick are you really well? What is wellness anyway?
Wellness is definitely one of the new buzz words in health, and it means taking responsibility for your health. It means that you are considerate to your bodies needs, and that you choose a lifestyle that supports, maintains, and increases your health and is a whole lot more than simply being “not ill”.
Wellness means a healthy balance of the mind-body and spirit that results in an overall feeling of well-being and is an ongoing process throughout your life. Being well suggests good health, strength, fitness, aliveness, and energy as well as an inner sense of well-being. It is also a way of living that improves and strengthens your immunity to reduce the risk of major disease and illness.
The current “health care” system could better be called an “illness treatment system” treating symptoms and diseases after they occur. This system is dependent on sickness to survive; therefore, it must insure that there is plenty of sickness to keep it busy. It has nothing to do with health and fosters a culture of medical dependence and irresponsibility for one’s own well being.
This “sickness” business is reactive; no one really wants to be a customer of this system until they are forced to when stricken by illness. However at this stage the human body has already arrived at a broken down state and it may be too late. Wellness cannot come from drugs, hospitals and doctors.
The greatest health challenge our society faces today is the fact that 50% of people in the world has at least one illness and many have multiple chronic conditions with the majority of the population being overweight or obese.
Sadly, incredibly powerful, money motivated forces are not helping people to take control of their own health and are actually encouraging them to gain weight and become unhealthier to continue to feed the “sickness” system. Where are the voices of outrage about this? Do you care?
This has to be changed before it is too late for the sake of our own lives and our children’s. A new focus on wellness, not sickness, is essential for a 21st century health system. Without our health, little else in life can be accomplished. But health is not a given right – and wellness means becoming more proactive and taking responsibility for ones own health and well-being and finding and practicing solutions to ensure this.
People are voluntarily becoming customers of this new revolution – to feel healthier, become stronger and fitter, to reduce the effects of aging, improve the quality of their lives and to avoid becoming customers of the sickness business.
This new way of wellness is a philosophy of life and is a conscious decision to follow a healthy lifestyle that includes a proper exercise program that uses strength training exercise as the main component. This ensures the metabolism is keep running right to keep body weight in check and strength and energy levels high. It will also help distress and calm you making you feel really good, all helping maintaining wellness.
Wellness can be achieved individually through simple lifestyle changes like proper exercise and eating well using natural whole foods as opposed to processed foods. This double whammy will quickly put you on track with your lifestyle to ensure your long term, all round wellness.
