The 8 Dimensions of Wellness

This month we’re learning about wellness and well-being.

Well-being is more than just feeling happy or healthy; it’s about achieving a sense of balance in various aspects of life. Each area contributes uniquely to how we feel overall, impacting our day-to-day experiences and long-term physical and mental health.

The concept of wellness can be divided into eight distinct dimensions, each playing a crucial role in how we manage stress, interact with others, and feel about our personal growth and environment. The 8 dimensions of wellness are:

1. Physical Wellness

To maintain physical wellness, we must maintain a healthy body through healthy exercise, eating balanced meals, gaining appropriate rest and sleep to restore and recover from physical illnesses and sickness. When we manage our physical body by taking proper care of ourselves, we function, live and grow into well-rounded, well-balanced individuals.

2. Emotional Wellness

To maintain emotional wellness, we could make time and space to become curious about our feelings, gain understanding and insight about our life experiences. As we manage our stress, anxiety, fears and other emotions, we become more attuned and self-aware of the techniques that work to build relaxation and self-care.

3. Intellectual Wellness

To maintain intellectual wellness, we could utilize mentally stimulating activities such as reading, studying, creating new ideas, researching interesting topics, learning and developing our skills to expand our knowledge and skills.

4. Social Wellness

To maintain social wellness, we take a look at building and nurturing healthy, positive and supportive relationships. Whether these relationships are romantic, platonic friendships or familial relationships, having supportive relationships helps build social connections, stay connected to others and lean on a support system that buffers mental health.

5. Spiritual Wellness

To maintain spiritual wellness, we allow ourselves to explore core values and eventually develop a value system to inform our decisions and what’s important to us in life. Spiritual wellness could bring meaning and purpose in our life. Activities such as religion, meditation, volunteer work or other meaningful activities could be ways to balance spiritual wellness. 

6. Occupational Wellness

To maintain occupational wellness, we could find it through our work duties, contributions or achievements in the workplace or through employment projects. If we seek opportunities to fulfill personal satisfaction and new learning or growth in our work, we could achieve occupational wellness.

7. Environmental Wellness

To maintain environmental wellness, we surround ourselves in nature, become curious of nature and spend time immersed in the outdoors to appreciate what it gives us. We could find ways to protect our environment and help reduce, reuse and recycle minimizing air, water and land pollution.

8. Financial Wellness

To maintain financial wellness, we increase our financial literacy to maximize financial stability and reduce financial stress. We learn to make informed financial decisions such as smart financial planning, managing our financial expenses, becoming informed and knowledgeable about investments and retirement plans.

The 8 Dimensions of Wellness is an activities checklist to help maintain behavioral changes and consistency in following through checking the 8 dimensions of wellness and well-being. By engaging with this checklist, we’re taking proactive steps toward a more balanced and fulfilling life. Each dimension interacts with the others, so enhancing one area can positively impact others, leading to greater overall well-being and life satisfaction.