The Newsy Neighbour Magazine
April Issue 114
Article Provided By: Cynthia Barnesky
When
you hear or see these words ‘Health and Wellness’ (two simple words, right?), what
comes to your mind? Your physical body, nutrition, weight loss or gain, exercise,
doctors, sleep (too much or not enough), stress, mental health, emotional
health, spiritual health or just overall well-being? Yes, exploring and
answering this question can be complicated and sometimes overwhelming to say
the least. Where does one start and when do you even start thinking about health
and wellness? These are all very important questions and my hope is that it
began as an infant and/or child, and that your parents were consciously aware
of your health and wellness; mental, physical, emotional and even spiritual
health. Here are some simple tips to help you maintain your health and
wellness:
1. You should always be aware
of what you put into your body as fuel to help you move, sleep, manage stress,
and to help you stay active and vibrate. These should include the right vitamins
and minerals for your body, along with a well-balanced diet. You should also
think of the products that you use on your body like soaps, lotions, perfumes,
makeup, deodorant and even the cleaners you use to clean up your world. Some of
these products contain toxins and they can damage cells, disrupt our
endocrine systems, and impair the body’s ability to absorb nutrients and heal
itself.
2. Movement is very important to help you maintain overall
wellness. It can help increase circulation, flexibility, mental awareness,
increase quantity and quality of sleep, assist with the disposal of body waste,
increase lung capacity and provide a way to manage stress. For the very young, it
can be as easy as rolling around and starting to walk, or when mom or dad give
you a bath and play with your arms and legs, or massage your back and feet. As
a youth or an adult, it can mean going for a walk with your dog or best friend,
going to the gym or playing a sport. If you are confined to a wheelchair or
other devices, you can ask someone to give you a massage or find someone that
will work through your challenges with physiotherapy. For the elderly, they can
engage in easy gentle movement like chair exercises, low impact aquacise or
have someone perform a therapeutic/relaxation massage. You can also go dancing
and just have fun moving your body!
3. For mental and emotional health, this can be a
little trickier! Everyone has their own points of view and feelings get tossed into
the mix regarding this aspect of health and wellness. Staying positive helps a
lot to help maintain better overall health, but it can be very hard to do when
your subconscious mind plays tricks on you and you hear and/or feel very
negative thoughts and feeling about yourself or others. Sometimes when this
occurs, we do not even realize that this is really happening unless we are
fully aware of it or someone else points it out to us. Being with family,
friends and/or partners can have a very strong influence on the state of your mental
and emotional health. We should be getting love, support, encouragement, and
even healthy criticism for us to learn and grow. There are so many components
to mental and emotional health that it is not really that simple; it is, in
fact, very complicated! All we can really do is to try our best, never give up,
ask a lot of questions, be willing to listen or speak our minds and try new
things to open our minds. Sometimes all it takes is to just ask for help!
4. Spiritual health is also very complex. There are so
many different layers and beliefs and no one has the right to tell you what you
should believe in or not. Respecting others on all levels of life helps you to
stay healthy with your body, mind and spirit.
Trust in yourself, love yourself completely, and
take care of all of you and all the layers of your being: mental, physical,
emotional, and spiritual health. Yes, health and wellness is complicated and it
will take time for you to learn what your body, mind and soul need to stray
strong, healthy and happy. Just knowing that it can be done makes it all
worthwhile. So, go out and start your health and wellness journey one
experience at a time!
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