What is Wellness?
Unlike health measures (for example, blood pressure reading, weight on a scale, blood sugar reading) - which are static; wellness is determined by your everyday health behaviors, practices, and habits. Components of wellness include, but are not limited to, your:
- exercise routine,
- nutrition and dietary habits,
- responsible consumption of alcohol,
- use (or non-use) of tobacco and nictone products,
- sleep patterns,
- ability to manage finances,
- lifestyle in terms of inviting or minimizing stress,
- engagement in quality time with your significant other,
- interactions and connections with your family and friends,
- medication compliance.
- To repeat, your "wellness" is determined by your everyday health behaviors, practices, and habits.
- For instance, to be "well" in terms of exercise habits, most people should exercise at least two or three times per week, if not daily, for at least 20 to 30 minutes.
- If you never or rarely exercise then you are "unwell" in terms of exercise and should change.
- But, how do you change? What about setbacks? This is where understanding the Stages of Wellness can help!
INCOGNIZANCE
- If you are in the stage of Incognizance then you are not consciously aware that you are engaging in an unhealthy behavior (such abusing alcohol) - or - you are not engaging in a healthy behavior (such as regular exercise).
- You are unwell either because you lack adequate knowledge or are in denial. You may experience a flicker of understanding, but you ignore or suppress it. Basically, you have your head in the sand!
- If your physician, partner or trusted friend suggest you consider making a change in your health behaviors then at least consider it because you might simply be in the Stage of Incognizance!
AWARENESS
- You move from the stage of Incognizance to the stage of Awareness the moment you realize you "have a problem." In other words, you understand that your unhealthy behavior will lead to long-term health consequences unless you make a change.
- The light bulb of awareness can abruptly illuminate or gradually brighten.
- An example of an instant illumination is a man who has very poor eating habits and rarely if ever exercises. Then, one day, he looks at a photograph of himself and thinks “Wow! I am fat!!"
- An example of a gradual awareness is a woman who, over the past year, has gradually become aware that her life has become more hectic. Then, one day, the light bulb is bright enough for her to fully realize the seriousness of her deteriorating health.
CONTEMPLATION
- You are in the Contemplation stage if you recognize that you have poor health habits and are considering making a change, but have not (yet) done so.
- Example #1: You are obese and you are aware you should lose weight and you start to think that perhaps you should do something about it.
- Example #2: You smoke cigarettes and you are aware that smoking is an unhealthy behavior and you are considering quitting.
- Obviously, some people can be locked in the Contemplation Stage for a very long time - if not indefinitely.
- To move out of the Contemplation stage, you must begin Preparation.
PREPARATION
- You are in the Preparation stage as soon as you start to prepare to make a change to adopt a healthy behavior - or - to stop an unhealthy behavior.
- To prepare to succeed, you must first educate yourself and set a modest goal for yourself.
- Below are a variety of Preparation examples.
Preparation: Better Manage / Reduce Stress
- Your'e thinking you'd like to adopt strategies to better manage / reduce stress.
- To prepare, you first assess your stress.
- Next, you investigate interventions to manage your stress.
- You learn there are many ways to improve your ability to manage stress, including healthy eating and exercise.
- You decide you'll investigate healthy eating first because you're also interested in losing weight.
Preparation: Healthy Eating
- To prepare to eat more healthy to better manage your stress and lose weight, you investigate the whole food, plant-based diet.
After you investigate changing your diet, you decide you'd rather adopt an exercise program and return to your diet later.
Preparation: Regular Exercise
To increase the likelihood you won't stop exercising after you start, it's a good idea to first learn the benefits of exercise. Exercise:
- decreases mortality (premature death);
- can improve medical conditions such as heart disease and diabetes, reduce risk of cancer, reduce risk of osteoporosis and bone fractures, reduce the risk of gallstones, and cognition (thinking);
- greatly helps an "overfat" or obese person to lose fat while preserving muscle mass;
- reduces stress / anxiety / depression;
- helps a person to stop smoking (or using another tobacco/nicotine product).
- You watch another video about exercise and learn there are two primary types: cardiovascular and strength training.
- Eventually, you'll want to incorporate both cardiovascular training (e.g., walking) and strength training, but you decide you'll start with cardiovascular. Good idea!
- Your goal is to start a daily exercise program.
- But, before you start, be certain to obtain "clearance" and complete the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q).
- In some cases, the PAR-Q will direct you to obtain clearance from your physician.
- This short video summarizes a few other important exercise safety recommendations.
- Next, you consider different modes (types) of exercise (e.g., bike, jog, swim).
- What modes of exercise might you enjoy - or at least don't hate?
- Do you want to exercise at home or would you prefer to exercise at a facility, such as at a health club or yoga studio?
- How readily can you access each particular mode of exercise?
- Let's say you first consider swimming.
- You watch a video about starting a swim program and you think you might like it.
- Then, you realize you'd need to join a facility with a pool or buy your own pool. However, there are no pools in your area and you can't afford to buy one.
- You cross swimming off your list of options.
- Next, you consider pilates or yoga.
- You watch a video about pilates and yoga to learn the difference between the two.
- You think you'd need to attend classes rather than perform them in your home, but there aren't any studios in your area.
- You cross pilates and yoga off your list.
- Next, you consider indoor bicycling, also known as spinning, because you think you might like it.
- You would need to join a health club or buy a stationary bicycle.
- You watch a video about spinning and then decide you don't want to do an exercise sitting down.
- You cross spinning off your list.
- Next, you consider walking because you think you might like it.
- You would need to join a health club or you could simply walk outdoors.
- You watch a video about "walking" and then decide walking will be your mode of exercise!
- Congratulations!
- You set a modest first-level goal: To walk briskly 15 to 20 minutes every day.
- You live in Palatka, FL and consider joining the local health club, Planet Fitness, but then you learn they allow men into the women's/girls' locker rooms and showers so you do not! (But, you do write them a letter and let them you know their policy is abhorrent! Headquarters: 4 Liberty Lane, West Hampton NH 03842.)
- You decide you'd rather walk outdoors and get some fresh air, anyway!
- You recall Putnam County offers the beautiful Riverfront Park and you decide that's where you'll visit to exercise
- Now that you've decided on walking for exercise, you'll need to do a little more preparation to increase the likelihood you'll be comfortable and compliant.
- You buy a good pair of sneakers. Consider Orthofeet, it is a very good brand.
- Don't forget to prepare to hydrate (drink plenty of fluids)! Perhaps buy a water bottle.
Preparation: Quit Smoking
- In addition to exercise, you decide you want to quit smoking because you understand exercising can help you quit, anyway!
- To prepare to quit, you watch videos about the hazards of smoking. You learn that your smoking is hazardous to the health of your children!
- Next, you examine a variety of self-help tools to quit smoking.
- You set a goal to not smoke past Saturday and use the "Tobacco Free Florida Web Quit" to keep you on track.
ACTION
- The Action stage begins as soon as you start your new healthy behavior - or - you stop an unhealthy behavior.
- Example #1: If your new healthy behavior is to start a walking program, then your Action stage begins as soon as you have completed your first walk!
- Example #2: If your unhealthy behavior is smoking, then you have started the Action stage as soon as you skip your your "morning cigarette."
- Congratulations!
COMPLIANCE
- The Compliance stage begins upon the completion of a goal behavior.
- Example #1: You've taken at least a short walk every day for the past two days.
- Example #2: You have not smoked for a whole day.
- Congratulations!
LAPSE
- If you stop your healthy behavior (or restart an unhealthy behavior) then you have had a Lapse.
- Example #1: You skip your Friday walk.
- Example #2: Your goal is get at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night, but one night you stay up too late and get only five hours of sleep.
- It is not uncommon to have lapses and, because a lapse is a minor transgression, a few here and there will not adversely affect your well-being.
- That being said, immediately following a lapse you should return to the Preparation stage to figure out what you need to do to get back on track so your Lapse does not turn into a Relapse!
- Example: Your goal is to avoid high-fat foods, but you're at a party and you Lapse and eat a piece of cake. To avoid a Relapse, you should decline if the host offers to send a piece of cake home with you!
RELAPSE
- In contrast to a Lapse, a Relapse is a more serious transgression.
- If you experience a Relapse, then return to the Preparation stage and endeavor to fix the root cause of the Relapse.
LAPSE versus RELAPSE?
- What quantifies as a Lapse and what quantifies as a Relapse varies depending upon the context.
- Example #1: You have been exercising at the health club three times per week for four weeks. If you miss a workout then that would be a lapse. If you miss two to three workouts then that would likely be a Relapse.
- Example #2: You have been following a low-fat diet for a year. If you eat a huge high-fat piece of cake then that would be a lapse, if you eat a piece cake every day for three straight days then that would be a relapse.
- Example #3: You have been brushing and flossing your teeth twice daily for years. If you miss one floss then that is a Lapse. If you neither brush nor floss for a day then that is a Relapse. Gross!
- There are certain health behaviors with which a non-compliance is immediately classified as a relapse.
- Examples: a former smoker who smokes a cigarette; an alcoholic who drinks alcohol; a former illicit drug user who uses drugs.
PERMANENT COMPLIANCE
- In the Permanent Compliance stage, the health behavior itself is reinforcing and you are intrinsically motivated to continue the health behavior (such as exercise) - OR - to not return to the unhealthy behavior (such as smoking).
- If you are in the Stage of Permanent Compliance, you ‘just wouldn't feel right" if you didn't engage in your healthy behavior (or, you engaged in the unhealthy behavior).
- Example: You feel the need to brush your teeth each morning and do so. Further, if something were to delay you (e.g., your two-old daughter needs your attention), you would brush your teeth as soon as you could after you helped her.
- The time to reach the stage of Permanent Compliance varies greatly, but usually takes at least one year.
- Although it is normal to experience a Lapse when in the Stage of Permanent Compliance, you are beyond the risk of Relapse.
- In fact, if you experience a Relapse then you were never truly in the state of Permanent Compliance - you just thought you were!