Yes, the health and wellness business is thriving. Thanks to today’s generation who frequents the spa to be rejuvenated, pops in the so-called wellness supplements to address the lack of vitamins and minerals the body needs, undergoes easy treatments in hopes of curing a disease fast, takes energy drinks to provide physical and mental stimulation, and many more wellness products and services being marketed expecting desirable results— that they become a lifestyle.
But why is there still a surge of lifestyle-related diseases despite the deluge of these health and wellness products, services, campaigns, and clinics everywhere? Diseases that not only afflict the elderly but also the young?
It all boils down to, what else, but lifestyle. Yes, you may have regular schedules for the gym, spa, and clinics to look and feel good. But have you seriously looked after the state of your overall health and well-being, like, do you visit the doctor for a regular checkup, watch what you eat, allot some time for exercise, sleep at least seven to eight hours a day, nurture your mental, emotional, and spiritual health, foster kindness, love and care for yourself?
Just because you get a clean bill of health doesn’t mean the absence of disease. It’s actually just the beginning of a process, a commitment to stay in a certain state of health, according to Dr. John Travis in his book, Wellness Workbook. You have to work for how you want to live. If you want to stay healthy enough to live long, you have to put in some effort. You just cannot take wellness pills then eat something that is not good for the body. Or stop exercising because you hit your ideal weight. It just doesn’t work that way. No magic is involved here. Being well is “a lifelong adventure…a choice,” shares Dr Travis. Meaning, being healthy is a way of life, a life-long commitment. You choose to not stop doing what you have to do to achieve wellness.
There’s also the importance of personality. Are you kind to people, respectful of others’ feelings, compassionate, giving and forgiving? Don’t you notice, you feel good when you spread kindness? According to Mental Health Foundation, “studies have found that acts of kindness are linked to increased feelings of well-being and happiness.” You exude happiness when you feel well and good. And when you are happy, you tend to care for yourself more. Why? Because you love yourself. Loving yourself is not being selfish. It just means you have high regard for your well-being and happiness. You value your psychological, emotional, physical, and spiritual growth. That includes the world you live in, your environment.
The Global Wellness Day explains it best when it defines wellness as “a dynamic process of change and growth. A good or satisfactory condition of existence; a state characterized by health, happiness, prosperity; welfare.”
Be well, everyone!