More Than Our Story

Multifaceted Health

Table of Contents

Overall Health

When dealing with our health, it’s often the physical that gets the most attention. It’s visible and tangible, yet there are many aspects of our health that are often overlooked, and just as important to our overall well-being. Neglecting any one of these aspects can have a very real impact upon our overall wellness. Let’s explore the individual areas that comprise our overall health:

Physical Wellness

The most visible dimension, being physically healthy is something we all strive towards, yet it often remains just outside of reach for some of us. Life, family, and careers are necessities; however they can keep us from attaining our physical health goals. While some of us have the time and resources to workout whenever we want, or eat whatever we feel like, there are a few things too important for any of us to neglect. Let’s explore:

Eating Well

Diet has a major impact on our overall health, especially the physical and mental aspects. Switching to a plant-based or plant-dominant diet has been proven to reduce our propensity for certain illnesses and improve our long-term health. Making smart decisions is also crucial – choosing an apple instead of chips, or water instead of sugary drinks are some of the small ways we can all make smarter choices to eat better. If you have children who are picky eaters, it’s never too early to set them on the path to better eating. They will be healthier and happier, as will you.

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Staying Active

Staying active is key to our physical well-being. Do something every day to keep yourself active. Pilates, bringing your dog to park, or stretching are all great options, it doesn’t need to be weightlifting or running. If you have a full house that needs you there, integrate your routines into family time. Yoga can be enjoyed by people of all ages and has calming benefits to practitioners.

Regular Medical Check-Ins

Make sure your visit your primary care provider for regular physical exams and discuss all concerns you may have. Discuss preventive measures like cancers screenings, or any other health issues relevant to your medical history and lifestyle. If you don’t feel comfortable speaking about these issues with your care provider, look for a new one – this needs to be a comfortable, safe space.

Getting Enough Quality Sleep

Getting enough, consistent, high-quality sleep is something most of us struggle with. Deadlines, sick children, the list is endless. Not getting enough sleep can have serious implications on your immune system, your ability to heal, and your mental health. Abstaining from caffeine and screen time for at least an hour before you go to sleep can help you fall asleep and stay asleep. Try getting any strenuous activities done in the morning if you’re having trouble falling asleep in the evenings.

Healthy Lifestyle

It’s not enough to be active and eat well if you’re hurting yourself. Limit caffeine and alcohol intake and avoid tobacco products and recreational drugs.

Emotional Wellness

Emotional wellness is less apparent than its physical counterpart. It can live hidden under the surface, invisible to others, even from oneself. Emotional wellness includes your thoughts and emotions. It’s about your confidence, and your ability to deal with life’s endless challenges. Signs of emotional wellness include your ability to talk with others about your emotional concerns, and your comfort with being able to turn down requests without guilt. Furthermore, emotional wellness is your ability to feel content most of the time – if you’re often depressed, you should focus more on yourself, and spend some time on self-improvement. Lastly, emotional wellness means feeling good about who you are, feeling supported, relaxed, and able to monitor and manage your own self-esteem.

Spiritual Wellness

It’s important to call out that spiritual wellness is not related to organized religion. You can be spiritual without being religious. The basis of spirituality is discovering a sense of meaning and purpose in your life. Spiritual wellness refers to your ability to reflect upon yourself and your life events, of developing a moral code and using that to navigate your life. Spiritual wellness brings positivity into our lives. Some things you can do include meditation, self-reflection, volunteering, being out in nature, or expressing gratitudes – something I do every morning with my family.

Every morning I take a moment to share what I'm grateful for with my family. It helps put us in a positive place and reinforces how much we have to be thankful for.

Daniel Hight

Social Wellness

Social wellness includes the quality and strength of our relationships with others and is crucial component of our overall well-being. As reported by the NIH, “higher levels of social wellness correlate with increased life expectancy and improved health, whereas loneliness and social isolation are linked to poorer health, depression, and increased risk of early death.” When we have a strong support structure in place, people that we love and trust, overcoming adversity becomes easier, because we no longer feel alone. Friends can make us smile, even turn a bad day around. Surrounding yourself with positive and encouraging people can do a lot for your overall health.

Healthy Relationships

Healthy relationships can make the difference between living a happy, enthusiastic life, and a depressing, unfulfilled one. Surround yourself with positive people that boost your self-esteem, make you happy, and challenge you to be a better person. You can’t control who your co-workers and family are, but you can choose your friends and romantic interests.

"Studies have found that people who have larger and more diverse types of social ties tend to live longer. They also tend to have better physical and mental health than people with fewer such relationships."

Dr. Sheldon Cohen, NIH funded Study: Do Social Ties Affect Our Health? Exploring the Biology of Relationships

Maintain Relationship Balance

Maintaining a healthy balance between family, friends, and co-workers can often prove difficult, but is crucial to your social wellness. Too much time at work and your family and friends will feel neglected. Find a balance that works with you. Be assertive. This is your life, your health.

Intellectual Wellness

Intellectual wellness is about keeping your mind sharp and your brain active, thinking, and questioning. Seek out new ideas, people, and beliefs that are different from your own. Prioritize and keep track of your tasks. Practice critical thinking – that is challenge yourself to see all possible sides of an issue before accepting an answer. Read a book, do a puzzle, learn a new instrument. You may find your emotional and spiritual wellbeing improved because of renewed focus on your intellectual wellness.

Environmental Wellness

Environmental wellness means more than being in harmony with the natural world. It refers to finding or creating, personal, professional, and natural spaces in which to live and work that are pleasant, stimulating, and motivating. To achieve environmental wellness, you can try the following:

Get Outside

Being outside has numerous benefits: Being active outdoors burns calories, reduces stress and clears the mind, which directly helps with physical, emotional, and spiritual wellness.

Personalize Your Workspace

I love surrounding myself with photos of loved ones and things that are important to me. These things not only motivate me, but make my workspace fun and enjoyable to be in.

Clean Up Your Environment

There is a tangible correlation between our environment and our mental health. Cleaning up our workspaces or homes has an unmistakable therapeutic effect on us. Removing the clutter in our environment clears our mind and relaxes us. It increases our focus, instils pride, and decreases our susceptibility for depression and anxiety.

Occupational Wellness

Because we spend so much of our lives at work, occupational wellness is a crucial component of our overall wellness. It includes job satisfaction, feeling inspired and challenged, our ability to use our talents and skills, and our ambitions for professional growth and development. People with good occupational wellness have good relationships with their co-workers, find positive ways to manage workplace stress, and have a good work-life balance.

Tips on Improving Occupational Wellness:

  • Make a long-term plan
  • Continuously strive towards achievable goals
  • Avoid overworking, maintain a healthy work/life balance
  • Create positive connections with your coworkers
  • Take breaks when needed

Financial Wellness

Financial wellness means feeling secure about your financial future. Sound financial habits can help reduce stress, which further support your emotional wellness. 

Here are some financial wellness tips that can have a big impact on your financial future:

1. Savings Plan

Have your contributions automatically deducted by your payroll or set up automatic contributions through your online banking.

2. Emergency Fund

Be prepared for the unexpected. Build towards an emergency fund that can cover three to six months of living expenses, including mortgage payments, utility bills and groceries.

3. Education Plan

Post-secondary education is expensive. Having an education fund will help improve your children’s financial wellness, while reducing both of your stress levels. 

4. Retirement Plan

It’s never too early to be thinking of your retirement plan. Well-planned finances are key to a happy and healthy retirement. Create a retirement fund and contribute frequently.

5. Budgeting

Make a budget and stick to it. Don’t forget to budget in a monthly contribution to an emergency fund if you don’t already have one.

6. Insurance

There are two types of essential insurance to protect your financial wellness:

  • Life insurance provides funds for your family so that they can maintain financial security after your death.
  • Disability insurance provides important financial support if you cannot earn employment income.

Tips To Achieving Overall Health & Wellness

Physical Wellness

  • Eat well, exercise, get enough sleep, pay regular visits to your primary care provider, and follow a healthy lifestyle.

Emotional Wellness

  • Share and emote with people, monitor, and manage your self-esteem, and spend time doing what makes you feel good.

Spiritual Wellness

  • Discover what drives you and gives your life purpose. Spend time in self-reflection. Develop a moral compass and use it to navigate your life. Meditate, volunteer, be grateful.

Social Wellness

  • Seek out healthy, fulfilling relationships, and maintain a healthy balance between work, family, and friends.

Intellectual Wellness

  • Exercise your brain. Keep thinking, and questioning. Seek out new ideas, people and beliefs that are different from your own. Practice critical thinking and develop your time management skills.

Environmental Wellness

  • Create personal, professional, and natural spaces to live and work in that are pleasant, stimulating, and motivating. Get outside. Personalize Your Workspace. Clean up your surroundings.

Occupational Wellness

  • Set goals at work to keep engaged and excited. Avoid overworking and strive for a healthy work/life balance. Create positive connections with coworkers. Take a few minutes for yourself.

Financial Wellness

  • Focus on sound financial habits to reduce stress. Create a budget and savings plan, including an emergency fund, education fund, and retirement plan.

SOURCES

Picture of Daniel

Daniel

Daniel is an extremely curious person, a wealth of random knowledge and facts. Extremely passionate about a vast array of interests ranging from health to history, science to athletics, everything culinary and the list goes on. Trust us, you would want to be on his team for Trivial Pursuit. Daniel is also years into his battle with brain cancer. He experienced a seizure while on a Zoom call at work in late 2020 and quite literally, his life changed within minutes. After his operation he started to talk about his story but had always known it was more than just him. From then, More Than Our Story became a PROJECT that has evolved into the starting point it is today.

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