What is Wellness?

Wellness is more than a trend—the concept of wellness traces back to many ancient civilizations, like those found in China, India, Greece, and Rome. Wellness helps us create a complete picture of our health and connect us with treatments and solutions for the root cause of symptoms instead of plainly masking the symptoms.

Keep reading to start learning what wellness is and how a wellness approach can help us improve many aspects of our life and teach us to be active instead of reactive in our health.

Wellness Defined

According to the Global Wellness Institute, wellness is, “the active pursuit of activities, choices, and lifestyles that lead to a state of complete health.” There are two important parts of wellness: the active portion and the comprehensive portion.

That is, the pursuit of wellness is constant and involves all the choices we make every day about our health. Wellness is about continually working to make better choices for our overall health. It focuses on maintaining health through active choices to prevent illness instead of reacting when something’s gone wrong. All the choices we make directly impact all aspects of our health, and a wellness focus helps us consistently make choices that have a positive impact on our health.

Additionally, wellness is a comprehensive health practice, meaning it extends beyond our physical health and includes mental, emotional, spiritual, and social health. All of these aspects are interconnected, and a complete wellness plan will address each of these uniquely to the individual’s needs.

Aspects of Wellness

Complete wellness addresses five different areas of our health:

• Physical: This is what we usually think of when we think about health, and it includes things like diet, activity level, and the condition of our physical body.
• Mental: In wellness, mental health includes our engagement with the world around us and skills like creativity, critical thinking, and problem solving.
• Emotional: Our emotional health relates to our awareness, expression, and acceptance of our feelings and our awareness of others’ feelings.
• Spiritual: Spiritual health refers to the personal search for meaning and purpose in human existence.
• Social: Social health is our connection, interaction, and contribution to others and our communities.

All of these aspects of the self are interconnected and impact each other. For example, a poor diet or lack of activity can make us feel unwell so we don’t participate in social activities with others, impacting our social health.

In wellness, you ultimately find a balance between these aspects, and are continually making better choices for yourself as you go along.

Getting Started With Wellness

Wellness is a journey, and what you may need right now can change in the future. There will be times where one aspect of your health needs more attention than others. Because there are several aspects that require different actions, knowing where to start can be difficult.

But remember that wellness is an active process, so any choice you make to have a positive impact on your health can be your starting point. That may be something simple like taking a walk every day or starting a journal to help process emotions. Your choices can build over time, and the more aware you are of yourself and what you need, you can make appropriate changes.

If you’re unsure what choices are right for you, you can consult your doctor or a wellness practitioner, or someone knowledgeable in a particular aspect of wellness, like a nutritionist, licensed counselor, or spiritual leader. Remember that wellness will look different for everyone, and what works for one person might not be as beneficial for another.

How Laser Therapy Can be a Part of Wellness

Laser therapy uses red and near-infrared light that’s been proven to increase the production of cellular energy by targeting the mitochondria of the body’s cells. This has a number of effects on the body, such as:

• Decreased inflammation
• Reduced pain
• Improved skin texture
• Improved mood and sleep

Laser therapy is a painless, non-pharmacological treatment for many things that impact our wellness. All of these can factor into a wellness plan to improve our physical and emotional health. When we feel better, we can be more active with our friends, loved ones, and communities and have more energy to do the things we love, which improves our overall wellness.

If natural or non-pharmaceutical treatment is an important part of your wellness journey, laser therapy can fit into your plan. Laser therapy safely boosts the natural processes of our bodies to resolve pain and inflammation instead of masking symptoms by blocking nerve sensitivity to pain, like many pain relievers do.

If you’re looking to get started with wellness and laser therapy, Aspen Laser has over 200 locations in five countries who are ready to help you start your journey. Find one closest to you through the link below.