Health is NOT Wellness! Here’s What Differs Health from Wellness – Mid Atlantic

Hey everybody, it’s Dr. Amir again with Real Chiropractic, speaking from the office at Mid Atlantic Chiropractic Center, South location. I just wanted to talk about a conversation I had recently with a friend. We were discussing the difference between the word HEALTH and the word WELLNESS and how everybody uses those words interchangeably, but they’re not the same thing. Wellness is not the same as health. Everyone says, “Oh, I want to improve my wellness.” How do you do that? What does it really mean? Well, you know, I just want to be more healthy. That’s not wellness. So, let’s break it down. Let’s start with the word health.

What is Health?

Health is a function. Health is how your body is functioning, how your body is operating. Health is your immune system working the way it’s supposed to. Health is your digestive system working the way it’s supposed to. Health is your musculoskeletal system working the way it’s supposed to. You can walk, run, squat, bend, twist and carry and do things. That’s how your musculoskeletal system works. Health is your cardiovascular system working. Your heart beating the way it’s supposed to, and your lungs breathing the way they’re supposed to. That’s heath- everything’s working the way it’s supposed to, and in cooperation with everything else in the body. So all the systems we mentioned- immune system, digestive system, cardiovascular system, musculoskeletal system, and your endocrine system which is your hormonal system, those systems working together is health.

All those systems working together in cooperation with each other are monitored and controlled by one conductor- the part of your body that monitors and controls all systems, which is your brain. Your brain controls and monitors all of that. So that’s health. That’s separate from wellness.

What is Wellness?

Now, wellness is the degree to which you enjoy that health and vitality. Does that make sense to you? You have people who are joyful. They just have a lot of joy. If health is joy, wellness would be how much fun they are having. Wellness is fun. People are fun-loving. They do fun things. They enjoy their life. That’s wellness. Wellness is the amount of vitality you experience in the dimensions of life.

What are those dimensions? Dimensions are your mental/ psychological/emotional dimension and your spiritual dimension. Then another one is your physical dimension. Your physical abilities, that’s a dimension in life. Then there’s the biochemical dimension. The chemicals that you put in your body. The ones you’re exposed to your environment, i.e., types of food you eat, types of products you put on your skin, what you’re breathing in, and all of that. Those are chemicals. So, there is this biochemical dimension, the physical dimension, and the psychological dimension, or psychosocial or psychoemotional dimension, or the psycho-spiritual dimension. So how much fun are you having in each of those dimensions, and how much are you enjoying your life in those dimensions is wellness. That’s different.

Imagine if I am pointing in two directions. I’m on a continuum. On one side is wellness, and in another direction is an illness and eventually death. And I get to choose which direction I go in; that’s wellness. And, you’re never in one place. You’re always moving. You’re moving in one direction or another. So every thought, every decision, every action moves you in one of the two directions- towards illness or toward wellness. Focus on moving towards wellness. You’re never going to be standing still. You’re always going to be moving.

So right now, reading this, you’re moving in the wellness direction. Whatever thought you just had, “Hey, I should start doing this or I should do more of that.”, that right there, that thought you just had, that’s going to move you toward wellness.

So let’s move toward wellness. Let’s not interchange the words wellness and health. They’re two separate things. Like I said, “Health is being joyful, and wellness is having a lot of fun.” So let’s go have a lot of fun. You got to be joyful first to be able to have a lot of fun. That makes sense. You got to be healthy in order to have wellness, but they are two separate things. So, go after it, move towards it and enjoy.

I’m going to bring you more videos like this real soon. Hopefully, you enjoyed it. If you did share it, tell somebody about it and help us out by subscribing. We can help more people become healthier and more wellness-oriented. Love you guys. Take care.