Edited by: Veronika Potylitsina
To the any stressed out individual (especially university students), the idea of optimal health seems like an absolute dream.
Optimal health, in its very essence, is seen as a more holistic approach to well-being. Not only does it focus on the physical, but also on the mental, intellectual, emotional, social, and spiritual aspects. While one’s outward appearance can appear strong and fit, optimal health acknowledges that other factors aid in one’s overall wellness, as it is a state the connects both the mind and body.
Aside from physical health, there are other types of wellness:
Mental & Emotional Health
This kind of health emphasizes how we handle different situations in life and face them head-on with a solid sense of self. One is able to make smart choices in times of adversity. Along with this self-assurance, mental and emotional health lets you reflect on the depth of your emotions and how well you control feelings like anger, sadness, etc.
Tip: Ask yourself questions such as if you encounter something difficult, will you acknowledge your mistakes or blame it on someone else? Does your self-esteem deplete further when you mess up, rather than thinking about it as an opportunity to improve yourself and try harder next time? How open are you to talking to other people about your feelings?
Intellectual Health
Intellectual Health is knowledge about the world to live a more stimulating life through active involvement. It’s about being open-minded to opportunities that promote your creativity.
Tip: You can get knowledge from anywhere! Reading a book, playing Sudoku, having a light debate with a buddy, to learning a foreign language! Knowledge is at the edge of your fingertips.
Spiritual Health
Spiritual health focuses on another depth of ourselves. Spirituality is often tied to our values and beliefs, embedded into our personal code. Along with the mental and emotional, spiritual health has an impact in the way we react to situations.
Spiritual wellness asks questions that make us reflect on our purpose in life, how to attain happiness and fulfillment in living, etc. It satisfies needs that go beyond that money can’t buy.
Tips:
1. Spending time alone while meditating is key to honing one’s spiritual health. This gives you the opportunity to separate yourself from the loudness of life and to not let these distractions affect your reflection.
2. Spiritual health asks big questions about self-identity; it gives you a chance to question yourself at a deeper level in order to know more about who you are. Asking questions such as “Who am I?,” “What do I want in life?,” “Where do I see myself going at this point in time?” will help you to re-construct your goals to something that is more meaningful to you.
Social Health
Social health questions the quality of relationships you have with the people around you while having confidence and stability within.
Keep in mind, before you begin evaluating your friendships, that you are a friend to yourself as well. Learning to be your own BFF acts as a base to how you view your other friendships. It helps you understand what you seek within these bonds from who is the best to go to when you’re feeling down to who you should go to for support. It also helps in realizing which friendships are forever, and which friendships are better off cut due to their negative nature.
Tip: List down the names of people in your life that you identify as friends. For each one, ask yourself what you appreciate about them; how do they, as well as you, contribute to the relationship; do you spend a lot of time with them? Once you answer these, you begin to see which people are worth your time and effort, and others, unfortunately, are ones that only bring negativity and additional struggle to your life.
Optimal health is a step forward to understanding what brings you satisfaction in life through practice and reflection. It is important to note that optimal health is subjective. For instance, with physicality, there is not one set body type. Someone with 18% body fat may be healthy for their stature while for another, their ideal is 25%. When it comes to mentality, people have different ways of dealing with their struggles. These tips will help you on your path to optimal health, but be mindful that you can certainly personalize it to cater to your specific needs.