Professional Documents
Culture Documents
06 MPU2312 T2 (Amend)
06 MPU2312 T2 (Amend)
2 of Health and
Wellness I
LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of this topic, you should be able to:
1. Identify eight dimensions of health and wellness;
2. Plan physical activities that will contribute to physical wellness;
3. Select the strategies to achieve balanced emotional wellness;
4. Employ the spiritual support to enhance wellness; and
5. Evaluate the significance of intellectual dimension in wellness.
INTRODUCTION
Let us start this topic by reading the following quote from Benjamin Disraeli
(refer to Figure 2.1):
Figure 2.1: Benjamin Disraeli, former prime minister of Great Britain (from 1804 to 1881)
Source: www.azquotes.com
What can you infer from this quote? Obviously, the quote in Figure 2.1 states the
importance of health. But do you know that there are other dimensions as well
that are essential to health and wellness? These are the physical, emotional,
spiritual and intellectual dimensions which are important attributes for health
and wellness.
Therefore, this topic will focus on these four dimensions ă physical, emotional,
spiritual and intellectual. Are you ready to discover more? Let us start the
journey!
Do you agree that health is more than a matter of individual choices, family and
other social relationships? For instance, if a spouse has a serious illness, the
chances that his/her marital partner will acquire a serious illness doubles
(Stroebe et. al, 2007). This is the reason why the philosophy of holistic health
emphasises the unity of the mind, spirit and body.
For example, think of the time when you had a headache. Although headaches
can be associated with brain injury or the symptoms of another illness, more
often than not it is caused by emotional stress. This produces a tightening of the
muscles on the neck or head. These contracting muscles increase the blood
pressure in the head, thereby causing the headache. Most people relieve
headaches by taking analgesic drugs or seeking other alternative remedies such
as massage to relieve the pain as it can alter physiological mechanisms that
produce the pain.
In contrast, someone may use the holistic approach as the first step to determine
the source of stress, tension, worry, anger or frustration and then plan to reduce
the emotional stress that may cause the illness.
Health can also be defined as a reflection of your ability to use the intrinsic and
extrinsic resources related to each dimension of health to participate fully in the
activities that contribute to your growth and development, with the goal of
feeling a sense of well-being as you evaluate your progress through life (Payne,
Hahn & Mauer, 2005).
Did you realise that the real problem of health lies within ourselves? Even
though most people are aware of their unhealthy lifestyles such as smoking,
inactivity, high-fat diets or excessive stress, they seem satisfied as long as they
think they are free from any symptoms of diseases or illness. Therefore, they will
not change their lifestyle until they suffer a major health problem such as
hypertension, diabetes or heart problems. That is why it is important for us to
recognise that our current lifestyle habits dictate our future health and well-
being.
The description of the four dimensions that we will look into in the next subtopic
is as follows:
Take note that when all the dimensions to health and wellness are integrated and
function together, one will achieve a high level of wellness or optimal health.
As stated before, these dimensions are interrelated; one frequently affects the
others. For example, a person who is emotionally down often has no desire to
exercise, study, socialise with friends, or attend mosque or church and may be
more susceptible to illness. Therefore, these eight dimensions of wellness will
show you how the concept clearly goes beyond the absence of disease.
SELF-CHECK 2.1
Let us learn more on the first dimension of wellness which is physical. What does
it mean to be a physically well individual?
In addition, people in good physical condition also avoid harmful drugs and
smoking as well as seek medical care as needed and participate in activities that
help prevent illness.
How does one achieve such a condition? We will look briefly at one big factor
that contributes to the physical wellness of a person, which is physical fitness.
Jim Fixx (refer to Figure 2.3) is the famous author of the best seller book
entitled The Complete Book of Running. He died at the age of 52 due to heart
attack, although he had been running between 60 and 80 miles a week.
He believed that his high level of fitness would prevent dying from heart
attack. At age of 36, Jim Fixx smoked two packs of cigarettes per day, and did
not participate in regular physical activity and had a family history of heart
disease.
His father had his first heart attack at the age of 35 and died when he was 43
years old. Jim Fixx began to raise his level of fitness. He started to jog and quit
smoking. On several occasions, he declined to have electrocardiogram (ECG)
test, which would likely have revealed his cardiovascular status.
Now, what can you say as a conclusion to the given scenario? It illustrates that an
exercise programme itself is unable to make high-risk people immune to heart
disease, though it may delay the onset of cardiac arrest. What kind of exercises
can you practise to achieve physical fitness? Well, let us look at Figure 2.4 for
some examples.
„Physical fitness is defined as the ability to meet the ordinary as well as the
unusual demands of daily life safely and effectively without being overly
fatigued and still have energy left for leisure and recreational activities‰.
Did you realise that when you choose to commit to physical activities as a way of
life, you will regularly exercise in order to keep fit? Aside from that, when you
are pursuing your physical fitness activities, you will probably meet other
healthy and active people. Through this, you will be able to expand your circle of
friends.
As a conclusion, we can say that a person with physical wellness is able to:
ACTIVITY 2.1
Appoint an instructor and start the exercise for the first 15 minutes.
SELF-CHECK 2.2
The emotional dimension of health encompasses the ability to cope with stress
such as remaining flexible and compromising to resolve problems. Please note
that our ability to cope with stress will change as we age and as we learn new
skills of managing our emotion. For example, young adults who are in the
process of growth and development will experience emotional vulnerability,
which may lead to feelings of rejection and failure. This can affect productivity
and self-satisfaction (refer to Figure 2.6).
Now, what can we say about emotional stability? What does it stand for?
When success is evident, people who are emotionally well radiate with expected
joy. On the contrary, when failure seems imminent, they respond by making the
best of circumstances and move beyond failure.
Last but not least, emotional wellness also involves happiness; it is seen as a long
term state of our mind that permeates the various facets of life and influences our
outlook. In other words, it means that true happiness signals exemption from
tension and depression that many people endure.
2.3.2 Self-concept
Now we will discuss self-concept and self-esteem as part of emotional health.
Firstly, the definition of self-concept. Do you have any idea what it means?
Self-concept is also the informational side of things, where you know facts about
yourself. What about self-esteem?
Self-esteem is how you feel about your own character and abilities. For
example, whether you enjoy the fact that you are talkative (high self-esteem)
or you think that you are annoying (low self-esteem).
Therefore, how can we achieve balanced emotional wellness? Well, here are some
practices that will help to enhance your emotional wellness:
We can summarise that a person with emotional wellness will be able to:
SELF-CHECK 2.3
ACTIVITY 2.2
Select the activities that you think can be used to foster AzmanÊs
emotional growth. Discuss your plan in a group.
In fact, religious activities or meditation can also have a positive effect on our
social lifestyle as they may help us in overcoming crisis and provide us with
better coping techniques to deal with future trauma.
Another key term under the subject of spiritual dimension is altruism. What does
it stand for?
Altruism means true concern for the welfare of others which enhance oneÊs
health and longevity.
Did you know that altruism is a powerful attribute? It is so powerful that even
watching films of altruistic endeavours would enhance the formation of an
immune system which helps fight disease.
What can we practise to increase our spiritual wellness? Well, here are some
practices that can be adopted to increase your spiritual wellness:
ACTIVITY 2.3
In the other words, when you possess positive intellectual dimension, you are
not intimidated by facts and figures with which you are unfamiliar, but you
embrace the chance to learn something new. You are self-motivated to enhance
your life in terms of further studies or professional development while holding
your own ideas and philosophies.
Furthermore, you will gain self-confidence which guarantees that you can take
your place among others without having to give up part of yourself and without
requiring others to do the same. Let us look at Figure 2.8 which shows you an
example of self-motivation quotes.
What can we do to enhance our intellectual wellness? Well, here are some
practices that will enhance your intellectual wellness:
(a) Learning to trust your ability to make good decisions;
(b) Recognising and valuing learning as a life-long learning process;
(c) Developing creativity and resourcefulness;
(d) Being discerning when taking in information from TV, the Internet and
newspaper; and
(e) Critically analysing situations and solving problems.
ACTIVITY 2.4
Reflect on your life experiences when you have been seriously ill.
(a) Describe how you feel about the nature and duration of the
illness.
(b) Discuss all the factors that you think might have contributed to
your becoming sick.
(c) Summarise all the factors that contributed to your getting well.
(d) What do you think were the most important factors that led to
your sickness?
(e) What do you think were the most important factors in your
healing process?
Please note that you need to include factors such as stress, emotional
problems and poor nutrition. Also, you may include medical care,
prayer, alternative medicines and other factors too.
Edlin, G., & Golanty, E. (2010). Health and wellness (10th ed.). Sudbury, MA:
Jones & Bartlett.
Hoeger, W. K., & Hoeger, S. S. (2003). Lifetime physical fitness and wellness:
A personalized program (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
Payne, W. A., Hahn, D. B., & Mauer, E. B. (2005). Understanding your health
(8th ed). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Stroebe, M., Schut H., & Stroebe, W. (2007). Health outcomes of bereavement.
The Lancet, 370(9603), 1960ă1973.