Your 20s are the best time to establish healthy habits that can prevent serious disease later in life. See your doctor for annual screenings and follow a healthy lifestyle plan.
Get enough exercise, especially strength-training that builds muscle and helps prevent bone loss. Spend time with friends and family, which boosts happiness. Avoid smoking and excessive alcohol.
Physical
Physical health is one dimension of a person’s total well-being. It includes how the body looks, feels and moves; how much energy it has, and what goes into it. It involves a combination of healthy eating and regular exercise. Physical health is also about identifying and treating illness and injury.
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Physical fitness is the ability to perform aspects of sports, work and daily activities. It is achieved through good nutrition, moderate to vigorous physical exercise and adequate rest along with a formal recovery plan. It contributes to the prevention and management of noncommunicable diseases such as heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes and several cancers.
Mental
Mental health is a state of well-being in which people realize their own abilities, can cope with normal stress and work productively. It includes the capacity to establish supportive relationships and participate in community activities. Serious mental illness is a real illness that requires treatment, just like any other disease.
Treatment for mental health conditions can include exercise, diet and other activities that enhance recovery and promote wellness. It also includes social support, psychotherapy and medication. Social support may come from family, friends and peers or community organizations. Psychotherapy includes a variety of techniques including gestalt therapy, psychoanalysis and dialectical behavioral therapy. Medications are prescribed by medical professionals and can include antidepressants, benzodiazepines and lithium. They are often referred to as “chemical balancers.” These medications can be very effective in overcoming some types of mental illnesses.
Social
As one of the health aspects that has received less attention than physical and mental health, social health is a complex and contextual concept. It requires considering the mental perceptions of people in society to explain and identify its dimensions. In this study, we investigated the social health of Iranian adults living in Urmia, a historic city with diverse ethnic, cultural and language backgrounds.
Through in-depth interviews, we analyzed the data and identified 3 main categories and 17 subcategories. Our findings show that participants equate social health with the concepts of social capital, moral health and mental health. Moreover, they believe that social health is a biological, continual, acquired, evolutionary and relative concept. They also believe that social health is characterized by openness to interactions, social adaptability, mutual trust and communicational capability as well as enjoying social support.
Spiritual
Spiritual health can be nurtured by prayer, meditation, service to others, time in nature and self reflection. Participants in the study reported that involvement with a spiritual community and the gratitude that accompanies this practice may be a stress buffer and can improve physical health.
Spiritual wellness activities encourage people to search for meaning in their lives and strive for consistency between beliefs and actions. This includes following a religion, but also can include activities like meditation or yoga classes. At Rolling Green Village retirement community, we believe in incorporating spiritual wellness into everyday life.
Emotional
Emotional health is an awareness and ability to manage emotions and thoughts, including negative ones like sadness, fear, and anger. It also includes healthy coping skills, like learning how to compartmentalize negative feelings and keep them in perspective.
Exercise and a healthy diet are important for emotional health, as is having social connections that provide support. It’s a good idea to stay away from alcohol and drugs, which can cause mental and emotional problems.
Developing an emotional wellness plan can help people live healthier lives by learning to recognize their mental and emotional triggers. It can also help them find ways to address those issues, such as by identifying healthy coping strategies or practicing self-distancing to gain greater perspective on difficult situations (Ayduk & Kross, 2010). A supportive network is another great way to improve emotional health.