Did you know that the absence of a disease or infirmity does not amount to good health? Understanding the components of good health is paramount for all human races. This knowledge helps eliminate the assumptions many people make concerning a healthy lifestyle. A wellness plan is a crucial tool that guides one walk through this journey to good health. It (Wellness plan) comprises particular daily habits geared towards attaining better physical and mental health. The World Health Organization defines health as a state where an individual has complete mental, physical, and social wellbeing. Because good health matters, my wellness plan for this semester will address exercise, nutrition, and social connectedness as part of the main factors that facilitate good health.
Physical exercise is one of the aspects incorporated in my wellness plan. It is described as a significant aspect that adds to the priorities of a healthy lifestyle. As a student, I firmly believe that physical exercise will improve my overall sense of wellbeing and mood. According to the STI Education Service Group, physical exercises assist students in improving their memory. Since most students operate under tight schedules, it may be challenging to go for workouts (Robinson & McCormick, 2011). However, the Education Service Group recommends other simple exercises for learners without interfering with their school timetables. For instance, spending the first few minutes before classes commence in activities such as sitting arm stretching, triceps dips, chair squats, shoulder shrugs, floor pushups, and stair climbing is quite impactful in improving the memory of a student. Besides, through such activities, the physical and mental health of the student becomes reinstated.
Nutrition is another significant aspect found in my wellness plan. It involves balanced diets that avail necessary nutrients in a healthy body. Clarke University’s report states that every college student is often pressed for time. In addition, they mostly interact with situations that are a bit stressful. Arguably, a healthy diet can help learners cope with stress and perform better in their classroom work. Pfizer Inc, 2022 holds that a plate with wholesome ingredients improves the steps towards a healthier lifestyle. For instance, picking fruits and some veggies in my bag as handy snacks will assist me in avoiding fast foods along the way. Other routines such as; drinking lots of water, limiting alcohol intake, eating foods rich in calcium, and eating a good breakfast boost physical and mental health (Robinson & McCormick, 2011).
My wellness plan also captures social connectedness as a factor for enhancing a healthy lifestyle. The science of health holds that social disconnection contributes to loneliness, and if this situation worsens, it can result in severe physical and mental health issues. As a student, I give social interaction priority to avoid loneliness. According to research, social connectedness is paramount to advanced mental health. Social interactions involve social activities such as hiking, pick-up sports, board games, video games, etcetera. These activities are instrumental in boosting physical health, mental health, and life skills. According to the Well-being Programme in England 2013, social activities improve mental wellbeing. Arguably, good quality social contact positively impacts mental health. Developing a working rapport with my school colleagues fosters a peaceful learning environment. This helps avoid stress and retain healthy memory (Nagykaldi, Aspy, & Mold, J2012).
However, although social connectedness boosts our mental health, it is essential to avoid social activities that may cause physical injuries in the process. In most cases, social interactions involve taking alcohol and smoking to relax the mind. These drugs cause severe effects on mental health. Drugs have also affected the academic lives of many students before. For instance, drugs have caused many students to drop out of schools, with others yielding poor performance. For such reasons, it is in my wellness plan that I will keep off drugs for this semester.
There are several exciting things I enjoy in this wellness journey. For instance, I understand that morning exercises are part of activities that everyone requires to maintain their good health. Being a busy student, the part of this wellness plan that I enjoy most is social connectedness. Interacting with other students has enriched my career in many ways. For instance, I particularly like it when our interactions are based on academic works because I learn many new things from my partners. Besides, social connectedness has taught me how to handle people with diverse personality differences and live with them peacefully.
Before the wellness journey, I lived to make assumptions that sicknesses and diseases can only be cured through medical procedures. However, my wellness journey made it clear that some routine practices that people neglect are basic in ensuring that they lead healthy lifestyles. For instance, I thought that activities like gaming and hiking are done for fun, but after doing more profound research, I discovered that they are necessary for mental health. I was also unaware of the repercussions of loneliness on students’ mental health. Actually, I am one of the people who like living private lives.
In most cases, I concentrate on my classwork all alone. However, when I discovered how detrimental loneliness could be, I purposed to be a social being. Another important aspect I discovered is physical exercise. Before, I had no idea how simple, practical exercises such as arm stretching and floor pushups can improve students’ wellbeing. I knew that going to the gym was the only sure way of keeping fit. However, I realized that I was wrong because some of the simple exercises are even more impactful to one’s health than just lifting heavyweights.
During my wellness journey, I noticed several changes from others. These changes include; pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance. In precontemplation change, many students did not care about the problems that result from poor wellness plans. For instance, they avoided exercise; others could smoke without caring about the risk factors associated with smoking, etc. In contemplation change, at least students recognize the challenges associated with health, but they have lame excuses why they cannot address them (Nagykaldi, Aspy, & Mold, J2012). For instance, some claim that they desire to find a perfect way to manage stress, but they have no idea how to handle it. The next stage of change is where students are prepared to go through the recommended change processes. The problem is that most of them had rapid behavior changes that caused them to fail at some point. In the action stage, students had fully recognized the meaningful steps that impact good health and started sharing their experiences of their journey to good health. Finally, maintaining the newly acquired skills for good health was such a significant change. Students who started by seeing the impossibilities of leading a healthy lifestyle became ones who keenly followed every step recommended for good health.
Other than the information provided above, I discovered that wellness programs assist students in improving their health behaviors. For instance, these behaviors are central necessities for minimizing health-related risks, thereby eliminating the chances of contracting chronic illnesses. A wellness plan is one of the significant ways individuals can reduce health care costs. This argument is supported by several studies that specifically ventured into the financial impacts of a wellness plan. For instance, according to a review on the financial impact of a worksite wellness plan, taking lunch occasionally and learning about nutrition may not be enough to minimize healthcare costs (Merrill, Anderson & Thygerson, 2011). However, a comprehensive wellness program makes it possible to manage people’s behaviors and reduce healthcare costs. Arguably, the actual costs of preparing the wellness program are always less than the program’s savings. Students who stick to wellness programs have their productivity levels high all the time.
In conclusion, physical exercise, nutrition, and social connectedness are among the go-to elements that students and people from all walks of life need to lead healthy lifestyles. Physical exercises are approved as essential when one wants to maintain physical and mental stability. Sticking to a proper diet is always given out as the significant element that assists in suppressing possible risks related to health. Some chronic illnesses cannot be experienced if people agree to follow proper dieting procedures. The aspect of social connectedness is a total of several elements combined to assist individuals in managing their health properly. Without it, people will always experience challenging and traumatic moments that interfere with their health. Generally, a wellness plan is a vital requirement for any person who desires to live a life out of lifestyle diseases.
References
Merrill, R. M., Anderson, A., & Thygerson, S. M. (2011). Effectiveness of a worksite wellness program on health behaviors and personal health. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 1008-1012.
Nagykaldi, Z., Aspy, C. B., Chou, A., & Mold, J. W. (2012). Impact of a Wellness Portal on the delivery of patient-centered preventive care. The American Board of Family Medicine Journal, 25(2), 158-167.
Robinson, J., & McCormick, D. J. (2011). Concepts in health and wellness. Delmar/Cengage Learning.
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