Well-being

Well-being is a concept related to how a person sees their situation in life. It can refer specifically to physical health, but it is often applied to an overall feeling of physical, mental/emotional, and spiritual health. Well-being includes aspects such as health, feelings of competence and purpose, connection to others, optimism, and financial status. It is important because people with a good sense of well-being tend to be happier and experience greater satisfaction with their situation and better motivation to continue doing well. Conversely, having a poor sense of well-being can limit a person’s ability to thrive and be productive.

Background

Well-being is a concept that even experts have a difficult time defining. Generally, it includes being content, being motivated to continue on the path that one is on, feeling a sense of connection to the people and institutions in one’s life, and feeling that various aspects of a person’s life are in balance. However, well-being is a subjective concept, so what one person experiences as a state of well-being may still result in feelings of dissatisfaction and discomfort for others.

For instance, one person may have a chronic or life-threatening disease but have great feelings of contentment regarding their life accomplishments and closeness to family. Another person may be very healthy but have a poor sense of well-being because they feel alone or frustrated with what they have done in life. In addition to having good health and being involved in work, social, and civic activities that promote feelings of competence and self-worth, well-being can involve how secure a person feels financially. Some people who have significant wealth may find their sense of well-being suffers if the stock market drops, while others may still have a great sense of well-being because they have a job with a regular paycheck. In other words, while the qualities that help determine well-being can be identified, the levels for how much of each quality a person needs for a sense of well-being is more individualized and therefore more difficult to establish.

Overview

The idea of well-being combines aspects of physical health with mental health. It is used by health care providers, mental health practitioners, businesses, and other entities to measure and assess how people are feeling about and reacting to their situations. This is important because well-being has been determined to be a factor in how well and how long people live, how well they perform at work, how productive they are in society, and their level of financial success.

Since well-being is subjective and cannot be measured by specific guidelines, it is often measured by either asking people to self-report how they feel about different aspects of their lives, or by observing them for behaviors that indicate aspects of well-being. For instance, a company that is trying to improve the well-being of its employees may measure how productive the employees are before and after raises are given, or before and after the implementation of a new benefit such as additional time off. Management would most likely be correct in assuming that increased productivity was an indication that the changes had improved the employees’ sense of well-being. Another way to measure this might be to conduct an employee survey before and after the changes and ask people how they are feeling about their work situation.

Organizations associated with public health are also interested in how people assess their own sense of well-being. There are numerous reasons for this. These include better health outcomes, increased productivity, and greater social and civic involvement.

People who have a better sense of well-being are more likely to exhibit physical health while those with a poor sense of well-being are more likely to struggle with illnesses and/or with behaviors that cause illness, such as smoking, drinking, illicit drug use, or overeating. Helping people develop a better sense of well-being can help improve the overall health of a population. People who feel healthy and have a strong sense of well-being are also more likely to be gainfully employed and to interact with their community in other ways, such as volunteering and engaging in civic activities such as voting.

While employers and other organizations can and sometimes do take steps to improve the well-being of a population, individuals can also take steps to assess and improve their own sense of well-being. The first step would be to assess how one feels about the various aspects of well-being. The next steps would involve finding ways to improve some of those aspects.

Some of the aspects of well-being include a person’s energy level, calmness, engagement and connection with others, self-esteem and self-worth, feelings of competence and effectiveness, hopefulness for the future, and overall feelings of having a purpose and happiness. Feeling that one’s aspects of life are in balance also plays a role in well-being. It is not likely that a person will always have a sense of well-being about all of these aspects all the time. However, working on those aspects that fall short will increase a person’s overall sense of well-being.

A number of different ways to improve well-being exist, depending on the affected aspect. Physical health can be improved with better nutrition, exercise, sleep, and by addressing stress. Ways to enhance mental health and emotional wellness include meditation, mindfulness, and relaxation techniques. It is also possible to affect multiple areas of well-being at once. For instance, adding yoga or tai chi can increase exercise to enhance physical health while improving mindfulness, meditation, and relaxation. Simply adding more enjoyable activities such as engaging in hobbies, listening to music, or getting involved in volunteer work or social activities can also help improve personal well-being.

Bibliography

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