Wellness (alternative medicine)
Encyclopedia
Wellness is generally used to mean a health
y balance of the mind, body and spirit that results in an overall feeling of well-being
. It has been used in the context of alternative medicine
since Halbert L. Dunn, M.D.
, began using the phrase high level wellness in the 1950s. The modern concept of wellness did not, however, become popular until the 1970s.
The term has been defined by the Wisconsin-based National Wellness Institute as an active process of becoming aware of and making choices toward a more successful existence. http://www.nationalwellness.org/index.php?id_tier=2&id_c=26 This is consistent with a shift in focus away from illness
in viewing human
health, typical of contexts where the term wellness is used. In other words, wellness
is a view of health that emphasizes the state of the entire being and its ongoing development.
The phrase can also be seen as an analogue to the medical term "homeostasis
".
Wellness can also be described as "the constant, conscious pursuit of living life to its fullest potential."
Halbert L. Dunn, M.D.
, began using the phrase high level wellness in the 1950s, based on a series of lectures at a Unitarian Universalist Church in Arlington, Virginia, in the United States. Dunn (196, p. 4) defined wellness as "an integrated method of functioning which is oriented toward maximizing the potential of which the individual is capable. It requires that the individual maintain a continuum of balance and purposeful direction within the environment where he is functioning." He also stated that "wellness is a direction in progress toward an ever-higher potential of functioning" (p. 6).
Alternative approaches to wellness are often denoted by the use of two different phrases: health and wellness, and wellness programs. These kinds of wellness programs offer alternative medicine
techniques to improve wellness. Whether these techniques actually improve physical health is controversial and a subject of much debate. James Randi
and the James Randi Educational Foundation
are outspoken critics of this alternative new age
concept of wellness. The behaviors in the pursuit of wellness often include many health related practices, such as natural therapies.
Wellness, as a luxury pursuit, is found obviously in the more affluent societies because it involves managing the body state after the basic needs of food, shelter and basic medical care have already been met. Many of the practices applied in the pursuit of wellness, in fact, are aimed at controlling the side effects of affluence, such as obesity
and inactivity. Wellness grew as a popular concept starting in the 19th century, just as the middle class began emerging in the industrialized world, and a time when a newly prosperous public had the time and the resources to pursue wellness and other forms of self-improvement.
Wellness as defined by The Foundation for Wellness Professionals is considered care without drugs that can not only eliminate health problems but prevent them. Wellness enhancement focuses on minimizing the effects of the three dimensions of stress: Physical Stress which causes nervous system irritation, Chemical Stress causing body toxicity, and Mental Stress which can induce hormonal changes namely in the Adrenal Glands.
Supporters of these programs believe that many factors contribute to wellness: living in a clean environment, eating organic food, regularly engaging in physical exercise
, balance in career; family
; and relationships
, and developing religious faith. But, there are two basic widely different approaches to wellness. The original faith-based wellness programs offer a spiritual approach that is in opposition to more recent secular wellness promoters.http://www.seekwellness.com/wellness/reports/2004-02-10.htm
Some well known wellness promoters are Deepak Chopra
, Michael Roizen
, Mehmet Oz
, Don B. Ardell
, John Travis, David F. Duncan
, and Andrew Weil
.
, stop smoking
, or to learn how to manage their weight.
Workplace wellness programs are recognized by more and more companies for their value in improving health and well-being of their employees. They are part of a company's health and safety program. These wellness programs are designed to improve employee morale, loyalty, and productivity. They could consist of as little as a gym full of exercise equipment
that is available to their employees on company property during the workday. But they may also cover smoking cessation
programs, nutrition
; weight
; or stress management
training, health risk assessments, and health screenings.
's be happy Beatitudes
, for example, expounds upon the New Testament
and presents eight positive principles for fulfillment.
New Age
guru
Deepak Chopra
, author of more than 40 books on spirituality and health, offers an alternative and New Age spirituality perspective to wellness.
Please note that there are many charitable services provided by religious organizations that do NOT qualify as faith-based, because they make no religious requirements of the recipients. For example, Roman Catholic food kitchens typically are open to all regardless of creed. This is in contrast to the drug addiction programs of the Nation of Islam, as described in the Autobiography of Malcolm X, where the addict is exhorted to appeal to Allah for help. Alcoholics Anonymous has the form of a faith based program but many of its chapters leave the interpretation of 'higher power' to the individual.
Faith-based wellness also includes specific diets, such as Dr. George Malkmus' Bible-based Hallelujah Diet and others.
Health
Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, it is the general condition of a person's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain...
y balance of the mind, body and spirit that results in an overall feeling of well-being
Quality of life
The term quality of life is used to evaluate the general well-being of individuals and societies. The term is used in a wide range of contexts, including the fields of international development, healthcare, and politics. Quality of life should not be confused with the concept of standard of...
. It has been used in the context of alternative medicine
Alternative medicine
Alternative medicine is any healing practice, "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine." It is based on historical or cultural traditions, rather than on scientific evidence....
since Halbert L. Dunn, M.D.
Halbert L. Dunn
Halbert L. Dunn, M.D. was the leading figure in establishing a national vital statistics system in the United States and is known as the "father of the wellness movement".-Early life:...
, began using the phrase high level wellness in the 1950s. The modern concept of wellness did not, however, become popular until the 1970s.
The term has been defined by the Wisconsin-based National Wellness Institute as an active process of becoming aware of and making choices toward a more successful existence. http://www.nationalwellness.org/index.php?id_tier=2&id_c=26 This is consistent with a shift in focus away from illness
Illness
Illness is a state of poor health. Illness is sometimes considered another word for disease. Others maintain that fine distinctions exist...
in viewing human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
health, typical of contexts where the term wellness is used. In other words, wellness
Wellness
Wellness may mean:* Wellness * Wellness - The scientific meaning: health, freedom from disease.* Wellness dog and cat food, a brand used by the company WellPet* Well-being * Workplace wellness...
is a view of health that emphasizes the state of the entire being and its ongoing development.
The phrase can also be seen as an analogue to the medical term "homeostasis
Homeostasis
Homeostasis is the property of a system that regulates its internal environment and tends to maintain a stable, constant condition of properties like temperature or pH...
".
Wellness can also be described as "the constant, conscious pursuit of living life to its fullest potential."
Halbert L. Dunn, M.D.
Halbert L. Dunn
Halbert L. Dunn, M.D. was the leading figure in establishing a national vital statistics system in the United States and is known as the "father of the wellness movement".-Early life:...
, began using the phrase high level wellness in the 1950s, based on a series of lectures at a Unitarian Universalist Church in Arlington, Virginia, in the United States. Dunn (196, p. 4) defined wellness as "an integrated method of functioning which is oriented toward maximizing the potential of which the individual is capable. It requires that the individual maintain a continuum of balance and purposeful direction within the environment where he is functioning." He also stated that "wellness is a direction in progress toward an ever-higher potential of functioning" (p. 6).
Alternative approaches to wellness are often denoted by the use of two different phrases: health and wellness, and wellness programs. These kinds of wellness programs offer alternative medicine
Alternative medicine
Alternative medicine is any healing practice, "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine." It is based on historical or cultural traditions, rather than on scientific evidence....
techniques to improve wellness. Whether these techniques actually improve physical health is controversial and a subject of much debate. James Randi
James Randi
James Randi is a Canadian-American stage magician and scientific skeptic best known as a challenger of paranormal claims and pseudoscience. Randi is the founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation...
and the James Randi Educational Foundation
James Randi Educational Foundation
The James Randi Educational Foundation is a non-profit organization founded in 1996 by magician and skeptic James Randi. The JREF's mission includes educating the public and the media on the dangers of accepting unproven claims, and to support research into paranormal claims in controlled...
are outspoken critics of this alternative new age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
concept of wellness. The behaviors in the pursuit of wellness often include many health related practices, such as natural therapies.
Wellness, as a luxury pursuit, is found obviously in the more affluent societies because it involves managing the body state after the basic needs of food, shelter and basic medical care have already been met. Many of the practices applied in the pursuit of wellness, in fact, are aimed at controlling the side effects of affluence, such as obesity
Obesity
Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems...
and inactivity. Wellness grew as a popular concept starting in the 19th century, just as the middle class began emerging in the industrialized world, and a time when a newly prosperous public had the time and the resources to pursue wellness and other forms of self-improvement.
Determinants
Wellness can be described as a state that combines health and happiness. Thus, those factors that contribute to being healthy and happy will also likely contribute to being well. Factors that contribute to health and happiness have long been recognized, at least since the time of Ancient Greeks. To achieve a state of wellness, one has to work on its determinants. The determinants of wellness are: better understanding of concepts like destiny, health practices, spirituality, family, environment, work, money and security, health services, social support and leisure.Wellness as defined by The Foundation for Wellness Professionals is considered care without drugs that can not only eliminate health problems but prevent them. Wellness enhancement focuses on minimizing the effects of the three dimensions of stress: Physical Stress which causes nervous system irritation, Chemical Stress causing body toxicity, and Mental Stress which can induce hormonal changes namely in the Adrenal Glands.
Programs
Definitions of wellness vary depending upon who is promoting it. These wellness promoters try to facilitate a healthier population and a higher quality of life. Wellness can be defined as the pursuit of a healthy, balanced lifestyle. Wellness, as an alternative concept, is generally thought to mean more than the mere absence of disease; rather it is an optimal state of health. Wellness is pursued by people interested in recovering from ill health or specific health conditions or by those interested in optimizing their already good state of health.Supporters of these programs believe that many factors contribute to wellness: living in a clean environment, eating organic food, regularly engaging in physical exercise
Physical exercise
Physical exercise is any bodily activity that enhances or maintains physical fitness and overall health and wellness. It is performed for various reasons including strengthening muscles and the cardiovascular system, honing athletic skills, weight loss or maintenance, as well as for the purpose of...
, balance in career; family
Family
In human context, a family is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity, affinity, or co-residence. In most societies it is the principal institution for the socialization of children...
; and relationships
Interpersonal relationship
An interpersonal relationship is an association between two or more people that may range from fleeting to enduring. This association may be based on limerence, love, solidarity, regular business interactions, or some other type of social commitment. Interpersonal relationships are formed in the...
, and developing religious faith. But, there are two basic widely different approaches to wellness. The original faith-based wellness programs offer a spiritual approach that is in opposition to more recent secular wellness promoters.http://www.seekwellness.com/wellness/reports/2004-02-10.htm
Some well known wellness promoters are Deepak Chopra
Deepak Chopra
Deepak Chopra is an Indian medical doctor, public speaker, and writer on subjects such as spirituality, Ayurveda and mind-body medicine. Chopra began his career as an endocrinologist and later shifted his focus to alternative medicine. Chopra now runs his own medical center, with a focus on...
, Michael Roizen
Michael Roizen
Dr. Michael Fredric Roizen is an American anesthesiologist and internist, an award-winning author and the chief wellness officer at the Cleveland Clinic...
, Mehmet Oz
Mehmet Oz
Mehmet Cengiz Oz , also known as Dr. Oz, is a Turkish-American cardiothoracic surgeon, author, talk show host, and commentator for The Dr. Oz Show, a daily television program focusing on medical issues/personal health....
, Don B. Ardell
Don B. Ardell
Donald B. Ardell has been one of the leading figures in the wellness movement for four decades. The author of numerous books and articles on wellness he has also been a popular speaker on wellness-related topics appearance in every U.S...
, John Travis, David F. Duncan
David F. Duncan
David F. Duncan, Dr. P.H. was born in Kansas City, Missouri on June 26, 1947. He is President of Duncan & Associates, a firm providing consultation on research design and data collection for behavioral and policy studies. He is also Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Community Health...
, and Andrew Weil
Andrew Weil
Andrew Thomas Weil is an American author and physician, who established the field of integrative medicine which attempts to integrate alternative and conventional medicine. Weil is the author of several best-selling books and operates a website and monthly newsletter promoting general health and...
.
Secular-based programs
The aging population participates in wellness programs in order to feel better and have more energy. Wellness programs allow individuals to take increased responsibility for their health behaviors. People often enroll in a private wellness program to improve fitnessPhysical fitness
Physical fitness comprises two related concepts: general fitness , and specific fitness...
, stop smoking
Smoking cessation
Smoking cessation is the process of discontinuing the practice of inhaling a smoked substance. This article focuses exclusively on cessation of tobacco smoking; however, the methods described may apply to cessation of smoking other substances that can be difficult to stop using due to the...
, or to learn how to manage their weight.
Workplace wellness programs are recognized by more and more companies for their value in improving health and well-being of their employees. They are part of a company's health and safety program. These wellness programs are designed to improve employee morale, loyalty, and productivity. They could consist of as little as a gym full of exercise equipment
Exercise equipment
An apparatus or device used in any given physical activity for shaping and forming muscle groups for specific areas of the body. A mechanism or machine that is intended to promote health and fitness by using motion with varying degrees of resistance either fixed or adjustable.-Exercise...
that is available to their employees on company property during the workday. But they may also cover smoking cessation
Smoking cessation
Smoking cessation is the process of discontinuing the practice of inhaling a smoked substance. This article focuses exclusively on cessation of tobacco smoking; however, the methods described may apply to cessation of smoking other substances that can be difficult to stop using due to the...
programs, nutrition
Nutrition
Nutrition is the provision, to cells and organisms, of the materials necessary to support life. Many common health problems can be prevented or alleviated with a healthy diet....
; weight
Weight loss
Weight loss, in the context of medicine, health or physical fitness, is a reduction of the total body mass, due to a mean loss of fluid, body fat or adipose tissue and/or lean mass, namely bone mineral deposits, muscle, tendon and other connective tissue...
; or stress management
Stress management
Stress management is the alteration of stress and especially chronic stress often for the purpose of improving everyday functioning.Stress produces numerous symptoms which vary according to persons, situations, and severity. These can include physical health decline as well as depression. According...
training, health risk assessments, and health screenings.
Faith-based programs
Religious organizations often provide an array of services to residents in need, such as food, shelter, clothing, childcare and senior services in the community. Faith-based wellness ministries are simply wellness programs sponsored by the faith-based community, which are similar to those offered by others, but generally also focus on the spiritual, New Age and religious aspects of wellness from the perspective of a particular faith. Here, wellness is viewed as a quest for spiritual wholeness. Robert H. SchullerRobert H. Schuller
Robert Harold Schuller is an American televangelist, pastor, speaker, motivator and author. He is principally known for the weekly Hour of Power television program which he began in 1970. He is also the founder of the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California, where the Hour of Power program...
's be happy Beatitudes
Beatitudes
In Christianity, the Beatitudes are a set of teachings by Jesus that appear in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. The term Beatitude comes from the Latin adjective beatus which means happy, fortunate, or blissful....
, for example, expounds upon the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
and presents eight positive principles for fulfillment.
New Age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
guru
Guru
A guru is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others . Other forms of manifestation of this principle can include parents, school teachers, non-human objects and even one's own intellectual discipline, if the...
Deepak Chopra
Deepak Chopra
Deepak Chopra is an Indian medical doctor, public speaker, and writer on subjects such as spirituality, Ayurveda and mind-body medicine. Chopra began his career as an endocrinologist and later shifted his focus to alternative medicine. Chopra now runs his own medical center, with a focus on...
, author of more than 40 books on spirituality and health, offers an alternative and New Age spirituality perspective to wellness.
Please note that there are many charitable services provided by religious organizations that do NOT qualify as faith-based, because they make no religious requirements of the recipients. For example, Roman Catholic food kitchens typically are open to all regardless of creed. This is in contrast to the drug addiction programs of the Nation of Islam, as described in the Autobiography of Malcolm X, where the addict is exhorted to appeal to Allah for help. Alcoholics Anonymous has the form of a faith based program but many of its chapters leave the interpretation of 'higher power' to the individual.
Faith-based wellness also includes specific diets, such as Dr. George Malkmus' Bible-based Hallelujah Diet and others.