Coming to Terms with Health/Wellness/Fitness

We all throw around the words "health, wellness, and fitness," but what does each one mean and encompass? Defined today, this blog is intended to encourage you to think outside of the "workout and diet" box to the various ways you can focus on your health, as well as introduce the diversity of topics that can and will be covered on this site in the future.

Wellness vs. Health
My favorite definition for health (from the World Health Organization) is that it is not merely the absence of disease, but also a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being.
Wellness is a lifestyle choice that you make to enhance your health, reaching your highest potential.

Six Dimensions of Health
There are six dimensions of health that are intertwined with eachother and will certainly be strengthened (hopefully not weakened) based on the lifestyle decisions you make daily.

1. Physical Health - this includes our fitness (the breakdown of the 5 components follow) and nutrition, but also includes avoiding other harmful substances for our bodies, obtaining regular health screenings, and taking all precautions to keep ourselves safe.
2. Psychological Health - mental health. How is your stress level? Your self image?
3. Social Health - includes our healthy interractions and relationships. Do you have confidants and partners in crime? Are you taking time out of your busy schedule to do things you enjoy? Your health depends on it!
4. Spiritual Health - does not have to involve a belief in a god. Different for everyone, yet important none the less, this can simply be your purpose in life. Your spiritual health may be enhanced through your mindfulness during exercise or daily living, or through meditation/yoga.
5. Intellectual Health - not defined by your IQ, intellectual health includes your ability (and speed) to make decisions, learn from life experience, and be open to new ideas. One of the books I am pseudo-reading right now, "Spark" by John Ratey, discusses how physical activity ehnances the function of your brain. It starts with great case study information regarding students who worked out before school every day and how that has increased their attention span and ability to retain information (and win international math/science competitions!). You actually create and strengthen neuro-connections in your brain by working out!
6. Environmental Health - perhaps often overlooked as an aspect of health, is the way we interract with our environment. Do you recycle? Purchase from local farmers? Avoid excessive use of water and electricity? Additionally, how does the environment effect you? Is the air safe to breathe? Do you wear sunscreen? Do you know the dangers of working out in certain climates (hot, cold, high altitude, rain/snow, etc.)

I hope to utilize guest bloggers as the site grows, as I want to continue learning as well.
Perhaps starting with additional environmental encouragement from Korin???


Components of Physical Fitness

Briefly, as I know most of you are interested in exercise information, I would like to mention the five components of physical fitness that every program should include:

1. Cardiovascular - elevating your heart rate for an extended period of time (at least 20-30 minutes). The latest suggestions reach up to 90 minutes a day if your goal is to lose weight. (don't worry, it doesn't have to be continuous!)
2. Muscular Strength - the amount of weight you can life one time - your one repetition maximum (1RM).
3. Muscular Endurance - continuous effort on your muscles. Such as how many push ups or sit ups can you perform in one minute?
4. Flexibility - the range of motion of each joint. If you find that you are more stiff on one side than the other (or front of your body vs. back), you will develop muscle imbalances which throw off the efficiency (strength, recruitment, motion) of your entire skeleton.
5. Body Composition - the breakdown of muscle vs. fat tissue in your body. You are probably all too familiar with the non-budging-weight-phenomonon on the scale when you start a new program, but did you consider that you could still be losing fat in the process? There are many tools and devices to measure your fat, but if you don't have access to those, make sure you are at least taking circumference measurements along with your scale measurements. You'll most likely find encouraging results!

Everyone should know where they stand in each of these areas and re-measure over time to record and celebrate advancement. (If you are local, I'd be happy to measure for you, otherwise I can give you suggestions on who to go to, or what you can do yourself.)

So, you see - we've got a lot to cover on this lil ole blog. And I'd love your help in deciding future topics. I've started a running list of requests on the right side of the page - email me (fitbritt@gmail.com) or leave a comment to add some more!


Have a Healthy Day!
- FitBritt


*My Personal Health Textbook, "An Invitation to Health" by Hales was referenced but not quoted for the above information.