Hello there, Warrior. Welcome to the last segment in my breakdown of Dimensions of Wellness. Physical Health. The one that most of us default to thinking of when the words health or wellness are mentioned. So, let’s dive right in!
Dimensions of Wellness
If you are new to the concept of Dimensions of Wellness, I’ve got a full blog post that goes into some detail. You can also read my intro to the series post here and the first post on Occupational Health here.
Defining the Physical Dimension
The physical body is the shell that allows us to exist and experience the world around us. Its relative health can affect those experiences in very real ways. What we eat and how/when we move can be determining factors in ongoing issues.
There are other, often overlooked, factors in the health of the physical body. Hygiene practices vary across cultures yet can be important mediators in how both the body and the world is experienced. How we choose to present also indicates to the world who we are.
This Dimension encompasses things that directly affect the physical body: diet, exercise, hygiene, presentation (hair, nails, clothes), sleep, and presence of illness or injury to or in the body.
Physical Illness or Injury
Illness and injury to the physical body can take on either acute or chronic forms. Acute issues, things like ankle sprains or a cold, are generally temporary and minor inconveniences that need to be dealt with before they pass. Usually, these types of impairments resolve and leave the person suffering no worse for the wear. Although, there are exceptions (traumatic brain injury, long COVID).
Chronic illness and injury are more lasting and often times more difficult to manage. Ask anyone with a chronic illness that they cope with, and they’ll tell you that sometimes how they feel can be very day to day. Chronic injuries nag and can be both debilitating and demoralizing. In both instances, chronic issues can flare up without warning causing the individual suffering to re-evaluate many other areas of wellness.
The trickiest part is that we can’t necessarily prevent these. Diet and Exercise Science like to say otherwise (more on that in the next section), but circumstance and genetics play a bigger role here than most of us would like to admit. If there is a strong family history of cancer, for example, there is a statistically stronger chance that you may be diagnosed, too. If we sign up for a basketball league, there is a stronger chance that an injury might be sustained.
Diet, Exercise, and Sleep
As I mentioned in the previous section, Physical Health has more to do with genetics and circumstance than anything we consciously do to create it. Yes, with good habits here the body can do amazing things. But given human ego, we often overstate the importance of what we as individuals are capable of influencing.
It has been well established in the scientific literature that socioeconomic status is a stronger predictor of health and health outcomes (i.e. baseline presence of injury or illness and what happens when diagnosed) than body size, weight, or health behaviors. That’s a lot of scientific lingo to say that a person of lower income or socioeconomic status has poorer health and struggles harder for better outcomes than does an individual at a higher status.
And yet, we focus on diet and exercise as a way to control body weight, size, and health outcomes. If I restrict calories, I will lose weight and be healthier. If I eat more broccoli, I’m less likely to be diagnosed with cancer. If I run, I will be less likely to suffer a heart attack.
Frankly, the base status of our Physical Health can be best described as the difference between being gifted a Ford or being gifted a Subaru and expecting them to perform similarly in terms of safety. They won’t. But maintenance does make a difference. If you never change the oil in the Subaru, you’ll have problems even though it’s a safe car. If you take proper care of the Ford, issues may not crop up or they may be more minor.
Diet, exercise, and sleep should be thought of as preventative maintenance. Preventative maintenance for the physical body, obviously. Just like changing the oil in a car, our bodies function better when we eat less processed and more plant based foods. They also function better with proper rest and daily movement.
But these three go further than Physical Health. Doing these preventative maintenance tasks also improves Mental, Emotional, Social, and Environmental Health. Think about it. Have you ever cancelled plans because you threw your back out? Have you ever snapped at your partner or kids because you are sleep deprived? Or hangry? Gotten out of bed wondering why your body feels so stiff but you haven’t done purposeful movement all week? I rest my case.
Presentation and Hygiene
Physical Health also has to do with how we present and care for the external body. Presentation has to do with how we choose to invest in our appearance. Long/short hair, painted/unpainted nails, fitted/loose clothing, the list could go on forever. How we choose to present ourselves sends messages about not only who we are but how we value and view our physical bodies.
This is a sticky spot to navigate as it is the crossroads of personal preference, expression, and cultural/societal expectations. LGBTQ+ friends certainly have more to reconcile than cis-het individuals. Or look at the recent tragedy in Iran. But there are still many traps (just read the comments section about any article mentioning a woman embracing her age by wearing her natural and, gasp, gray hair).
Hygiene can be described as practices conducive to maintaining health and preventing disease. Generally we think of these as cleanliness oriented, but many cultures embrace hygiene practices that have Mental, Emotional, and Social Health benefits as well. Henna body painting practices in India, Africa, and Middle East countries are a great example.
Or to bring it back to sleep from the previous section, sleep hygiene is a new buzz term in wellness. It refers to practices that keep the sleeping space clean and calm and help to ensure one can engage in deep, restorative sleep. Practices here include turning off screens an hour prior to bed all the way to scenting bedding with lavender. My point is, hygiene practices influence the Physical, Mental, Emotional and Social Health Dimensions.
The wellness of our physical bodies goes so far beyond diet and exercise practices and we should take care to give time and consideration to these other aspects. Next month, I’ve got a wrap up of the whole series focused specifically on how the Dimensions intersect and what we can do to maximize efforts.
