Pathways to Wellness: Leading full and productive lives

Wellness? it’s essential to living a full and productive life. We may have different ideas about what wellness means, but it involves a set of skills and strategies that prevent the onset or shorten the duration of illness and promote recovery and well-being. It’s about keeping healthy as well as getting healthy.

“Pathways to Wellness” is this year’s theme of “May is Mental Health Month” which calls attention to strategies and approaches that help all Americans achieve wellness and good mental and overall health. Whether it be on their own, or with a therapist and life coach by their side, it doesn’t matter as long as the end goal of wellness is achieved.

Wellness is more than an absence of disease. It involves complete general, mental and social well-being. And mental health is an essential component of overall health and well-being. The fact is our overall well-being is tied to the balance that exists between our emotional, physical, spiritual and mental health.

Whatever our situation, we are all at risk of stress given the demands of daily life and the challenges it brings at home, at work and in life. Steps that build and maintain well-being and help us all achieve wellness involve a balanced diet, regular exercise, enough sleep, a sense of self-worth, development of coping skills that promote resiliency, emotional awareness, and connections to family, friends and the community. It is possible to improve wellness through simple things like meditating, trying CBD oil or finding time in your day to have some “me time”. CBD has a number of benefits when it comes to wellbeing, not only does it help to ease pain, it also helps to reduce feelings of stress and anxiety which in turn contributes to overcoming insomnia.

Getting enough sleep is one of the most crucial aspects of self-care as a lack of sleep affects so many other aspects of your health and your ability to cope and succeed in day to day life. Keeping to a sleep schedule, sleeping on a quality mattress, and limiting any foods or stimulating drinks before bed are matters you can look into to improve your sleep. Getting at least 7 hours a sleep consistently each day can significantly improve one’s wellbeing.

These steps should be complemented by taking stock of one’s well-being through regular mental health checkups. Just as we check our blood pressure and get cancer screenings, it’s a good idea to take periodic reading of our emotional well-being. One recent study said everyone should get their mental health checked as often as they get a physical, and many doctors routinely screen for mental health, which typically include a series of questions about lifestyle, eating and drinking habits and mental wellness. But a checkup doesn’t necessarily require a special trip to the doctor. There are also online screening tools you can use.

Fully embracing the concept of wellness not only improves health in the mind, body and spirit, but also maximizes one’s potential to lead a full and productive life. Using strategies that promote resiliency and strengthen mental health and prevent mental health and substance use conditions lead to improved general health and a healthier society: greater academic achievement by our children, a more productive economy, and families that stay together.

For more information, visit bertnash.org and facebook.com/BertNashCenter