What Are the 7 Dimensions of Wellness?

When you think about wellness, if you’re like most people, your physical health is the first thing that comes to mind. You might be surprised to learn there are actually several dimensions of wellness, and nurturing each dimension can result in a more purposeful, fulfilling, and meaningful life. At Springpoint Living at Manalapan, we focus on 7 dimensions of wellness.

Dimensions of Wellness

Collectively, the seven dimensions of wellness support a person’s body, mind, and spirit for an optimal quality of life.

Physical: To some extent, this dimension involves managing illness and medical conditions, but it also extends to preventive care and lifestyle habits that promote better health. Physical wellness encompasses nutrition, exercise, avoiding risky behaviors, getting better sleep, regular checkups, and medication management, among other activities that allow you to feel your best.

Emotional: Self-care factors heavily into emotional wellness, along with self-esteem and acceptance, and the ability to effectively express and cope with emotions and stressors. People who demonstrate emotional wellness recognize and empathize with others’ feelings, navigate challenges, and constructively deal with life’s ups and downs.

Social: Multiple studies have shown a positive correlation between social connections and physical and mental health. Fostering social wellness means actively engaging with your community, forging personal relationships, and creating a mutual support system among peers or loved ones. This might mean seeking out events or activities that provide new social connections and practicing clear and effective communication to develop stronger relationships.

Intellectual: People who exhibit intellectual wellness often have cognitive strengths like critical thinking skills, memory, and improved concentration. Mental stimulation and creative expression both contribute to intellectual wellness through activities like lifelong learning classes, brain teaser games, new hobbies, teaching others, and even stimulating conversation, including considering new perspectives and ideas.

Vocational: People need to feel their life has purpose and their contributions are meaningful. For someone who is actively employed, this translates into job or career satisfaction and feeling personally rewarded for their work. However, vocational wellness doesn’t end at retirement; retirees can experience vocational wellness through volunteering or applying talents or skills to a hobby or pleasure activity.

Environmental: Understanding yourself in relation to the world around you is a component of environmental wellness. On a grand scale, your environmental wellness may be affected by issues like pollution or political tension. From a more personal standpoint, a cluttered home or dull, dark rooms can impede your environmental wellness. You can improve your environmental wellness by taking personal accountability for improving anything that hinders it, whether that means being more intentional in your recycling or finally tackling the stack of unopened mail in your living room.

Spiritual: For some people, this dimension involves religion, but at a broader level, spirituality is about values and beliefs. Spiritual wellness involves recognizing your purpose in life and participating in activities that align with or allow you to demonstrate what matters most to you.

Our Approach to Multidimensional Wellness

As part of their orientation to the community, we work closely with each new resident to create a profile that helps us tailor activities and experiences to their unique wellness needs and personal goals.

Typically, this includes some combination of exercise, creative arts, music programming, stress management, and therapeutic activities aligned with their abilities and interests. This whole-person approach means we’re arming residents with resources and empowering them to improve their quality of life.

Learn more about how we promote individual wellness at our assisted living and memory care community in Manalapan, New Jersey.