Total Health: What Does It All Mean?

Have you ever really stopped to think about what total health means.  You have heard people say “she is the picture of health” and you probably looked on at the healthy looking person before you and agreed.  But, have you ever tried to define what this all means?

Sometimes a person can look the picture of health and in deed be very unhealthy in some areas of their lives.  When we say total health we must look at all the aspects.  We all know that we are more than just a physical body.  Most people are familiar these days with the term mind/body connection.  Various studies have shown that the mind and how we think about something plays a very important role in each of our lives.

Allow me to share my vision of total health.  I am sure that you would agree with me that to become a well rounded person one has to have all areas of their life in balance.  This is one of the reasons coaching is becoming so popular today.  When we take a good look at our lives we often see that we neglect some areas in our lives and over compensate in other areas.  For example, you may work late most nights and occasionally on Saturday and you are number one on the sales team, but your relationship with your family is strained.  It is suffering because you are spending too much time at work.  Other areas of your life may be being affected as well.  Do you have time to exercise, time for reflection and spiritual development, hobbies, continued education or having fun with friends, etc.  

It’s important that we also add healthy mind to the list.  The mind obviously controls the body and whatever we are thinking, saying and doing affects the physical body.  For instance if you get up in the morning feeling a little tired from working late you may not want much breakfast and in fact at that moment you may be feeling stressed and a little sorry for yourself.  When this goes on for a while the next thing that usually happens is we begin feeling tired and then If we don’t slow down we develop some type of ailment.   So…it is always good If you can take a few days off for rejuvination and if you don’t it is down hill from there.

The Center For Disease Control states that up to 90% of the patients who visit doctors in this country do so for stress related illnesses.  A lot of times when we are over stressed, etc.  we tend to begin worrying that we will get sick.  This preoccupation with thoughts of getting sick and the fears that many have about death just creates more stress on the body.  Research indicates that 50% to 90% of all illness can be traced specifically to too much stress.

To have total health a person needs to have a life plan, one that is structured in such a way as to allow specific time devoted to all areas of their life.  This helps to create better health and an over all happier, more healthy lifestyle which can lead to more success in other areas of your life as well.  Today, more and more people understand this concept and are taking action to attain total health and wellness.

To your health, happiness and success!