Wellbeing encompasses a wide range of dimensions: emotional, physical, social, spiritual and occupational. It’s about feeling balanced and healthy, regardless of ups and downs in life.

Councils can be reassured that focusing on the focus areas of the VPHWP, such as increasing active living and healthy eating, and tackling climate change will also improve community mental wellbeing.

What is Wellbeing?

Wellbeing is a hot topic across most disciplines, with psychology, economics, sociology, education, anthropology and literature all placing greater emphasis on wellbeing than ever before. However, the conceptualisation and clear definition of wellbeing remains elusive.

We define well-being as a person’s satisfaction with their lives, positive emotions, health wellbeing services lifestyle and behaviours (including good sleep hygiene and quality), strong social ties with friends and family and a sense of belonging, emotional stability, and spiritual wellbeing. These elements work together to create a thriving, happy and fulfilling life. They are also essential to a thriving workplace, society and economy. This is what UTSA’s Health Wellbeing Services aim to promote.

Physical Wellbeing

Physical wellbeing is the result of lifestyle behaviour choices around food, sleep, exercise, self-care and preventive health care. It can be impacted by emotional distress, which can cause symptoms like stomach pain, headaches or a general feeling of being unwell.

Promoting healthy eating habits, keeping physically active, getting enough sleep and making safe decisions about alcohol, nicotine and other drugs is essential to physical wellbeing. This dimension of wellbeing is closely linked with all other dimensions and contributes to long term thriving and productivity. We can help you support this dimension of wellbeing with our range of programs, events and resources. Click here to find out more.

Mental Wellbeing

Mental wellbeing includes your emotional well-being and relates to how you think, feel and cope with life. It includes your ability to connect with others and find purpose in your life.

Getting help and support when you need it is important for your mental wellbeing. This can be through talking to someone, self-care or finding the right services.

New York City has many mental health and substance misuse resources that can help you. This website brings them together in one place so that you can easily access the services you need. It also helps to reduce Health Inequalities by signposting into the right services for your needs.

Social Wellbeing

Social wellbeing is about having healthy relationships with friends and family, as well as community members. It’s about navigating conflict, being mindful of boundaries and fostering diversity.

Having good relationships is one of the most important factors in health and it contributes to our sense of purpose and happiness. It also helps strengthen our immune systems and promotes mental stability and peace.

Activities to nurture social wellbeing include keeping in touch with supportive friends, interacting with family, participating in group discussions and fitness classes, and being a member of an organization like a club or student group. It’s also about practicing active listening and empathy.

Emotional Wellbeing

Emotional wellbeing is about your ability to manage negative emotions, such as disappointment, sadness and anger, and have a positive outlook on life. It is also about a sense of purpose and meaning.

Having healthy emotional wellbeing enables you to work productively, be able to cope with everyday stressors and challenges and to bounce back from any setbacks. It also gives you a healthier perspective on life, helping you to develop stronger relationships and a greater ability to deal with trauma.

You can experience mental illness and still have good emotional wellbeing, but you can also improve your emotional wellbeing by learning to recognise and manage your emotional triggers.

Spiritual Wellbeing

Spiritual health support services involves connecting with something bigger than yourself and having values, morals and beliefs that guide you. It can include activities like volunteering, feeling a sense of belonging and having a good work/life balance.

Yoga: This activity helps improve spiritual wellness by bringing body and mind into harmony. It has also been shown to reduce stress and boost immunity.

McLean’s Integrated Wellness Program conducts research with nurses, social workers, counselors, psychologists and psychiatrists throughout the hospital on the clinical relevance of religion and spirituality to mental health. Our MIDUS

(Multidimensional Measure of Individual Wellbeing) dataset allows us to study the complex relationships between religious and spirituality, life events, wellbeing and health.