{"id":637,"date":"2019-10-13T08:11:27","date_gmt":"2019-10-13T15:11:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/ucan\/?p=637"},"modified":"2019-10-13T08:11:27","modified_gmt":"2019-10-13T15:11:27","slug":"theres-more-to-wellness-than-food-fitness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/ucan\/theres-more-to-wellness-than-food-fitness\/","title":{"rendered":"There\u2019s More to Wellness than Food &#038; Fitness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a kid, did you ever play the game Barrel of Monkeys? If you did, then you might remember how difficult it was to keep the monkeys all connected.\u00a0 Especially if the grip each monkey had on one another was not as secure as it could be. Now, think of all those monkeys as aspects of your wellness in the mind-body connection.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wellness consists of emotional, physical, social, spiritual, intellectual and environmental health. Each of these areas are the linked monkeys in the barrel that is your body. Check out some small steps forward to improving each area of wellness:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-landscape-image wp-image-638 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/174\/0842_Grand_Canyon_20190715-464x348.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"464\" height=\"348\" srcset=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/174\/0842_Grand_Canyon_20190715-464x348.jpeg 464w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/174\/0842_Grand_Canyon_20190715-800x600.jpeg 800w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/174\/0842_Grand_Canyon_20190715-232x174.jpeg 232w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 464px) 100vw, 464px\" \/>Emotional. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Emotional wellness consists of your personal thoughts and feelings and how you connect with this aspect is what gives you your mental balance. Here are a few tips to improve your emotional well-being:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Journal your thoughts and feelings<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Talk with a friend<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Take advantage of the things that make you smile, laugh, feel good<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Take a moment to count your blessings<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Physical.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Food and fitness is a part of physical wellness, but it&#8217;s also much more than that &#8211; sleep, stress management strategies, and drugs &amp; alcohol, to name a few. Physical health refers to having habits that support healthy bodily functions and longevity. Some tips to get started:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Get more sleep<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Find enjoyable (sports, weightlifting, dance, walking\/jogging with your dog)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Take a bath put on a face mask, or find other forms of self care<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Eat more fruits and veggies<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Drink less alcohol<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Social.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Social wellness is just like it might sound, which is maintaining healthy relationships for yourself and with others. Get started with some of these ideas:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sign up for school activities or sports<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Volunteer<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Get festive and carve pumpkins or have a scary movie night with friends<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Spiritual.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Spiritual wellness revolves around the meaning and purpose that we seek in our life. Enhance your spiritual wellness by picking one of these:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pray<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Meditate<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Look for the deeper meanings in things<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Right down daily affirmations for yourself<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Intellectual.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Your intellectual health consists of the discovery, exploration and wonder you find in life for the sake of learning. Address your intellectual health by trying one of these:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Listen to podcasts<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Watch a documentary<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Read the news<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Read a book that catches your interest<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Draw\/paint<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do your homework \ud83d\ude42\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Take a class to improve your knowledge on a certain subject<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Find a new task\/skill to learn<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Environmental. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lastly, environmental wellness is what encompasses the people, places, and things that give a sense of balance and self-care. Consider improving your environment with one of these small changes:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Go to the farmers market<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do your homework out in nature<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Use reusable water bottles and shopping bags<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Keep your room clean<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do a self check. How many of these pieces of wellness pie do you have? Which ones are missing?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While it may seem a bit overwhelming with so many parts that complete the wellness hexagon, just start with one small step forward.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>The Web of Wellness<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These 6 areas of wellness are all connected (just like the monkeys). Physical wellness will impact the link to emotional, social and spiritual wellness.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Physical wellness begins with the healthy habits you possess in order to take care of your body. Your body will respond regarding how you think and feel with expressing emotions like stress, happiness or sadness, for instance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Feeling nurtured and loved will contribute to social wellness when building those friendships and relationships in your life.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That can lead to your feeling of belonging and purpose that impacts your spiritual wellness, whether that be finding a connection with the universe, to a higher power or finding your purpose in life.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Spiritual health can link to environmental health as we express gratitude for the amazing outdoors, or consider how our individual environments support the other elements of wellness.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019re reading this blog, then you\u2019re filling up your intellectual wellness tank, in an effort to learn and grow.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">See how it\u2019s all connected?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, take a good hard look at yourself and just pick one area of wellness you\u2019d like to improve. Name one teeny-tiny change and get started. Meet with a UCAN health coach, if you\u2019d like a little help along the way.<\/span><\/p>\n<!-- shortcode-image-callout -->\n<span class=\"shortcode-image-callout shortcode-image-callout--left\">\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/ucan\/meet-our-coaches\/\">    <span class=\"shortcode-image-callout__outer-container\">\n        <span class=\"shortcode-image-callout__container\">\n            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-portrait-image wp-image-593\" src=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/174\/IMG_2062-e1568470015548-300x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"450\">\n                        <span class=\"shortcode-image-callout__header-container\">\n                <span>Lyndsay Bottoms, Health Coach<\/span>\n            <\/span>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/span>\n    <\/a><\/span>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As a kid, did you ever play the game Barrel of Monkeys? If you did, then you might remember how difficult it was to keep the monkeys all connected.\u00a0 Especially if the grip each monkey had on one another was not as secure as it could be. Now, think of all those monkeys as aspects [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":359,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/ucan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/ucan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/ucan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/ucan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/359"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/ucan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/ucan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":641,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/ucan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637\/revisions\/641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/ucan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/ucan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/ucan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}