Q.Define the physical component of wellness

Wellness has SEVEN interlinked components: Physical, Emotional, Mental (intellectual), Social, Environmental, Occupational and Spiritual. Physical wellness is the ability to meet daily work demands and take care of one's own health — balancing physical activity, nutrition and rest, avoiding tobacco/alcohol, and maintaining optimum muscular endurance, muscular strength, cardiovascular endurance, flexibility and healthy body composition. Emotional wellness is the ability to understand and balance one's emotions, accept one's own weaknesses, respect others' strengths, and learn/grow from experience — trust, self-esteem, self-confidence and optimism are its keywords.

Mental (intellectual) wellness is the ability to learn, evaluate and accept new ideas, think creatively, and pursue lifelong learning — developed through academics, culture, community involvement and hobbies. Social wellness is the ability to interact positively with people of different cultures, ages, genders and religions without stereotyping, building supportive, trust-based relationships. Environmental wellness means respecting the environment and natural resources, adopting habits (organic food, less plastic/petroleum use, less pollution) that keep one's surroundings healthy for future generations.

Occupational wellness is the ability to balance work and leisure time, manage workplace stress, and build good relationships with co-workers — it is about job satisfaction, not salary or post (a highly-paid but stressed person can have WORSE occupational wellness than someone earning less but satisfied). Spiritual wellness is about finding meaning and direction in life (not necessarily religion) — beliefs, principles and values that guide a person, bringing faith, peace, compassion and forgiveness. All seven components are interlinked: wellness is holistic (body, mind and spirit as one whole) and outcome-oriented — improving one component tends to lift the others, and the individual is the primary healer of her/his own wellness.