Wellness is a lifestyle and involves making healthy choices in all areas of life. It includes a positive attitude, good nutrition, and exercise, as well as spirituality and emotional intelligence.
Previous studies have found that health consciousness predicts a variety of healthy behaviors. This study extends those findings by directly measuring the underlying psychological traits of this concept rather than using actual behaviors.
What Is Wellness Consciousness?
Health consciousness is a prominent predictor of diverse health-related attitudes and behaviors. Despite its powerful predictive ability, little scholarly work has specifically focused on this concept. Furthermore, previous studies that employed the concept of health consciousness often lacked clear definitions and failed to construct reliable measures.
The present study aims to clarify the meaning of this term and develop a preliminary scale for its measurement. To accomplish this goal, we examined the factors that contribute to a person’s level of health consciousness. We identified five major dimensions: self-health awareness, health information seeking and usage, personal health responsibility, and health motivation.
While wellness is often viewed as being strictly related to physical fitness, the concept actually encompasses a wide range of areas. For example, environmental wellness involves being aware of the impact your actions have on the world around you, while social wellness refers to showing respect for other people. Spiritual wellness includes having a strong belief system that provides you with a sense of purpose in life.
Why is Wellness Consciousness Important?
Having a high level of wellness consciousness is important because it can help people feel better. It can also improve their mood and make them less reactive to the things that happen in life (it helps them maintain positive thinking). In addition, it can teach them self-discipline which is necessary for achieving health goals.
It can also help people develop empathy, which is important for having healthy relationships. Moreover, it can also help people understand their own emotions and feelings, which is important for maintaining positive self-esteem and accepting their flaws.
Previous studies have found that individuals who are more health conscious tend to be more concerned about their diet and exercise habits. They are also more likely to seek out health information and take preventive measures to stay healthy. Furthermore, these findings support the hypothesis that health consciousness is a good predictor of various health-related attitudes and behaviors (Furnham & Forey, 1994; Gould, 1988, 1990; Iversen & Kraft, 2006; Kaskutas & Greenfield, 1997). Confirmatory factor analyses also supported the psychometric properties of both EI and health consciousness scales.
How Can I Practice Wellness Consciousness?
Wellness consciousness is a state of mind that can be practiced in many different ways. One way is to focus on a health-related goal, such as losing weight or exercising more often. Another way is to be mindful of how your body feels throughout the day. You can do this by practicing mindfulness techniques, such as noticing how your breath flows in and out of your body and paying attention to any physical sensations that you notice.
While scholars have conceptualized and measured health consciousness in a variety of ways, five major dimensions have emerged: engagement in healthy behaviors, psychological attention to one’s own health status, active seeking and usage of health information, health responsibility, and health motivation.
The current study used a new measure of health consciousness that includes all items previously included in previous studies on the concept except those related to gambling (Dutta-Bergman, 2004a) and prescription drug use (Furnham & Forey, 1994). Future research will be necessary to validate this scale.
What Can I Do to Practice Wellness Consciousness?
Practicing wellness consciousness involves being aware of and cultivating all dimensions of your health: emotional, spiritual, intellectual, environmental, physical, financial, occupational, and social. Each dimension is interconnected and impacts each other. Developing balance and awareness in all these areas is the best way to feel healthy and fulfilled. For example, practicing mindfulness techniques and tools such as meditation, mindful breathing, and body scans can decrease anxiety, while participating in regular exercise can boost the level of “feel-good” hormones in the brain. You can also practice environmental wellness by eating a balanced diet and taking care of the earth around you.
