Wellness for Everyone
Why wellness? You’re good with how you are living, and don’t have any issues motivating you to make huge changes in your lifestyle. OK, perhaps you could do with losing a bit of weight around the waist and yes, you do feel tired in the afternoons, stress does get to you and…… BUT work and family life does not allow space and time for wellness.
Wellness is not rocket science, nor is it something that costs a lot of money, or something that necessarily requires a lot of time and effort – well, that of course depends on your individual wellness goals.
All wellness requires is your commitment to small or large changes in your lifestyle; even small changes can have an immense positive effect on your wellness quotient.
There is overwhelming evidence that an unhealthy lifestyle leads to low wellness, but let’s focus on the positive effects of a wellness lifestyle.
The Fundamentals of Wellness
Here are four fundamentals of a wellness lifestyle:
REST is about getting a good night’s sleep, of taking a 10-minute break from work during the day, taking time to enjoy a bit of fresh air or simply doing absolutely nothing. Many studies have been made about the need for restful sleep at night, some say 8 hours is required, some may suggest 7 or 10 hours. The baseline is that an uninterrupted sleep is a must, some “heroes” like Elon Musk claim that sleep is overrated, and that a few hours are sufficient – it may work for them, but probably not for normal human beings.
Sufficient rest will lead to more energy, lowered stress, positive outlook, and better personal and work performance. You should also try to avoid the disturbances of electronic gadgets: do not use your computer or smartphone 2 hours before bed and keep the mobile out of the bedroom at night.
NUTRITION – this is a big one; it’s amazing how much unhealthy food is consumed because it is engineered and marketed to make us like it. Unfortunately, unhealthy processed foods have very negative consequences – diabetes, heart problems, overweight, kidney failure, cancer – the list is much longer.
Healthy nutrition is about awareness, knowing what is good for you before biting into it – a change in diet can involve anything from simply omitting the most damaging types of food or going the full hog and convert to a plant-based diet.
Not only will a healthy diet have a long-term positive wellness effect, it will also help you get over small daily issues like stomach upsets, acidity, constipation and many more issues dogging your daily life which can ultimately lead to much more serious issues.
A simple, old advice on sizing of your daily meals – for breakfast: eat like a king, for lunch: eat like a peasant, and for dinner: eat like a beggar.
MOVEMENT – I am purposely not using the word exercise because it may bring associations with gym and other sweaty activities which is not everyone’s cup of tea. Movement is much more than spending time on the treadmill; it is about getting your body to move the way we humans are designed to do.
Ideally, the goal should be to do 10,000 steps a day and 3 weekly sessions of strenuous heart pumping activity, but even dancing, cycling, walking the dog or gardening will help improve your stamina.
Start incorporating some small physical exercises into your daily routines, such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator, park further away from the entrance when you go shopping, walk to your colleague’s desk instead of sending a WhatsApp, get up 20 minutes earlier in the morning and do some simple stretching exercises – surely you can find ways to incorporate some physical activities in your daily routines.
Most smartphones come with an app which can keep track of your daily activities, it sometimes helps to keep a count of progress.
MINDFULNESS. One must be mindful of the nutrition, rest and movement aspects; mindfulness is what ties all this together.
To understand what mindfulness is, try this little experiment: Take an almond or any other nut, put it in your mouth. Feel the shape of the nut with your tongue, the texture of the skin. Slowly start biting into it, feel how much pressure is required, experience the taste nuances. Explore any other sensation you may feel – take your time.
This is simply mindfulness. You can expand this to many more aspects of experiences, a glass of water, your meals, the music you listen to – savour the day.
Stress is not an indicator of a busy, productive life, but a warning that you cannot cope. You have to deal with stress by being mindful of what causes stress, it is often caused by reasons we are not fully aware of and just by discovering the reasons, the stress can be resolved.
Meditation is one step further up the mindfulness, there are many ways to meditate, but all of them have one clear goal – to focus your thought process, to make you control your thoughts. You may have tried to meditate and found it difficult to rein in your wandering thoughts, some give up, others persevere and ultimately succeed.
Thankfully, there’s an app for that aspect of life too – offering guided meditation, meditation music, breath, and stress level monitors, and many more features.
Thank You
I hope you have been inspired to make some changes towards a better state of wellness, try to incorporate some of my suggestions in your daily life and experience the improvements.
Keep an eye out for more wellness tips in future blogs at www.dilettolifestyle.com or Google for more detailed information on the net.
Should you wish to explore how to incorporate wellness into your business, you are welcome to write to me at
jesper@dilettolifestyle.com