Wellbeing can be difficult to quantify; its definition depends on your own definition of happiness and life satisfaction.
One thing that remains constant among employees, however, is their need for a strong support network at work – there are various methods you can employ in doing this.
1. Healthy lifestyle
Healthier lifestyles are an integral component of wellbeing. While most people equate this with adhering to a strict diet or rigorous exercise regime, making changes such as adding herbs to meals, standing more than sitting, or making time each day for meditation or mindfulness can also make a significant impact.
Your definition of a healthy lifestyle should reflect what’s right for you and should adapt as your circumstances and priorities shift. While it can be tempting to compare yourself with others and feel inadequately healthy, finding an equilibrium that suits you personally is key.
Adopting healthy habits that enhance physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being can help protect against illness and improve mental health. Figure 1.1 displays the frequency of research publications regarding healthy lifestyles and wellbeing published by major health journals.
2. Relationships
Relationships are critical to our wellbeing, from family to friends to work colleagues – positive relationships provide a foundation for healthy behaviors such as eating balanced diets or exercising regularly, which in turn help manage stress and boost mental wellbeing.
Relationships provide both instrumental and emotional support. Instrumental assistance could include helping with tasks or financial assistance or childcare needs; while emotional support could include listening, comforting or offering advice.
Well-being assessment provides insight into which dimensions are most meaningful to individuals while also showing the effect of various societal indicators, like inequality or education, on various components of well-being. Such knowledge is crucial in designing effective policies to address gaps in well-being; unfortunately most national measures of well-being lack sufficient multidimensional dimensions of well-being assessment.
3. Spirituality
Spiritual wellness involves connecting your inner and outer worlds to support your values and purpose. This may involve activities such as meditation, volunteering or serving others, prayer and reaching out to a higher power – as well as taking time to appreciate nature and its changing seasons.
Spiritually healthy individuals understand their implicit connection to a larger community and feel part of its collective whole, which helps them accept difficult experiences more readily and reduce stress reactivity.
MIDUS offers an unparalleled opportunity for studying relationships between religion, spirituality and various aspects of eudaimonic well-being. In this Special Issue we consider some theoretical issues which might help in understanding or measuring these phenomena, followed by empirical findings showing ties between spirituality and well-being.
4. Mental health
Mental wellbeing is an integral component of overall well-being. When someone’s psychological state is healthy, they can enjoy rewarding relationships with others and make meaningful contributions to society; when it isn’t they may experience challenges at work and school.
Mental disorders are one of the leading causes of disability and premature death worldwide, yet are frequently ignored. Resources allocated to address them tend to be inadequately distributed across multiple entities or are reduced due to budget cuts.
Just like the weather, your mental health can fluctuate. Talk therapy, medication and other forms of treatment can provide much-needed support; it is also important to stick with a treatment plan even when feeling better; this may involve seeing a doctor regularly, taking your medications on schedule or participating in complementary or integrative therapies such as mindfulness yoga art music or art therapy.
5. Wellbeing skills
No matter if it is weight loss or stress relief that your goal, developing and employing effective coping strategies – known as wellbeing skills – are crucial for long-term change and improving wellbeing. Such skills could include self-assessment, enjoying the moment more fully and guided meditation.
Wellbeing skills also include developing a sense of responsibility towards one’s community and culture, which can be accomplished in various ways. Schools could, for instance, teach children about digital usage habits, encourage volunteering opportunities and promote mindfulness exercises as ways of cultivating wellbeing skills.
Employers may host wellbeing-enhancing activities like yoga or mindfulness classes, but should refrain from making these supplemental tasks for employees to complete. Instead, employers should integrate wellbeing into the everyday work activities within their organisation and build it into its culture.
