The Main Aspects of Wellness
Social Wellness
This defines our ability to connect with other people. A few activities to support you in cultivating wellness would be going to a gym, park, or yoga class. You can also take up a hobby and find other people who share your interests, and you can also join groups on Meetup or social media. It’s great to be engaged in with other people in your community!
Emotional Wellness
This is the ability to understand ourselves and cope with life’s challenges. Emotions are natural, and we all experience emotions like sadness or anger. However, the way we feel our emotions can be quite different. Some people experience their emotions more intensely that it can have an impact on their health.
Spiritual Wellness
This is the ability to establish peace and harmony in our lives. It provides us with systems of faith, values, ethics, and principles. Healthy spiritual practices include volunteering, making social contributions, being part of a community, and expressions of compassion.
Spiritual wellness allows one to live a life consistent with their own beliefs while establishing purpose and finding meaning in life. Achieving spiritual wellness means accepting who you are and feeling whole within your mind, body, and spirit.
How Does Stress Affect You?
The way you handle stress has an effect on your health. When experiencing stress or anxiety, the body reacts as if under attack. The body releases hormones that speed up heart rate and breathing, increase blood pressure, and make the muscles tense. This is the fight-or-flight response.
How to Cultivate Wellness in the Face of Stress
Mind
Challenge your mind by recognizing creative abilities and finding ways to expand your knowledge and skills. Your mind and body are powerful allies. How you think can affect how you feel and vice versa.
An example of this connection is the body’s response to stress. Constant worries caused by work, finances, and other problems can cause muscle tension, headaches, and stomach problems. It can also lead to high blood pressure and other serious problems.
On the other hand, constant pain or a health problem can affect your emotions. You might experience depression, anxiety, and stress that could affect how well you cope with your illness.
However, your mind can have a positive effect on your health too. A positive outlook can help you manage pain or stress better—thus keeping you healthier than someone who is less optimistic.
Work
Find ways to nurture your skills and improve your satisfaction and enrichment at work. Some strategies to get started in corporate wellness include:
Undergoing certification training and skill development
Networking and building relationships to identify areas of potential growth
Using compelling marketing resources and strategies
Identifying employer wellness needs and presenting targeted solutions, and
Developing customizable workplace wellness toolkits
Meanwhile, wellness programs in the work environment can result in:
Improved Employee Productivity and Focus
Enhanced Employee Engagement and Social Interactions
Higher Employee Retention Rates
Easier Recruitment
Reduced Healthcare Costs for Both the Employer and Employee
Finances
Take care of your financial health by accepting and understanding your financial situation. Financial planning can reduce your stress about money and support your current needs. It also helps you make the most of your assets and ensure that you meet long-term goals like retirement.
Financial planning isn’t just for the wealthy. Creating a roadmap for one’s financial future is for everyone! You can make one yourself or get help from a professional. There are various online services that can help you, but if you want to do it yourself, you can start with the following reminders:
Set financial goals and track your money so you can redirect it toward your goals.
Know your employer match.
Make sure emergencies don’t become disasters.
Tackle high-interest debt first.
Invest to build your savings.
Build a moat to protect and grow your financial well-being.
Getting Teens Involved
Being involved in a community can boost a teenager’s self esteem and give them opportunities to build new skills. You can encourage your teen to get involved by participating as a family or helping them find activities that interest them.
Community Activity and Civic Responsibility
Community activity is about doing things in our community because we should or we want to—not because we’re mandated by law. Teens can be active in their communities by:
Joining local youth groups like the Girl Scouts, advisory groups, and environmental groups
Coordinating or coaching junior sports
Volunteering at local festivals and cleanup projects
At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter what teenagers do within their community. Any kind of involvement is good!
Self-Confidence, Mental Health, and Well-Being
Finding community activities can help children learn to cope with challenges, communicate with different kinds of people, and build their life skills in a supportive environment. Community connectedness is an important factor in maintaining mental health.
Anxiety and Depression in Children
Community Preventive Services Task Force
Learn about recommendations for school-based cognitive behavioral therapy to reduce depression and anxiety symptoms.
Many children have fears and worries that may make them feel sad and hopeless from time to time. Strong fears may appear at different times during development. For example, toddlers are often very distressed about being away from their parents, even if they are safe and cared for.
Although fears and worries are typical in children, persistent or extreme forms of fear and sadness could be due to anxiety or depression. Because the symptoms primarily involve thoughts and feelings, they are sometimes called internalizing disorders.
Anxiety
When a child does not outgrow fears typical in young children or get overwhelmed by so many fears that they interfere with other life aspects, they may be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. Different types of anxiety disorders include:
Separation Anxiety – being afraid when away from parents
Phobias – having extreme fears about specific things and situations
Social Anxiety – being afraid of places and situations that involve other people
General Anxiety – being worried about the future and bad thigs happening
Panic Disorder – experiencing repeated episodes of sudden, unexpected, intense fear that come with symptoms like increased heart rate, difficulty in breathing, dizziness, shakiness, and sweatiness
Anxiety may present as fear or worry, but it can also make children irritable and angry. Other symptoms include difficulty in sleeping, fatigue, headaches, and stomach aches. Some children keep their worries to themselves, making it more difficult to detect symptoms. Related conditions include Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Depression
Occasional bouts of sadness or hopelessness is part of every child’s life. However, some children may feel constant sadness or helplessness in situations that they are able to change. Sometimes, they may suddenly become uninterested in things that they used to enjoy.
When children feel persistent sadness and hopelessness, they may be diagnosed with depression. Examples of behaviors often seen in children with depression include:
Feeling sad, hopeless, or irritable most of the time
Not wanting to do or enjoy doing fun things
Eating a lot more or a lot less than usual
Sleeping a lot more or a lot less than normal
Being tired and sluggish or tense and restless a lot of the time
Having a hard time paying attention
Feeling worthless, useless, or guilty
Showing self-injury and self-destructive behavior
Extreme depression can lead a child to think about suicide or plan suicide. For youth aged 10–24 years, suicide is among the leading causes of death.
Some children may not talk about their helpless and hopeless thoughts and may not appear sad. However, depression might also cause a child to make trouble or act unmotivated, causing others not to notice that the child is depressed or to incorrectly label the child as a troublemaker or lazy.
Anger vs. Aggression
When your child is suffering from mental health issues, it is important to teach them the difference between feelings of anger and aggressive behavior. While angry feelings are completely acceptable, aggressive behavior is not. Make it clear that it is never alright to throw things, slam doors, or deliberately break objects.
There are many research papers that show the following to be great ways to improve one’s mood and redirect negative feelings:
Exercising
Listening to Music
Journaling
Creating Art
Meditating
Talking to Someone You Trust
Treatment for Anxiety and Depression
The first is to talk to a healthcare provider, such as your child’s primary care provider or a mental health specialist, about getting an evaluation. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) recommends that healthcare providers routinely screen children for behavioral and mental health concerns.
Some of the signs and symptoms of anxiety or depression in children could be caused by other conditions, such as trauma. Specific symptoms like difficulty focusing could be a sign of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
It is important to get a thorough evaluation to get the best diagnosis and treatment. A consultation with a health provider can help determine if medication should be part of the treatment. Meanwhile, a mental health professional can develop a therapy plan that works best for the child and their family.
Behavior therapy can include child therapy, family therapy, or a combination of both. The school can also be included in the treatment plan. For very young children, involving parents in treatment is key.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy is one form of therapy that is used to treat anxiety or depression, particularly in older children. It helps the child turn negative thoughts into constructive thoughts and adopt productive behavior. Behavior therapy for anxiety may involve helping children cope with and manage anxiety symptoms while gradually exposing them to their fears so as to help them learn that bad things do not occur.
Treatments can also include a variety of ways to help the child feel less stressed and be healthier. They can include dietary changes, exercise programs, consistent routines, and social activities.
Where to Find Treatment
Here are tools to find a healthcare provider familiar with treatment options:
Psychologist Locator, a Service of the American Psychological Association (APA) Practice Organization
Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist Finder, a Research Tool by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP)
Find a Cognitive Behavioral Therapist, a Search Tool by the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies
If you need help finding more treatment facilities, you can visit MentalHealth.gov.
Managing Symptoms and Staying Healthy
Being healthy is important for all children and can be especially important for those with depression or anxiety. In addition to getting the right treatment, leading a healthy lifestyle can help manage symptoms of depression and anxiety. Here are some healthy behaviors that may help:
Adopting a healthy eating plan centered on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes (for example, beans, peas, and lentils), lean protein sources, nuts, and seeds
Participating in physical activity for at least 1 hour each day
Getting the recommended amount of sleep each night based on age
Practicing mindfulness or relaxation techniques
Preventing Anxiety and Depression
It is not known exactly why some children develop anxiety or depression. Many factors may play a role, including genetics and temperament. However, it is also known that some children are more likely to develop anxiety or depression when they experience trauma caused by stress, abuse, bullying or rejection by other children, or when their own parents struggle with anxiety and depression.
Although these factors appear to increase the risk for anxiety or depression, there are ways to decrease the chance that children experience them. Learn about the following public health initiatives to reduce these risks:
Bullying Prevention
Child Maltreatment Prevention
Youth Violence Prevention
Depression After Birth
Caring for Children in a Disaster
Adolescent and School Mental Health