Health, Wellness and Well-Being. What’s the Difference, Anyway?
Health, wellness, and well-being…all words that sound pretty synonymous, but are they?? My goal by the end of this post is to boil down each word into it’s smallest parts to gain some clarity on what exactly each one means, as well as to discern how they differ from each other.
Let’s start with health. The Merriam Webster Dictionary states the primary definition of health as “the condition of being well or free from disease”. The Cambridge Dictionary lists their first definition of health as “the condition of the body and the degree to which it is free from illness, or the state of being well.” The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. This definition from the WHO has more depth than the others by recognizing multiple aspects of what health is comprised of, and not just the freedom from illness. Unfortunately, being in a state of good health is not always within our control. We can make every attempt to live a healthy lifestyle, but this can be deterred by the diagnosis of a disease or illness, or an unexpected injury.
Ok, now let’s dig into Wellness. Wellness is defined by Merriam Webster as “the quality or state of being in good health especially as an actively sought goal”. The Global Wellness Institute defines it as “the active pursuit of activities, choices and lifestyles that lead to a state of holistic health”. The most striking nuance of this definition is that wellness does not happen passively, wellness is actively pursued. There are several factors involved in the successful pursuit of wellness. A person needs to: 1. Have the awareness of the measures necessary for one’s wellness promotion, 2. Actively participate in healthy behaviors and patterns that promote one’s wellness, and 3. Control the risk factors that can harm one’s overall well-being. The take-home message for me here is that we have control over our wellness, but we don’t always have control over our health. However, even more important to realize is this—even though we may not be in a good state of health because of illness, disease, or an injury, we can still actively pursue a lifestyle of wellness and wellness-related goals.
Wellness is multifaceted, and all areas of our wellness are interconnected, thus making it holistic. According to Dr. Margaret Swarbrick (Ph.D., FAOTA) and Jay Yudof (MS), “wellness is not the absence of disease, illness, and stress but the presence of: Purpose in life; Active involvement in satisfying work and play; Joyful relationships; A healthy body and living environment; and Happiness.” Swarbrick and Yudof developed “The 8 Dimensions of Wellness”, a model that shows the interconnectedness of the following 8 dimensions: emotional, financial, social, spiritual, occupational, physical, intellectual, and environmental. There is overlap in every dimension of our wellness—every area is impacted positively or negatively by the others. That is a lot of moving parts to always be keeping balanced in our busy lives!
The 8 Dimensions of Wellness by Swarbrick and Yudof
Now let’s explore well-being. Well-being, as defined by Merriam Webster is “the state of being happy, healthy, or prosperous.” The American Psychology Association (APA) defines it as “a state of happiness and contentment, with low levels of distress, overall good physical and mental health and outlook, or good quality of life”. Oxford English Dictionary defines it as “the state of being comfortable, healthy, or happy.” Happiness seems to be a common thread between all the definitions. The Global Wellness Institute differentiates between “wellness” and “well-being” using a graphic to outline what the two terms share and where they differentiate. One of the main differences I notice from the graphic is that well-being is more about a “perception of a state of being” (italics added by me for emphasis), whereas wellness “relates to intention, action, and activities”. My interpretation of this is that well-being is more about how we perceive we are feeling in the moment, versus wellness, which is when we are actively taking measures for how we want and intend to feel in the future.
Recently, Duke Integrative Medicine has changed the name of their coaching program from the Duke Integrative Health Coach Professional Training program (this is where I received my certification) to the Duke Health and Well-Being Coach Training program. The addition of “well-being” in the title makes sense and, in my opinion, refers nicely to the “whole-person” approach of coaching. This holistic approach totally jives with my philosophies as an Occupational Therapist and a Health and Wellness Coach.
I’m going to do my best to now digest and summarize the information I gleaned regarding these 3 terms that are often used interchangeably in this ever-changing landscape of healthcare! From my research, it appears that health is often represented as a state of being, both physically and mentally, in the absence of disease or illness. Wellness is the state of being in good health by means of active pursuit and goal-setting towards increasing quality of life. Well-being is the perceived state of being generally happy and comfortable and with overall good physical and mental health. It’s important to note, we can have a chronic or short-term illness or injury that diminishes our level of health, yet still strive for and attain wellness. We can also have a health issue, but have overall good well-being based upon our perception of being happy and comfortable. In other words, we can be in poor health, but still have relatively good well-being and aspire to wellness.
Personally and professionally, the term wellness (vs. well-being) resonates with me, as it suggests the active pursuit of becoming the best version of ourselves. We are always changing, evolving, and growing—hopefully we learn from our past, shed our skin, and grow into the person we are striving to become. As a Health & Wellness Coach and OT, I believe that everyone is naturally health-seeking and wants to have a good quality of life, however not everyone has the supports to attain these desires. I firmly believe that, given the right level of support, every human is capable of making behavior changes to better ourselves and to optimize our overall level of health, and wellness, and well-being!
