What is Holistic Health?
Holistic health is about honoring all the components of health: physical, emotional, mental, relational, and spiritual. Each domain affects the other in reciprocal relationship: tending to only one or a few of them in isolation is insufficient for a balanced and vivacious life. As a complex, living system, each facet of you contributes to your well-being. When you make time to journal, have coffee with a friend, take a brisk walk, and eat your vegetables, the benefits of each activity compound. When you forget to eat, neglect your friendships, and stop moving your body, it’s no wonder that you feel less energized, less inspired, and less whole.
Physical Factors
When it comes to physical health, a lot of people underestimate the power of lifestyle habits like getting quality sleep, adequate nutrition, and exercise. Sleep is essential for your brain to purge its toxins, your muscles to regenerate, and your memories to consolidate. Sleep deprivation, on the other hand, can seriously impede your focus, disrupt your mood, and throw off your biological rhythms. Furthermore, research demonstrates that exercise facilitates neurogenesis (growth of neurons), improves mood, and reduces risks of disease. Exercise is one of the most effective antidepressants that we know of, though severely depressed people often require more support. Other lifestyle habits that zap your energy and vitality include alcohol consumption, excessive junk food (too many fats and sugars), and inactivity. These ideas are not new but they are tried and true.
Mental/Emotional Factors
It is common to experience difficulty managing self-defeating thoughts and overwhelming feelings. Left unchecked, these frequent and intense psychological states can snowball into more persistent mood disorders. It is thus important to build awareness of thought patterns, bodily sensations, and subtle feelings of discomfort. We may all benefit from a curated list of self-care activities to remind ourselves how to self-soothe in the midst of strong feelings. Therapy is also an effective way to explore, express, and ventilate feelings and troubling thoughts. Journaling is yet another wonderful tool to externalize the business of the mind, relieving emotional anguish, and enhancing self-awareness.
Social Factors
As relational creatures, we are designed for connection; we long to be seen, understood, and reflected. We crave belonging and acceptance, to give and receive love. Loneliness is associated with susceptibility to illness and even earlier mortality, whilst social support is correlated with resilience, longevity, and well-being. Relationships are the bedrock from which we grow and become fully ourselves.
Spiritual Factors
“Psyche” in Greek means soul; we are soulful beings with inner spirits. Spirituality is defined as a felt sense of connection with the divine, whether it is experienced as Oneness, a relationship with a higher power, or a transcendent Other. Spirituality is dissociable from religion or adherence to family tradition; personal devotion describes something quite distinct, though it may sometimes overlap with organized faith. Human beings yearn to belong to something greater than themselves and to be guided by a sense of purpose in life. When you are tapped into spirituality as a resource, the peace, creativity, wisdom, and freedom you experience spill over into other areas of your life. Perhaps you feel closest to God basking under a glorious sunset, during meditation, prayer, or yoga practice. Perhaps you need to feel the earth under your feet and the sun on your skin to feel connected to the universe and the pulse of life. When you are grounded in your spirit, it acts as an organizing principle, offering meaning and a sense of coherence on this earthly plane until we make it home.
Wishing you wholeness,
Sophie
References:
Miller, L. (2016). The Spiritual Child: The New Science on Parenting for Health and Lifelong Thriving. Picador.
