What is wellness? The new mental and physical well-being

It is well known that a problem cannot be conceived as such until the concepts to define and limit it have been created. That is why, among other things, our current conception of what well-being should be has been expanding to encompass aspects of human life that decades ago would have been unimportant or even scorned.

Today however We speak not only of the importance of meeting the basic needs of each one of us, but of a much broader realm of potential than the possibility of feeling well physically. This concept has been called wellness.

The wellness it is an idea that they are working with more and more therapists and psychologists, but also organizations of hotels with spas and agencies that offer weekend experiences. What is wellness and why is it so popular?

Wellness: a new conception of wellness

What we understand today by wellness is derived from the ideas of Halbert L. Dunn, an American statistician who is considered the father of the Wellness Movement. In the 1950s, Dunn developed the idea of ​​wellness understanding that human well-being had to go beyond what until then was included in the field of wellness.

Health. Thus, this concept had to include, in addition to the proper functioning of the body, the ability to opt for multiple avenues ofself realisation.

In this way, the wellness that Halbert L. Dunn can be understood as the dynamics and lifestyle by which human potential is maximized in the physical, mental and spiritual spheres. As wellness theorizing includes acceptance of the existence of a mental and spiritual world in addition to the physical one, This concept is used especially in the circles of influence of alternative medicine and psychology not experimental.

Since the 50s, and especially with the momentum that culture took New age In the 70s, this idea of ​​health has spread to spa centers, spas and wellness hotels, but also to travel programs and experiences that offer wellness weekends and long stays dedicated to improving your level of life.

An eternally postponed question

This new way of understanding well-being was not born in the middle of the 20th century by chance. There are reasons why today there are many wellness centers and a century ago this idea was not even raised. This is because changes in social conditions have made it possible to spread the philosophy of wellness and integral health.

It is curious that, although Western human societies have assumed for many centuries the existence of a separation between the body and the soul, all Its efforts in the sense of improving the quality of life of people (that of the wealthy classes, in particular) have focused only on the sphere of physical. The spiritual realm, which is understood as linked to the divine and seems, therefore, much more important than the "simple carcass of flesh and bones ", takes center stage in the practice of creating living conditions ideals.

A chosen few

The soul feeding It was something that was reserved for very small elites and their environment, even if there was always some philosopher who, even having problems to survive, insisted on responding to this type of issues.

Of course, until not so long ago, it was difficult to try to respond to a repertoire of needs as difficult to define as those that correspond to the realm of the spiritual, and less with the scarce resources and the limited technologies of which had. How could the ancient Romans have spoken of wellness, for example, who depended on the denial of character human rights of their slaves to maintain themselves an acceptable standard of living and to use their services fully Liberty?

Today, however, talking about wellnes is already possible. And it is, among other things, because we already have the resources and the technology not to continue indefinitely postponing the fundamental question: What about the well-being of our mind?

Wellness in the wellness society

It is not surprising, therefore, that this notion of what wellness is practically coincides with the appearance of Welfare state, shortly after Second World War. As the basic needs of more and more social strata were being covered thanks to the wealth redistribution, it was easier to push beyond the scope of all human values positive.

It is at this moment that the Liberty, the autonomy to be able to choose a lifestyle adapted to one's own way of being and doing things. It is also at this time when the idea begins to spread that well-being must address issues not addressed so far. Many psychology professionals begin to focus their interventions towards the need not to treat mental problems, but also of help lead patients to happiness and self-realization. The needs of the spirit, reformulated as needs of the mind, become some of the main objectives.

In this way all the ideas related to health and fitness have been imbued with the notion of wellness: from plans to lose fat, lose weight and maintain a flat stomach, to treatment plans for sick patients or to help with healthy diet plans.

Science speaking

As always happens with the concepts that appeal to a spiritual world that works by different logics from the physical realm, wellness in its original definition is not something that is taken too much into account in scientific psychology or conventional medicine. Research and intervention plans from these instances usually focus on the study of subjective experience and Placebo effect, but not in the consideration of areas of well-being detached from normal biological and physiological processes.

It is clear that weight loss plans could work better if the idea of ​​wellness is internalized and accepted by patients, and that hotels can improve their economic results if they include a wellness center in their services, but that does not tell us much about a field of human needs separated from the rest of the fields of physical health.

So while many spas, hotels, travel agencies, and alternative medicine organizations may find the idea of ​​wellness helpful, it is not a universal truth.

Believing in wellness can open the doors to a new way of developing happiness and enjoying life, but not doing so does not make us far from true well-being.