And so, without further ado, "The six types of health that make up who we are":
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| https://edu.glogster.com/glog/the-6-types-of-health/29w1xegudiu |
2) Mental Health
3) Emotional Health
4) Environmental Health
5) Spiritual Health
6) Social Health
Physical health came immediately to me when I was thinking about this concept. Do you feel sick or healthy? Are you able to use your body to function in the ways in which you desire? Do you have any broken bones or wounds? This is the easiest one, in my opinion, because to some extent - it's able to be seen. You can see someone who looks pale or sweaty or tired. You can see someone limping, in a boot or sling or on crutches. You can see injuries - incisions, bruises, atypical movement patterns. This is what I spend the majority of my day helping my patients work on, so naturally this is what would pop into my head when asked about the types of health. This is what so many people spend considerable amounts of time working on - with diets, gym memberships, yoga punch cards, rec sports leagues. It's also what I work on when I cook myself dinner, working to ensure I receive adequate nutrition and hydration.
Mental health has been on my mind a lot more recently (ha!). I've written about it a little bit here and here as well as in my posts that explore chronic pain. I'm going to group this together with emotional health because they are similar Mental health deals with your ability to process emotions, feelings, and thoughts while emotional health is your ability to express those same things. I don't feel like I learned nearly enough about psychology or mental health during PT School, but I've been learning more about them and recognizing that taking a mental health day - or even just an hour - to pay attention to your personal needs is essential to your overall health. Last week I was scheduled to work a shift as an on-call PT and they canceled just a little while before I was meant to arrive. The sun was shining and instead of wasting the afternoon, or even being productive with some things I've had sitting on my to-do list, I hopped on a ferry, enjoyed the sunshine, caught a few great photos of Mt. Rainier, and gave myself some alone time to think. I needed it. A lot. And in my opinion, recognizing the need to take care of myself is a huge part of the battle for mental health. I don't think it's easy to recognize when you need to take better care of yourself, sometimes until it's too late. I do think it's easy to help others recognize this issue, though.
Environmental health was not something that I had considered, though when I looked into this idea further, it did include occupational health, along with home environment and the natural space you live in. From an occupational perspective, if you've ever had a job you disliked or worked in a toxic environment, I'm sure you can releate to the impact your job has on your health. You spend so much time at your job and with your coworkers that it makes sense how much of an impact that could have. I'm so grateful that I love my job! What about your home environment? The people you live with, the space in which you live, are you nessy or meat, is it quiet or a bit more crazy? There are pros and cons to having roommates or people coming and going from your home that impact your overall feeling of well-being.
Then there's the natural environment in which you live. I grew up in Connecticut which holds a special place in my heart, but I absolutely hate the snow. Every year when I go home in March, I cringe thinking that I might end up in a snow storm. I feel my body tensing up in the brutal cold and the runny nose and watery eyes and needing to wear hat, gloves, boots, scarves and 37 layers of sweaters is just not what I enjoy. Additionally, I have known for a really long tiem that I need to be near the water. When I graduated from PT school I only applied for jobs in Rhode Island until Seattle came up as a possibility. I wanted to be able to breathe in the salty air of the ocean and get to the coastline as much as possible. Large bodies of water provide me with a sense of calm and a change in perspective because the ocean is so vast and makes you feel smaller, in a good way. When I spent 16 weeks in the middle of the country where I couldn't get to a big body of water, I felt unnerved and trapped. I live so close now that I almost take it for granted that I can see the coastline on a daily basis. I often drive the wrong way to get to the highway in the mornings before work so I can see the Puget Sound and have that extra moment of calm.
Spiritual health is an area that made complete sense to me as being important in overall health. I've only written about religion once on the blog, here, but as a person who embraces my religion in my own ways, I can say that my spiritual health has gone through hills and valleys throughout my life. I think this applies to all these areas of health - they're not static. Mental health ebbs and flows. People who have anxiety or depression can have happy days or weeks. People who have a great work environment can have increased stress with a new project or temporary conflict. These change by the day or by what's going on in life. Some days you just don't feel well and your physical health is poor. That influences all the other areas of your life. Spiritual health goes beyond religion and could include values and beliefs and practices such as meditation. For myself, I find medidation unnerving. I don't really like to sit alone with my thoughts. But for some it is what centers them and is essential to their health.
And last, but certainly not least, is social health - the people you surround yourself with and the relationships you maintain. With the way of social media, people are basically able to connect to the planet and have millions of strangers impact their social health. We can choose to keep the circle tighter, limiting it to the people we know and love. Our family, friends, and significant others who are closest to us - as well as our coworkers, patients, neighbors, and those who you cross paths with and can impact your day.
It does not seem possible to me that a person who is physically healthy but not healthy in the other areas can be a well person. As healthcare providers, is it our responsibility to consider these other areas? Overwhelmingly I'm thinking that we need to give it a little more attention than we have in the past, or guide our patients and family members to providers who can help in the other areas when we recognize issues. I feel that I sometimes don't recognize in myself when I need to give my own health some attention - but that others can see it fairly easily. I had a headache at work yesterday and my coworker was quickly offering me hydration, probiotics, anti-inflammatories, a granola bar, a quiet space to take a minute... we have the opportunity to impact each other's health.
I really needed this reminder that physical health is not everything... for both myself and for the patients I'm working with. And I like the idea that we have to take care of ourselves, but that we can of course help each other more. Be kind to yourselves and to those around you. It's good for your health.
Mental health has been on my mind a lot more recently (ha!). I've written about it a little bit here and here as well as in my posts that explore chronic pain. I'm going to group this together with emotional health because they are similar Mental health deals with your ability to process emotions, feelings, and thoughts while emotional health is your ability to express those same things. I don't feel like I learned nearly enough about psychology or mental health during PT School, but I've been learning more about them and recognizing that taking a mental health day - or even just an hour - to pay attention to your personal needs is essential to your overall health. Last week I was scheduled to work a shift as an on-call PT and they canceled just a little while before I was meant to arrive. The sun was shining and instead of wasting the afternoon, or even being productive with some things I've had sitting on my to-do list, I hopped on a ferry, enjoyed the sunshine, caught a few great photos of Mt. Rainier, and gave myself some alone time to think. I needed it. A lot. And in my opinion, recognizing the need to take care of myself is a huge part of the battle for mental health. I don't think it's easy to recognize when you need to take better care of yourself, sometimes until it's too late. I do think it's easy to help others recognize this issue, though.
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| Mt. Rainier from the Edmonds-Kingston Ferry, Washington 1/14/2019 |
Then there's the natural environment in which you live. I grew up in Connecticut which holds a special place in my heart, but I absolutely hate the snow. Every year when I go home in March, I cringe thinking that I might end up in a snow storm. I feel my body tensing up in the brutal cold and the runny nose and watery eyes and needing to wear hat, gloves, boots, scarves and 37 layers of sweaters is just not what I enjoy. Additionally, I have known for a really long tiem that I need to be near the water. When I graduated from PT school I only applied for jobs in Rhode Island until Seattle came up as a possibility. I wanted to be able to breathe in the salty air of the ocean and get to the coastline as much as possible. Large bodies of water provide me with a sense of calm and a change in perspective because the ocean is so vast and makes you feel smaller, in a good way. When I spent 16 weeks in the middle of the country where I couldn't get to a big body of water, I felt unnerved and trapped. I live so close now that I almost take it for granted that I can see the coastline on a daily basis. I often drive the wrong way to get to the highway in the mornings before work so I can see the Puget Sound and have that extra moment of calm.
Spiritual health is an area that made complete sense to me as being important in overall health. I've only written about religion once on the blog, here, but as a person who embraces my religion in my own ways, I can say that my spiritual health has gone through hills and valleys throughout my life. I think this applies to all these areas of health - they're not static. Mental health ebbs and flows. People who have anxiety or depression can have happy days or weeks. People who have a great work environment can have increased stress with a new project or temporary conflict. These change by the day or by what's going on in life. Some days you just don't feel well and your physical health is poor. That influences all the other areas of your life. Spiritual health goes beyond religion and could include values and beliefs and practices such as meditation. For myself, I find medidation unnerving. I don't really like to sit alone with my thoughts. But for some it is what centers them and is essential to their health.
And last, but certainly not least, is social health - the people you surround yourself with and the relationships you maintain. With the way of social media, people are basically able to connect to the planet and have millions of strangers impact their social health. We can choose to keep the circle tighter, limiting it to the people we know and love. Our family, friends, and significant others who are closest to us - as well as our coworkers, patients, neighbors, and those who you cross paths with and can impact your day.
It does not seem possible to me that a person who is physically healthy but not healthy in the other areas can be a well person. As healthcare providers, is it our responsibility to consider these other areas? Overwhelmingly I'm thinking that we need to give it a little more attention than we have in the past, or guide our patients and family members to providers who can help in the other areas when we recognize issues. I feel that I sometimes don't recognize in myself when I need to give my own health some attention - but that others can see it fairly easily. I had a headache at work yesterday and my coworker was quickly offering me hydration, probiotics, anti-inflammatories, a granola bar, a quiet space to take a minute... we have the opportunity to impact each other's health.
I really needed this reminder that physical health is not everything... for both myself and for the patients I'm working with. And I like the idea that we have to take care of ourselves, but that we can of course help each other more. Be kind to yourselves and to those around you. It's good for your health.
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