Wellness: Optimization is the key!

Ranjan Das – President and Managing Director in India for SAP AG, died on 21^st October, 2009. He was 41 years old and a fitness enthusiast.
Mark Hughes – Chairman & Chief Executive Herbalife died on 21^st May, 2000 at a young age of 44 yr. He was also a fitness enthusiast.
Dewang Mehta – Chief NASSCOM died of cardiac arrest on 13^th April, 2001. He was a fit man with apparently no ailments.

Not to mention scores of young people, with promising careers, succumbing to sudden death, all across India and rest of the world. With most of them being, supposedly, taking good care of their health.

Wellness – the most mis-understood state! Read on….

WELLNESS is IN! Everyone is talking about and crazily pursuing ‘being well‘. What most people don’t realize is that Wellness is to be viewed as a continuum. On one end is ILLNESS and the other end is WELLNESS.

Medically speaking, health is viewed as the absence of disease but from a wellness perspective, this is just the zero point (neither illness nor wellness).

Wellness is the multidimensional component of good health and must include ALL of the following aspects:

– Physical

– Mental (emotional)

– Intellectual and

– Social

Just being fit is not enough to be well! There is much more to be achieved…

People, by and large, always strive to achieve that bit more! As if they are competing with their own self. It should be understood that Wellness is a complex entity and needs to be INDIVIDUALIZED. What is good for one may be real harmful for someone else.

Why this sudden interest in wellness?

The spurt in Technology – BPOs, KPOs, Increased business travel etc. Sr executives realizing that they are working, stretching their bodily resources; awareness of advantages of wellness; all and sundry offering the hidden secret of wellness etc etc.

How important is to achieve Wellness?

Today’s most prevalent diseases (Hypertension, Diabetes, Heart disease and Cancer) are grouped under the umbrella of KILLER diseases. Adopting right life style behavior thus becomes important when considering WELLNESS.

A word of caution: More is certainly NOT better, when it comes to wellness. Optimization is the key. Your wellness plan should be written by your doctor – including a detailed roadmap of achievable goals and how to achieve them. You should also understand your limitations and risks of crossing them.

Wellness is actually ADOPTING correct life style behavior(s)! Several lifestyle behaviors are considered as priority lifestyles because they affect the health and lives of most people. Exercise/ Physical activity – Nutrition and – Stress management.

Why are these lifestyles especially critical?

They affect almost everyone human being – Most people can make improvements in these 3. – Small changes in these three, can have major impact on individual and public health.

Physical Activity: Physical Activity is a priority life style that impacts health, wellness and fitness. It improves our work ability, improves our health and helps us to meet emergencies by using our physical reserves. All of these contribute to improving our quality of life.

Nutrition: As put in by Dr Shweta Rastogi – Nutritionist and Wellness Consultant – We have lost the concept of a balanced meal and MUST learn to eat differently because today we face an epidemic of chronic diseases worldwide. Even young children are grossly overweight and are developing Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and the early stages of heart disease. – We should cut down fats and cholesterol in our diet – We should learn to take sugar and salt in moderation – 2-3 servings of raw salads and fresh fruits should be a part of our daily diet – We should add FIBER to our diet – We should avoid in between snacking.

Stress Management: You eat right! You exercise daily! But still you don’t feel well?

Stress is inescapable; Stress is everywhere. Stress is continuous, only the levels change. But stress is not inherently negative EUSTRESS helps us perform better. We must learn to convert DISTRESS to EUSTRESS. For proper management of stress, we should – increase our awareness of the cause of stress – learn to analyse our stressor – adjust our attitude, possibly our behavior, to work toward a peaceful resolution of the stressor.

About Dr C H Asrani: Dr C H Asrani is a Post Graduate in Family Medicine with over 32 yr of clinical practice and over 30 yr in Corporate health. He has over 20 yr of Wellness services and training.

He believes in creating benchmark standards in wellness and family health through
– special emphasis on prevention of disease and disability through authentic, relevant, ethical and focused health and wellness training
– comprehensive, cost effective and requisite healthcare.
– consultancy services in employee health with an Indian perspective.

You can connect with Dr C H Asrani at www.drchasrani.com