The 7 Domains of Wellness | More Than Diet & Exercise

This post originally appeared in December of 2018; Last updated October of 2023.

While diet & exercise are very important to your health, they aren’t the only things that affect your health.

In fact, when talking about health, there are actually seven different domains that can affect your health.

Those seven domains of health are:

physical health
social health
emotional health
environmental health
financial health
spiritual health
intellectual health

To “be healthy” (which is really an subjective term), includes feeling fulfilled in each of the 7 domains listed above!

So what exactly does it mean to be financially healthy or emotional healthy?

Keep reading to find out!

01: Physical Health

What is Physical Health?

Physical health is probably what you think of when you hear the words “healthy” or “health”.
It encompasses the factors that affect your physical health (i.e the way your body functions).
This includes exercise & movement, diet & nutrition, hydration, & sleep.
But it also includes managing stress, receiving preventive care, and getting sexual health screenings.

How Do You Improve Your Physical Health?

There are many ways to improve your physical health.
One place to start is by adding in more movement/exercise throughout the day, or drinking more water throughout the day.
You can also improve your physical health by getting regular preventive health screenings, improving your diet, and by getting more sleep every night.

02: Social Health

What is Social Health?

Social health may not be a term you are as familiar with, compared to physical health, but social health refers to the health of our social relationships.
It is also our ability to interact & form meaningful relationship with others & to build a strong social network that can give you support & guidance.
Social health includes both platonic and romantic relationships.

How Do You Improve Your Social Health?

Depending on your situation, you can improve your social health through working with a licensed mental health professional.

You can also work on improving your social health by becoming more intentional with the relationships you currently have, and/or foster new relationships with people of similar values as you.

03: Emotional Health

What is Emotional Health?

Thankfully, emotional health is becoming more open to talk about (emotional health & mental health are often used interchangeably)
Emotional health refers to one’s ability to control his/her thoughts, feelings, and behaviors; being able to cope with life’s challenges.
It also refers to the emotional quality of an individual’s experiences.

How Do You Improve Your Emotional Health?

To work on improving your emotional health, reach out to a licensed mental health professional.
Many practices offer their services on a sliding scale (service fee based on your income), so if you are without insurance or your budget is tight, don’t hesitate to ask about their sliding scale.
I’ve personally seeked out help from different mental health professionals at different points in my life, and they have all really helped me get through some tough times in my life.
I’ve most recently been connected with a therapist through Better Help, and I cannot recommend them enough, especially now.
You can also work on improving your emotional health through learning healthy alternatives to managing stress, such as meditation or journaling.

04: Environmental Health

What is Environmental Health?

Environmental health refers to both taking care of global environment and your personal surroundings.
Your personal environment includes where you live & whom you surround yourself with - is your home clean? Do you feel safe?
The global environment is the environment of your neighborhood/city/state in which you live - do you have access to clean air & water? Are you surrounded by pollution?

How Do You Improve Your Environmental Health?

Start to improve your environment’s health by decluttering your home & recycling!
If your environment’s health is poor due to feeling unsafe, please reach out to a trusted individual or a local organization that can aid in your safety.

05: Financial Health

What is Financial Health?

Financial health refers to the state of your persona monetary affairs, living within your means, & planning your future financial health.

7 Domains of Wellness Graphic | More than Diet & Exercise

Often times, it includes the amount of savings you have, how much you spend, what your income is, etc
Financial health does not refer to how much money you make.
It’s more about what you do with the money that you make!

You can be making 6 figures and be in poor financial health because you aren’t living within your means, while you can be in excellent financial health while making $20,000/year because you know how to live within your means

How To Improve Your Financial Health

To improve your financial health, I’d suggest starting with looking at your current spending habits.
Are your spending habits aligned with your financial goals?
Do you need to make adjustments?
How much debt do you have?
Then create a budget that prioritizes your financial goals.
You can also hire a financial advisor to help you go over your spending habits & to create a plan that aligns with your financial goals!

One of the best things I’ve done to improve my financial health is reading I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi.

The book is written in six chapters, with each chapter focusing on a step to improve your financial health, and you help you live a “rich life”.

Each chapter takes about one week to complete.. so yes, six weeks from now, you could be in better financial health!

06: Spiritual Health

What is Spiritual Health?

It’s a common misconception that spiritual health has to do with religion, but that is not the case.
When talking about spiritual health, one is referring to having a sense of purpose in life, & understanding your beliefs, values, and ethics that guide your life.

How to Improve Your Spiritual Health:

If you're looking to improve your spiritual health, I recommend taking time to eliminate all distractions and sit with yourself.
Then ask yourself the hard questions:

Am I happy?

Do I feel fulfilled in life?

What would make me feel fulfilled?

If you don’t feel fulfilled, it might be helpful to make a list of what doesn’t fulfill you, and work backwards.
Often times, our sense of purpose comes from our career or occupation, but it doesn’t always have to.
It can come from a hobby, being a caretaker, or being your true self.
You can also reach out to a trusted person you look up to, to help you figure out your purpose, or consult with a licensed mental health professional.

Intellectual Health

What is Intellectual Health?

Intellectual health isn’t about your IQ or how smart you are.
Intellectual health is defined as a dimension of wellness that encourages creative, stimulating mental activities.
Intellectual health is about staying curious and engaging in new activities.
You often see retired individuals suffering from poor intellectual health because once they stopped working, they have eliminated their only source of mentally stimulating activities, which is why having a hobby or something to do post-retirement is so important!
Or you can often see students who aren’t being challenged in school suffering from poor intellectual health.

How to Improve Your Intellectual Health:

Start looking for activities that you find mentally stimulating.
Perhaps it is a board game or card game.
Maybe you take a class on cooking, gardening, or any of the hundreds of thousands of subjects out there!

many colleges offer classes under an audit system (you don’t have to pay to sit in the lecture to learn) or you can check out over a 1,000 different courses that are available to take through online platforms like Coursera

Summary

While your physical health is important, I’ll be the first to admit that it isn’t’ the “end all be all” of health.

Just briefly summarizing all 7 of the different wellness domains above goes to show that each domain is just as important as the other!

If you truly want to be the best version of yourself, make sure you focus on improving yourself in all seven domains of wellness (one at a time of course!)!

For me, I’ve focused a lot of this year (2020) improving my financial health, whereas in the past, I’ve put a lot of focus in my emotional & environmental health!

As time changes, we change, and our needs change, that’s why it’s always a good idea to reflect back on yourself & what domain you could benefit from improving next!

In good (well-rounded) health,

Veronica

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