Living in Balance | 7 Dimensions of Wellness

A Guide to the 7 Dimensions of Wellness

    2021-11-1511/15/21   
Encouragement  Exercise  Family  Nutrition  Personal Growth  Sleep  Spiritual  Stress  Work  

Good health isn't just about what you eat or working out regularly. There are several other layers to living in balance.

Do you want to improve your well-being, longevity, and quality of life? Then keep on reading our guide to learn about the seven dimensions of wellness.

Over 95% of the world's population has health problems. Many of those problems are preventable. These health ailments aren't all physical, either; many people suffer from mental health problems.

What Are the 7 Dimensions of Wellness?

The term wellness encompasses much more than your physical health. It refers to your mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Achieving optimal wellness is also associated with happiness and contentment.

Living a good life is much more than going to the gym every day and lifting the heaviest weights.

To achieve balance in your life, there are 7 different elements commonly referred to as the dimensions of wellness. These are:

  • Physical 
  • Emotional
  • Intellectual
  • Social
  • Environmental
  • Occupational
  • Spiritual

To minimize the amount of stress in your life and to live a fulfilled and happy existence, pay attention to each of these 7 factors.

By making a few lifestyle changes, you can make it easier to nurture each of these dimensions of wellness.

Physical Wellness

Let's start with the most obvious one: physical health. We all know we should exercise regularly and eat well to maintain our physical well-being.

Our physical wellness is one of the most crucial pillars of well-being. If you don't have your physical health, it can affect every aspect of your life, from your ability to do your job, to the ease at which you can do chores, to interacting with your family and friends.

Physical activity not only makes your body more robust but also improves your mental well-being, your cognitive abilities, and your memory.

To maintain optimal physical wellness, try to do some movement every day. Even if that's walking more steps than usual or doing some light stretches. Do more intensive cardio exercise at least three times a week.

Another easy way to look after your physical health is to eat a healthy, balanced diet. Ensure you get adequate balanced nutrients and eat a wide variety of fruit and vegetables; they should be the center of every plate.

For optimal physical health, try to refrain from smoking and drinking alcohol.

Another aspect to take note of for your physical health is to get enough sleep. Sleep deprivation is detrimental to both your mental and physical health.

Emotional Wellness

Many of us don't enjoy talking about our feelings and emotions. You need to realize that emotional well-being is part of a healthy life! Our emotional well-being can be more difficult to take care of than our physical well-being.

When you feel something negative and push it aside and don't deal with it, it can come to the surface later and make you behave in a way you regret.

Try to recognize your feelings, why they arise, and what triggers them. If you can tune into your emotions, you will find it easier to manage them and to connect to others.

Talk to your friends and family if you are struggling with something and tell them how you feel. This will help them understand why you may be behaving out of character.

Learn some ways to release emotions and reduce stress, so you don't become overwhelmed. Breathing and meditation are excellent ways to do this. 

If something traumatic has happened to you, don't hold it in. Seek professional help from a counselor or therapist. Talking things through is extremely important for your emotional health.

Intellectual Wellness

To keep intellectually active, try to seek out new experiences. Just because you are no longer in school doesn't mean you should stop learning.

Life-long learning is something to embrace if you want to maintain intellectual wellness. Embracing critical thinking and surrounding yourself with activities and people who challenge you are essential aspects of personal growth.

Learn something new regularly. It doesn't need to be a new skill; you can learn something interesting from a book or do some brain-teasing puzzles. Discuss what you learned with friends and family.

Join an online class or workshop to enhance your skills in something that interests you. You could also join a local book club or course that interests you.

Challenging your cognitive abilities will help slow down your brain's aging. Keeping the brain active is an essential aspect of preventing diseases such as Alzheimer's.

Social Wellness

In the modern age, there's a loneliness epidemic, and it has a significant impact on both our physical and mental health.

We are social beings, and not being around others can have adverse effects on our health and wellness. As people move away from family and friends to new cities for work, they lose a sense of community. We also spend much more time online talking to friends over the internet.

For our social wellness batteries to be full, we need to spend time in real life with people we care about. Social connections are essential to survival; studies even show they are a biological necessity. Losing someone close to you can manifest in physical pain.

Spending time with those you care about releases dopamine into your brain and provides that happy feeling of belonging.

Actively seek out social time by joining clubs or societies where you can meet like-minded people.

Environmental Wellness

Environmental wellness refers to looking after the world around you. The way humans evolved over the centuries has made us selfish. If you want to feel balanced and live in harmony with the world around you, you need to look after the natural world.

Try following the reduce, reuse, recycle mantra when it comes to your use of resources. Reduce the number of things you buy and when you make a purchase, think to yourself first, "do I REALLY need this?"

Reuse items in your house; for example, repurpose glass bottles and jars, fix broken furniture, mend or repurpose old clothes. If you need to get rid of something, try to recycle it. It's the most environmentally friendly way to dispose of things you no longer want.

Compost food scraps, recycle paper, plastic, glass, and aluminum. Donate things that no longer serve a purpose for you. Ride a bike, walk, or take public transport over driving your car for short, one-person journeys.

If we all take small steps to build a more circular economy, we can all improve the planet's health. A healthier world will, in turn, mean a healthier population.

Occupational Wellness

If you don't do work that fulfills you, it can become draining, cause stress, and lead to burnout.

We all need to do some type of work to survive. But don't worry, you don't need to change the world to find satisfaction in your work.

If you have a job that uses your skills and gives you the feeling of accomplishment, it can ultimately affect the way you feel about your work. Achieving goals, completing tasks, and being creative are all important aspects of your occupational wellness.

Unhappiness at work is a leading cause of stress. You may not love the overall mission of the company you work for, but if you can find some joy in the tasks you complete for them, it can help you feel more satisfied.

If you want something to change with your work, try talking to your employer. They can help you understand if there are any other opportunities within the company. You may be able to take training or up-skilling classes to improve your prospects for growth.

Finding satisfaction in the workplace can be challenging, especially when you're making money for somebody else. If you can't find joy in your day-to-day job, start a side hustle that drives you; you never know it could one day become your full-time hustle.

Spiritual Wellness

Being spiritually well doesn't have anything to do with your god or any particular spiritual practices. It is more about the alignment of your thoughts, actions, and words.

If you know what you believe in and how you act on those morals and beliefs in the outside world, you can live a more harmonious life.

For example, you may believe that kindness is the most important trait a human can have. That manifests in your good treatment of others.

Spending some time reflecting, journaling, and meditating can help you improve your spiritual wellness.

Improve Your Overall Well-being

If you want a long and happy life, think about incorporating aspects from each of the seven dimensions of wellness into your daily life.

You don't have to have every element perfected, but striving to improve each area can help you gain a sense of balance.

For more help with achieving this balance, take advantage of our healthy lifestyle wellness program. It provides tools you need to build healthy habits.

headshot of Jay Todtenbier 2018
Author

Jay Todtenbier is an original founder of SupplementRelief.com in 2010 and has operated the business ever since. He is also a tennis instructor and gospel musician. Formerly he spent 25 years in business development, technology and marketing with startups and major corporations having gone through the tech boom in Silicon Valley in the 90s. He became passionate about, and began studying and practicing Wellness as a Lifestyle after experiencing chronic, personal health challenges including depression, auto-immune disorders, and being overweight that impacted his ability to live a healthy, vibrant life. Since then, he has been an advocate for healthier living encouraging others to live better through making small, gradual changes to lifestyle behaviors relating to whole-foods nutrition, stress management, reasonable exercise, proper sleep, and the use of targeted, high-quality supplements.

Learn more about Jay Todtenbier.

  Related Content

We encourage you to take advantage of these FREE Wellness Resources on our website.


street sign depicting Healthy Lifestyle Just Ahead

15 Beneficial Healthy Habits to Start Today

A few simple lifestyle changes can make a world of difference. By making minor tweaks to your daily routine, you can slowly develop healthier habits.

Want to know how to move towards a healthier life? Here are some ideas of healthy habits to start with.


stay at home wellness guide book cover

A Stay at Home Wellness Guide

With the onset of COVID-19 in early 2020, more people are spending time at home. This is impacting all aspects of our life and living including how we eat, exercise, work, further our education, worship, shop, and enjoy entertainment, just to name a few important things. This series will provide tips and common sense for how we can live a happier and healthier life while spending more time at home, or any other place for that matter.


outdoor potted plant after pruning and replanting

A Time for Healing & Restoration

The thing about living is that if we live long enough, most of us will experience a lot of love, success, and joy but also a lot of failure, loss, and sadness. This past year has been a challenging time for many, no matter how long you have lived.

However, there is hope.


a set of weighed, balanced bronze scales

Balanced Life is a Healthy Life

Each year SupplementRelief.com provides a $500 scholarship award to one deserving post-secondary (university or community college) student who provides the winning essay promoting a healthier living lifestyle. We are proud to announce our Fall 2021 Health & Wellness scholarship recipient Arleth De Avila from Iowa State University who is pursuing a career in business administration.


globe depicting social connections between people of different ages and ethnicities

How to Find Healthy Social Activities in Your Local Community

Social activities and meeting people are good for our mental and physical health. They provide an opportunity to interact with others intellectually, emotionally, and may even involve physical exercise. Consider these options for finding the best events and activities in your local community, so you never miss out.


practitioner preparing for acupuncture on a woman's neck

The Common Types of Alternative Medicine

What are the benefits of alternative medicine, and why should you try it? The term CAM stands for Complementary and Alternative Medicine and refers to any medicine or therapy outside standard, mainstream medical care.

This guide provides an overview of different types of alternative medicine.


functional medicine healthcare provider consulting with a client

What Is Functional Medicine?

The human body is an incredibly complex system and we have come so far in how we understand what it does. There are numerous ways of thinking, ideologies, and theories that have merged from the medical field. Just as different as those theories, what is even more different is each person's need when it comes to health and wellness. There is no one size fits all approach. That's where functional medicine comes into play. Read on to learn everything you need to know about functional medicine so you can make the best decision for your health!


quotation saying different people make different choices

Where Does Disease Really Come From?

Chronic disease runs rampant, particularly in Western culture, primarily as a result of poor lifestyle choices. Medical professionals tend to focus more on treating symptoms of sickness and disease rather than promoting greater health and wellbeing through lifestyle behavioral change. Throughout this series of blog posts, you will learn important facts you need to know to preserve and improve your health and wellbeing.

  • Blog Post

    Over 95% of the world's population has health problems. Many of those problems are preventable. These health ailments aren't all physical, either; many people suffer from mental health problems.

    What Are the 7 Dimensions of Wellness?

    The term wellness encompasses much more than your physical health. It refers to your mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Achieving optimal wellness is also associated with happiness and contentment.

    Living a good life is much more than going to the gym every day and lifting the heaviest weights.

    To achieve balance in your life, there are 7 different elements commonly referred to as the dimensions of wellness. These are:

    • Physical 
    • Emotional
    • Intellectual
    • Social
    • Environmental
    • Occupational
    • Spiritual

    To minimize the amount of stress in your life and to live a fulfilled and happy existence, pay attention to each of these 7 factors.

    By making a few lifestyle changes, you can make it easier to nurture each of these dimensions of wellness.

    Physical Wellness

    Let's start with the most obvious one: physical health. We all know we should exercise regularly and eat well to maintain our physical well-being.

    Our physical wellness is one of the most crucial pillars of well-being. If you don't have your physical health, it can affect every aspect of your life, from your ability to do your job, to the ease at which you can do chores, to interacting with your family and friends.

    Physical activity not only makes your body more robust but also improves your mental well-being, your cognitive abilities, and your memory.

    To maintain optimal physical wellness, try to do some movement every day. Even if that's walking more steps than usual or doing some light stretches. Do more intensive cardio exercise at least three times a week.

    Another easy way to look after your physical health is to eat a healthy, balanced diet. Ensure you get adequate balanced nutrients and eat a wide variety of fruit and vegetables; they should be the center of every plate.

    For optimal physical health, try to refrain from smoking and drinking alcohol.

    Another aspect to take note of for your physical health is to get enough sleep. Sleep deprivation is detrimental to both your mental and physical health.

    Emotional Wellness

    Many of us don't enjoy talking about our feelings and emotions. You need to realize that emotional well-being is part of a healthy life! Our emotional well-being can be more difficult to take care of than our physical well-being.

    When you feel something negative and push it aside and don't deal with it, it can come to the surface later and make you behave in a way you regret.

    Try to recognize your feelings, why they arise, and what triggers them. If you can tune into your emotions, you will find it easier to manage them and to connect to others.

    Talk to your friends and family if you are struggling with something and tell them how you feel. This will help them understand why you may be behaving out of character.

    Learn some ways to release emotions and reduce stress, so you don't become overwhelmed. Breathing and meditation are excellent ways to do this. 

    If something traumatic has happened to you, don't hold it in. Seek professional help from a counselor or therapist. Talking things through is extremely important for your emotional health.

    Intellectual Wellness

    To keep intellectually active, try to seek out new experiences. Just because you are no longer in school doesn't mean you should stop learning.

    Life-long learning is something to embrace if you want to maintain intellectual wellness. Embracing critical thinking and surrounding yourself with activities and people who challenge you are essential aspects of personal growth.

    Learn something new regularly. It doesn't need to be a new skill; you can learn something interesting from a book or do some brain-teasing puzzles. Discuss what you learned with friends and family.

    Join an online class or workshop to enhance your skills in something that interests you. You could also join a local book club or course that interests you.

    Challenging your cognitive abilities will help slow down your brain's aging. Keeping the brain active is an essential aspect of preventing diseases such as Alzheimer's.

    Social Wellness

    In the modern age, there's a loneliness epidemic, and it has a significant impact on both our physical and mental health.

    We are social beings, and not being around others can have adverse effects on our health and wellness. As people move away from family and friends to new cities for work, they lose a sense of community. We also spend much more time online talking to friends over the internet.

    For our social wellness batteries to be full, we need to spend time in real life with people we care about. Social connections are essential to survival; studies even show they are a biological necessity. Losing someone close to you can manifest in physical pain.

    Spending time with those you care about releases dopamine into your brain and provides that happy feeling of belonging.

    Actively seek out social time by joining clubs or societies where you can meet like-minded people.

    Environmental Wellness

    Environmental wellness refers to looking after the world around you. The way humans evolved over the centuries has made us selfish. If you want to feel balanced and live in harmony with the world around you, you need to look after the natural world.

    Try following the reduce, reuse, recycle mantra when it comes to your use of resources. Reduce the number of things you buy and when you make a purchase, think to yourself first, "do I REALLY need this?"

    Reuse items in your house; for example, repurpose glass bottles and jars, fix broken furniture, mend or repurpose old clothes. If you need to get rid of something, try to recycle it. It's the most environmentally friendly way to dispose of things you no longer want.

    Compost food scraps, recycle paper, plastic, glass, and aluminum. Donate things that no longer serve a purpose for you. Ride a bike, walk, or take public transport over driving your car for short, one-person journeys.

    If we all take small steps to build a more circular economy, we can all improve the planet's health. A healthier world will, in turn, mean a healthier population.

    Occupational Wellness

    If you don't do work that fulfills you, it can become draining, cause stress, and lead to burnout.

    We all need to do some type of work to survive. But don't worry, you don't need to change the world to find satisfaction in your work.

    If you have a job that uses your skills and gives you the feeling of accomplishment, it can ultimately affect the way you feel about your work. Achieving goals, completing tasks, and being creative are all important aspects of your occupational wellness.

    Unhappiness at work is a leading cause of stress. You may not love the overall mission of the company you work for, but if you can find some joy in the tasks you complete for them, it can help you feel more satisfied.

    If you want something to change with your work, try talking to your employer. They can help you understand if there are any other opportunities within the company. You may be able to take training or up-skilling classes to improve your prospects for growth.

    Finding satisfaction in the workplace can be challenging, especially when you're making money for somebody else. If you can't find joy in your day-to-day job, start a side hustle that drives you; you never know it could one day become your full-time hustle.

    Spiritual Wellness

    Being spiritually well doesn't have anything to do with your god or any particular spiritual practices. It is more about the alignment of your thoughts, actions, and words.

    If you know what you believe in and how you act on those morals and beliefs in the outside world, you can live a more harmonious life.

    For example, you may believe that kindness is the most important trait a human can have. That manifests in your good treatment of others.

    Spending some time reflecting, journaling, and meditating can help you improve your spiritual wellness.

    Improve Your Overall Well-being

    If you want a long and happy life, think about incorporating aspects from each of the seven dimensions of wellness into your daily life.

    You don't have to have every element perfected, but striving to improve each area can help you gain a sense of balance.

    For more help with achieving this balance, take advantage of our healthy lifestyle wellness program. It provides tools you need to build healthy habits.

    headshot of Jay Todtenbier 2018
    Author

    Jay Todtenbier is an original founder of SupplementRelief.com in 2010 and has operated the business ever since. He is also a tennis instructor and gospel musician. Formerly he spent 25 years in business development, technology and marketing with startups and major corporations having gone through the tech boom in Silicon Valley in the 90s. He became passionate about, and began studying and practicing Wellness as a Lifestyle after experiencing chronic, personal health challenges including depression, auto-immune disorders, and being overweight that impacted his ability to live a healthy, vibrant life. Since then, he has been an advocate for healthier living encouraging others to live better through making small, gradual changes to lifestyle behaviors relating to whole-foods nutrition, stress management, reasonable exercise, proper sleep, and the use of targeted, high-quality supplements.

    Learn more about Jay Todtenbier.

  • Related Content

      Related Content

    We encourage you to take advantage of these FREE Wellness Resources on our website.


    street sign depicting Healthy Lifestyle Just Ahead

    15 Beneficial Healthy Habits to Start Today

    A few simple lifestyle changes can make a world of difference. By making minor tweaks to your daily routine, you can slowly develop healthier habits.

    Want to know how to move towards a healthier life? Here are some ideas of healthy habits to start with.


    stay at home wellness guide book cover

    A Stay at Home Wellness Guide

    With the onset of COVID-19 in early 2020, more people are spending time at home. This is impacting all aspects of our life and living including how we eat, exercise, work, further our education, worship, shop, and enjoy entertainment, just to name a few important things. This series will provide tips and common sense for how we can live a happier and healthier life while spending more time at home, or any other place for that matter.


    outdoor potted plant after pruning and replanting

    A Time for Healing & Restoration

    The thing about living is that if we live long enough, most of us will experience a lot of love, success, and joy but also a lot of failure, loss, and sadness. This past year has been a challenging time for many, no matter how long you have lived.

    However, there is hope.


    a set of weighed, balanced bronze scales

    Balanced Life is a Healthy Life

    Each year SupplementRelief.com provides a $500 scholarship award to one deserving post-secondary (university or community college) student who provides the winning essay promoting a healthier living lifestyle. We are proud to announce our Fall 2021 Health & Wellness scholarship recipient Arleth De Avila from Iowa State University who is pursuing a career in business administration.


    globe depicting social connections between people of different ages and ethnicities

    How to Find Healthy Social Activities in Your Local Community

    Social activities and meeting people are good for our mental and physical health. They provide an opportunity to interact with others intellectually, emotionally, and may even involve physical exercise. Consider these options for finding the best events and activities in your local community, so you never miss out.


    practitioner preparing for acupuncture on a woman's neck

    The Common Types of Alternative Medicine

    What are the benefits of alternative medicine, and why should you try it? The term CAM stands for Complementary and Alternative Medicine and refers to any medicine or therapy outside standard, mainstream medical care.

    This guide provides an overview of different types of alternative medicine.


    functional medicine healthcare provider consulting with a client

    What Is Functional Medicine?

    The human body is an incredibly complex system and we have come so far in how we understand what it does. There are numerous ways of thinking, ideologies, and theories that have merged from the medical field. Just as different as those theories, what is even more different is each person's need when it comes to health and wellness. There is no one size fits all approach. That's where functional medicine comes into play. Read on to learn everything you need to know about functional medicine so you can make the best decision for your health!


    quotation saying different people make different choices

    Where Does Disease Really Come From?

    Chronic disease runs rampant, particularly in Western culture, primarily as a result of poor lifestyle choices. Medical professionals tend to focus more on treating symptoms of sickness and disease rather than promoting greater health and wellbeing through lifestyle behavioral change. Throughout this series of blog posts, you will learn important facts you need to know to preserve and improve your health and wellbeing.


The information, knowledge, and experience shared on this website is the opinion of SupplementRelief.com. This site and its content is intended to enhance your knowledge base as YOU MAKE YOUR OWN HEALTHCARE DECISIONS in partnership with your qualified health professional. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Any products referred to are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

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