Women and Wellness

Women and Wellness 

In recent years the concept of wellness in Australia has been building momentum. Wellness is the new mantra, not just in the health industry but a term that is now being used in association with many other industries. Wellness tourism including; retreats, spas and holiday destinations are becoming main stream and there is workplace wellness, wellness coaching and corporate wellness programs. Also known as ‘the wellness revolution’, this industry has an estimated value of 12-15 billion dollars a year in Australia, and is on the rise.

Wellness can be defined as a multidimensional state of being describing the existence of positive health in an individual as exemplified by quality of life and a sense of well-being. The primary underlying theme of wellness is the awareness that wellness moves beyond just health. It has the potential to encompass every aspect and experience of our lives.

Personal wellness can be broken up into 12 dimensions; self responsibility and love, breathing, sensing, eating, moving, feeling, thinking, playing working, communicating, intimacy and sex, finding meaning and transcending.  Additional dimensions beyond the personal can include; environmental sustainability, corporate social responsibility, social justice, human security and conscious consumption.

According to Gallup researchers, Rath and Harter, Individual wellbeing is about the combination of our love for what we do each day, the quality of our relationships, the security of our finances, the vibrancy of our physical health, and the pride we take in what we have contributed to our communities.

There is a significant shift occurring where women are no longer looking to others to take care of their health.  Women are now more educated in understanding their health and are taking responsibility for their own wellbeing. Women in today’s society have a willingness to invest their time, energy and money into experiencing high levels of wellness in more aspects of their lives.

Complementary medicine is an expression of wellness through its focus on prevention of disease and engaging the resources of each individual as an active, conscious participant in the maintenance of their own health. Some commonly used complementary therapies include; naturopathy, acupuncture, chiropractic care, energetic healing, Chinese medicine, nutrition, herbal medicine and massage therapies.

As a Naturopath at a busy clinic I am aware of how significantly women in the community are affected by our loss of equilibrium and inability to handle the life circumstances we experience at certain times in our lives.  The term ‘stress’ is used to explain this phenomena and it shows up physically with symptoms such as anxiety, depression, cardiovascular disease, poor memory, fatigue, mood swings, elevated blood sugar levels, disturbed and unrefreshing sleep and poor immune function.

An important wellness strategy that Naturopaths use to work with women who are experiencing stress is to look at the whole of the person. This involves taking into consideration all aspects of their health; physical, emotional, mental and spiritual.  Ideally the best wellness strategy would be to remove the stressing factors from their life but unfortunately this is not always an option. In identifying the parts of their life which are causing the stress, measures can be taken with the use of complementary therapies. These therapies can assist people to let go of the sense of being overwhelmed or unsupported.  Usual therapies a Naturopath might use include; herbal medicine, dietary advice, detoxification, homoeopathy, massage or lifestyle counselling.

In the maze of information that is now available in the world of wellness it can be easy to lose sight of its relatively simple message for women; wellness is a choice, a decision you make to move toward a more optimal state of health. It is a lifestyle you design to achieve your highest potential for wellbeing.