By: Balestra Alberto
The term "wellness" is born as the set of two terms "well being" and "fitness". However, its true meaning remains a mystery among the most unsolved in the field of Wellness.
This term has an undisputed reputation, acquired increasingly in recent years. The origin of this word is to be found in the Italian sports and managerial context. In an interview, Nerio Alessandri (President Technogym) attributes to his own company the invention of this term, defining his concept as:
"Wellness is the new lifestyle for psycho-physical well-being invented by Technogym, aimed at improving the quality of life through education in regular physical activity, a balanced diet and a positive mental approach. It means choosing to live well, trying to combine the ancient adagio "mens sana in corpore sano"
Everything should be interpreted as an attempt to bring well-being to an individual, through a lifestyle oriented towards a good physical and psychological culture.
For example, in the herbalist field the definition is given:
"The term" Wellness "indicates the well-being understood as improvement of the general conditions of the organism and as strengthening of our defenses through the integration of those vitamin and mineral supplements"
For holistic disciplines, the same word has another meaning with the addition of a different origin:
"Wellness is developed as an approach to life some thirty years ago in America, emphasizing that for the contentment of life it is essential to establish harmony between the mind, the physical and the psyche."
There is a common factor, which links this term to the different definitions given by the disciplines previously proposed, the attempt to improve the conditions relating to one's state of well-being and health. The way in which this solution is proposed varies from simple food integration to a complete psycho-physical program.
The wellness = wellness similarity has some flaws. In order to make the gaps of the former easily understandable, it is necessary to explain what is meant by the term Wellness.
Wellness
The first official definition is provided by the WHO in 1948:
"State of complete physical, psychic, social well-being and not the simple absence of illness"
According to this definition, the physical state, psyche and society are the three fundamental aspects of well-being. It is therefore not to be considered as constituted by a single component: it is the balance of a set of factors of different nature, but of equal importance.
We can argue that a state of well-being cannot exist if one of the three fundamental components is not satisfied.
First of all it is necessary to understand what the subdivisions of well-being are and what are the common mistakes to avoid in planning an intervention aimed at its improvement.
Two considerations are of fundamental importance before reading the rest of the article:
Understand how it can provide a general idea of what the various components of wellness are and not be a universal guide to achieving it.
Realizing that well-being, and its consequent improvement, must first of all be a personal and motivated choice on the part of the various subjects and not an imposition of others.
Within a planning for a possible intervention on well-being, the most important factor will be the ability to listen and understand the needs of individuals or of the group with which we must relate.
Several macro-areas are identified below, in turn divided into micro-areas of belonging:
Health and physical well-being
Another important aspect to note is the "alleged" non-influence of the individual's pathological state. Presumably healthy or with obvious pathology, health would therefore be located in a different location than the pathological state.
As stated by Gadamer: "Unlike illness, health is never a cause for concern; on the contrary, one is almost never aware of being healthy".
It must be emphasized that health and well-being take on different meanings within the clinical context and as such take on a different meaning in relation to the quotation:
The state of health indicates the complete absence of disease. With this term we consider the so-called "apparently healthy subjects", characterized by the complete absence of both acute and chronic states.
On the contrary, well-being does not take into account the "health" variable, but evaluates the state of personal perception of one's life.
There are documented clinical cases that demonstrate the improvement of physical conditions in subjects suffering from diabetic pathology.
"constant training can reduce daily insulin requirements by 20-30%. In type 2 diabetes mellitus, exercise has been shown to reduce peripheral insulin resistance, plasma triglyceride levels and VLDL.
Therefore physical exercise improves glycaemia, since it determines weight loss, its maintenance over time and the reduction of insulin resistance: the increased sensitivity of insulin deriving from the increased utilization of glucose occurs not only during physical activity but persists in the following 48 hours. "
A program based on improving physical well-being may lead to an improvement in the perception of one's health but not to a cure from one's own pathological state.
It is therefore wrong to believe, and affirm, that physical activity improves the state of health. On the contrary, it is correct, and to keep in mind, that it plays a fundamental role in prevention:
- of complications due to chronic diseases.
-In the onset of pathological states in apparently healthy subjects.
From what has been said previously it can therefore be understood how there is an actual improvement, but of well-being and not health.
Nutrition and Nutritional Integration
A particular note must be given to this topic, which has enjoyed considerable success over the last decade. The effectiveness of food supplementation and its positive aspects on physical well-being are a very delicate topic of discussion. In many ways, integration is considered as an "alternative" method to proper nutrition in order to guarantee the intake of all those micronutrients contained in foods that are often not included in the common diet.
This instinctive solution is not considered valid by many scholars in the field, citing Katch (2004): "The general opinion is that the physically active population with a balanced diet does not need food supplements."
The analysis of this sentence leads us to understand the most important aspect linked to this type of well-being: physical activity and a balanced diet are fundamental. Those who respect these first two aspects do not need to resort to integration (nda The speech is limited to the playful and non-competitive sport).
On subjects that do not respect these two conditions, some studies (Weight 1988) have brought attention to how the integration, in the specific case of vitamins, can compensate for the deficiencies due to an incorrect diet without however leading to actual improvements in the state physical.
After what has been said, it would not seem fundamental to integrate food to improve our physical conditions.
Separate speech must be made for a hormone, melatonin: from various studies conducted on animals (Huether G. 1996) it has been verified how its correct integration increases life span and reduces the speed of aging.
It is always necessary to move cautiously within this field, avoiding to exaggerate and above all avoiding to consider supplements as "miracle pills" able to allow us a good state of physical well-being by compensating for deficiencies attributable to a lifestyle that is not exactly correct.
second part "
