Stepping into a new year feels like a fresh start. It is most often the time that we consider our lives and explore new goals and opportunities to improve and grow. For many, those goals and opportunities begin with wellness in its many representations.
“Wellness is an all-encompassing term and includes mind, body and spirit alignment. We can take small steps every day to incorporate wellness into our lives,” explained Dr. Preyasha Tuladhar, a Primary Care Physician at Centra.
Primary care providers play an integral role in an individual’s wellness journey. As established partners in health, they can assist and advise on strategies navigating the healthcare system and help to find balance living a healthy, fulfilling life.
“Your primary care provider can serve as a mentor in your wellness journey,” Tuladhar said. “Sometimes we have a hard time listening to our own bodies. It is helpful to have a guideline on when to seek help and what should be considered when determining our baseline.”
When building a plan, Tuladhar advises taking small approachable steps. Barring any underlining health issues, physical health can be largely impacted using this approach.
Physical Health Suggestions
- Sleeping 7-9 hours
- Eating colors of the rainbow
- Eating fermented foods
- Incorporating sufficient protein into your diet
- Incorporating daily functional movement
- Increasing mobility with tai chi, walking and yoga
Physical health directly impacts mental health, and it is important to rule out any underlying physiological causes for mental health issues, such as thyroid and hormonal concerns and nutritional deficiencies. Partnership with a primary care provider can support a mental health approach that considers physical health contributors.
Mental Health Suggestions
- Journaling
- Meditation
- Mindful eating
- Quality time with loved ones
- Fulfilling hobbies
- Staying off social media
Equally important is our emotional health, or how we manage or express our feelings or emotions, and how we respond to challenges and events. Buzzwords like emotional regulation or emotional intelligence are internal factors that impact emotional health.
“Regarding emotional health, (identifying) the range of our emotions and our responses to them is a good indicator of emotional wellbeing,” stated Tuladhar.
Emotional Health Suggestions
- Breathing exercises
- Meditation
- Daydreaming
- Self-care
- Naming feelings and emotions to process them
- Spending time with a pet or in a safe place
Pursuing physical, mental and emotional health is key when working toward establishing a state of complete wellbeing. You can start slow with some of the above steps in order to begin creating healthy habits that form a lifestyle of wellness.
“There is a difference between surviving and thriving and when we take some time for stillness and reflection, our bodies tell us what they need,” Tuladhar said.
