Introduction to Health, Wellness, and the Eight Dimensions

Flashcards covering campus resources, historical wellness figures, health versus wellness concepts, the eight dimensions of wellness, disease prevention levels, and social determinants of health.

Scarborough Center for Writing

A free student service located in the library at Austin College, staffed by trained peer writing assistants who support students with any writing project at any stage of the process.

Partners Program

A program offered by the Scarborough Center for Writing that enables students to reserve a standing weekly appointment with the same peer writing assistant throughout the semester.

Body Doubling

An accountability resource where a peer writing assistant sits with a student while they actively work on their paper to minimize distractions and provide on-demand support.

Co-reading Support

A writing center service where a peer assistant works through dense or complex texts, such as research journal articles, together with a student to foster understanding.

Hippocrates

An ancient Greek physician considered the father of medicine who was the first to view disease as a product of diet, lifestyle, and environment.

Pioneers of the 1970s Wellness Movement

John Travis, Don Ardell, and Bill Hebler, who laid the groundwork for modern wellness through the illness-wellness continuum, the National Wellness Institute, and the dimensions of wellness.

Cardiovascular Disease

Also referred to as heart disease, it is identified as the number one leading cause of death in the United States.

Top Four Modifiable Risk Factors

The key lifestyle behaviors linked to chronic disease that individuals can modify: smoking, poor nutrition, physical inactivity, and alcohol use.

WHO Definition of Health

Defined by the World Health Organization as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease.

Health

An overall static outcome or state of complete well-being that is quantitative and influenced by predetermined factors like genetics, age, and biology.

Wellness

An active, dynamic, qualitative process driven by personal choices, actions, and habits to achieve an optimal state of being across multiple dimensions.

Eight Dimensions of Wellness

The comprehensive framework of overall well-being encompassing physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, occupational, environmental, social, and financial wellness.

Box Breathing

A stress-reduction technique involving inhaling for 4–5 counts, holding for 4–5 counts, exhaling for 4–5 counts, and holding for 4–5 counts to help regulate the fight-or-flight response.

Resilience

The psychological and physical ability to bounce back, recover, and adapt after encountering setbacks or failures.

Grit

Sustained hunger, drive, and persistent effort to continuously work toward a goal regardless of challenges.

Empathy

The capacity to connect with and share another person's feelings by understanding their perspective from shared experience or deep comprehension.

Sympathy

Feeling care, concern, or sorrow for someone else's misfortune from an external perspective without deeply relating to their lived experience.

Occupational Wellness

Personal satisfaction and enrichment derived from one's work, including job safety, opportunities for advancement, learning, and work-life balance.

Financial Wellness

The practice of living within one's financial means, budgeting, investing, and maintaining control over finances to reduce stress.

Intellectual Wellness

The active desire and capacity to learn, solve problems, apply critical thinking, and engage with new concepts throughout life.

Spiritual Wellness

Finding balance, inner peace, and a higher purpose while living in alignment with core values and practicing self-forgiveness.

Environmental Wellness

Fostering a positive relationship between planetary health and individual actions, while recognizing how clean air, water, lighting, and safe spaces impact human health.

Personal Wellness

Wellness that focuses on individual choices, behaviors, and personal accountability to achieve one's best state of health.

Group Wellness

Collective well-being shaped by shared actions, environments, and policies that affect the overall health of a community or population.

Type 1 Diabetes

A genetic or autoimmune condition in which the pancreas fails to produce insulin; it is not caused by lifestyle choices.

Type 2 Diabetes

A metabolic condition driven largely by lifestyle factors such as diet and physical inactivity, historically called adult-onset diabetes.

Type 3 Diabetes

A term used in recent medical literature referring to cognitive conditions like Alzheimer's disease and dementia linked to insulin resistance in the brain.

Primary Prevention

Public health strategies aimed at preventing the onset of disease before it occurs through healthy lifestyle promotion and education.

Secondary Prevention

Early disease detection measures and screenings designed to identify health issues at an early stage and prevent progression.

Tertiary Prevention

Interventions targeted at managing established chronic diseases or severe injuries to lessen impact, prevent further complications, and improve longevity.

Healthy People 2030

A national initiative updated every ten years by the US Department of Health and Human Services that establishes guidelines for health promotion and disease prevention.

Social Determinants of Health

The non-medical conditions and environments where people are born, live, learn, work, play, pray, and age that influence health outcomes, known as the 'causes of causes.'

Five Domains of Social Determinants of Health

Education Access and Quality, Healthcare Access and Quality, Neighborhood and Built Environment, Social and Community Context, and Economic Stability.

Health Disparity

Preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence, or opportunities to achieve optimal health experienced by socially or economically disadvantaged populations.

Health Literacy

An individual's ability to find, understand, and utilize health information and services to make informed decisions regarding their care.

Socioeconomic Status (SES)

A composite measure of an individual's or group's economic and social position, determined by income, employment, and education level.