I was just checking our mail, and there was something about a wellness program.
What exactly is supposed to be the difference between wellness and health? I don't remember even hearing the word "wellness" until several years ago. Where'd it come from?
Posted by Raymond Arnold (Member # 11712) on :
I always assumed it was just a new-agey way to say health.
Edit: According to wikipedia:
Wellness (alternative medicine) -Wellness is generally used to mean a healthy balance of the mind-body and spirit that results in an overall feeling of well-being. This article discusses wellness from an alternative medicine perspective where wellness means being much more than just disease free.
Wellness (medicine) - Here, wellness refers generally to the state of being healthy. The aspects of wellness that lie firmly in the realm of medicine are discussed in this article.
Posted by scifibum (Member # 7625) on :
Well, there is a difference. Wellness is the condition of having good health. Health can be bad. It's very slightly more compact alternative to "good health."
Not that I think 'wellness' is a necessary word. "Good health program" would be fine. "Health program" would also be mostly fine, because the "good" would be implicit, I think.
Posted by Raymond Arnold (Member # 11712) on :
I think you can have bad wellness just as much as you can have bad health.
Posted by Tresopax (Member # 1063) on :
I think "health" has over time changed so that it now connotates "medical health" or "physical health". "Wellness" came about to represent a more general well being, including physical, mental, and spiritual.
Posted by scifibum (Member # 7625) on :
quote:Originally posted by Raymond Arnold: I think you can have bad wellness just as much as you can have bad health.
Maybe YOU can. I can only have good wellness. Bad wellness gives me the hives.
Posted by Herblay (Member # 11834) on :
Having good health is just the absence of having anything medically wrong with you. You meet the prerequisites for not having any significant diseases or health risk.
Wellness is a question of how close you are to optimum nutrition, fitness, and longetivity factors --- in addition to your state of health.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
The word dates from 1653. Not so new-agey after all. Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
Either one means "The slowest rate which you can be dying"
Posted by MrSquicky (Member # 1802) on :
In my limited experience, in health and wellness programs, the health part is about removing bad stuff while the wellness is about promoting future health.
So, regular exercise or proper nutrition would be a wellness measure.
Posted by Darth_Mauve (Member # 4709) on :
Being Healthy means not being ill. You don't need a doctors care yet. You can still be overweight, smoking, and injecting foreign substances that eat away brain cells, but you are at present healthy.
Wellness means that you are doing positive things to keep you physical condition in good shape.
An example: Having a doctor prescribe insulin for your diabetes is a health issue, and is expensive.
Getting your nutrition via a reasonable diet that doesn't push you into diabetes is a Wellness issue, and cost much less.
Having a medical system that promotes wellness instead of just being healthy is both less expensive to run, and more rigorous for the end users over time. Hence insurance companies officially dubbed "Health Maintenance Organizations" try to do more than fix a damaged heart after the heart attack. They try to get you to take Yoga classes so you have less stress so you don't have the heart attack to begin with.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
I think honestly that the way in which the definitions contrast with each other is highly subjective at this point. I generally take them to mean the same thing, because I don't consider 'being healthy' to just mean that you aren't experiencing the symptoms of an acute illness at that point in time.
For instance, that hypothetical overweight, smoking, meth-head isn't something I am going to define as "healthy." Not by a long shot.
Posted by Herblay (Member # 11834) on :
quote:Originally posted by Samprimary: I generally take them to mean the same thing, because I don't consider 'being healthy' to just mean that you aren't experiencing the symptoms of an acute illness at that point in time.
That's the point. "Healthy" isn't the same thing as "Health". Healthy is an adjective that describes something as being in a state of good health. "Health" is a noun that refers to something's overall level of disease risk factors and chronic conditions (generally not acute) whether good or bad.
Being "healthy" and the noun "wellness" are unrelated --- just like use of the term "health" doesn't necessarily mean that one is "healthy". The noun "Wellness" is an idea that purports implementation of a holistic approach to disease mitigation and prevention. This in turn will make you "healthy" or "healthier".
Posted by scifibum (Member # 7625) on :
So it's healthiness and wellness, instead of healthy and wellness. Samp is right, the distinction is arbitrary. I'm sure people who say "wellness" usually mean what you mean, Herblay, but the word itself previously had a meaning that was identical to "healthiness."
Posted by Herblay (Member # 11834) on :
But "healthiness" isn't a part of the zeitgeist.
Come on, your employer would just sound silly if they had a healthiness fair. Wellness sounds better, and it's shorter --- so banners are cheaper. A good vinyl banner can cost hundreds of dollars!
Posted by scifibum (Member # 7625) on :
Yeah, I agree wellness is a marginally more convenient label. ^see 3rd post.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
quote:Originally posted by Herblay: But "healthiness" isn't a part of the zeitgeist.
And I still don't categorize the overweight chain-smoking methhead as being someone who posesses "healthiness."
I can imagine I am not alone.
Posted by Darth_Mauve (Member # 4709) on :
The Methhead part--no.
But the overweight part time smoker who has no caugh, lots of stress, but not chest pain, and drinks too much, but no signs of disease--who seems healthy from the outside, but who is destroying their health from the inside is the person we are talking aobut.
And yes, its all subjective.
You talk to a 80lb 17 year old girl who routinely suffers from bouts of binging and purging, and ask her if she thinks she's healthy, and she'll say yes--but a little over weight.
Her wellness is what we would question.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
Er, I would question her 'health' equally. I suppose in your sense wellness has been equipped as a gestalt that fits in mental and behavioral health as well.
But, then again, reading what I just wrote .. mental and behavioral health is all part of 'health' to me.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
I always thought of wellness as more of a maintenance thing.
I think I've heard the difference described as :A healthcare plan makes sure that when your diabetes gets really bad, they'll pay to amputate your arm, but a wellness plan will make sure your diabetes is always taken care of, and never requires amputation.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
haha. a wellness plan is what they call 'healthcare' in modern nations that aren't America, then. Posted by Juxtapose (Member # 8837) on :
quote:Originally posted by Samprimary:
quote:Originally posted by Herblay: But "healthiness" isn't a part of the zeitgeist.
And I still don't categorize the overweight chain-smoking methhead as being someone who posesses "healthiness."
I can imagine I am not alone.
It's why people tell each other things like "You shouldn't carry around so much stress. It isn't healthy." Even though stressed-out person isn't having a heart attack right at that moment.
Posted by Herblay (Member # 11834) on :
quote:Originally posted by Samprimary: Er, I would question her 'health' equally. I suppose in your sense wellness has been equipped as a gestalt that fits in mental and behavioral health as well.
She isn't suffering for a lack of "Health". She has health . . . it just isn't necessarily GOOD health. Her level of health, her healthiness, or her wellness is what is at question.
Posted by The Rabbit (Member # 671) on :
quote:Originally posted by MrSquicky: In my limited experience, in health and wellness programs, the health part is about removing bad stuff while the wellness is about promoting future health.
So, regular exercise or proper nutrition would be a wellness measure.
Yes, this is my experience. I think the term "wellness" is used to distinguish it from companies health care programs and the two are usually separate. Health care programs cover medical expenses. Wellness programs that I have been associated with offer exercise classes, yoga and meditation classes, nutrition counseling, free health screening for things like high cholesterol and blood pressure. Some of them have even had mental health counseling, support groups and family counseling available or sponsored things like sports day for the company. Wellness programs are designed to promote healthy living and catch potential medical problems early in order to save money in the health care system.
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